Air Race Classic 2011

June 22 - Creston to Alliance

2011-06-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

We have been plagued with bad weather. We came out of Iowa City at noon yesterday, got as far as Creston, IA, and put down for the night as the rain intensified. Today we were finally able to depart Creston at 12:30, when the weather cleared to marginal VFR. We had showers and low ceilings for the first 50 miles. The winds were quite strong, and so were the bumps. We made it into Kearney, NE where we re-fueled. We still had head winds from there into Alliance, NE but at least the bumps and clouds were gone.Classic Racer 23 is on the ground in Alliance, NE. Tomorrow morning we finally will start the race. We hope to do 3 legs. There are at least two other teams here tonight, so we are not alone.

June 20, 2011 - A day of briefings and safety meetings

2011-06-20T17:23:00.000-07:00

The start of the Air Race Classic has been delayed to Wed, June 22. Start has been moved to Alliance, NE. Teams are on their own to get to Alliance by Noon on Wed for the start of the race. Meanwhile, we sit here in Iowa City awaiting severe thunderstorms and possible high winds and tornadoes.

Earlier today we briefed the 10 flybys, now reduced to 6. The weather brief was stressful, with a line of tornadoes approaching Iowa City from the west. The safety meeting, a Wings seminar, stressed avoiding get-there-itis. So now we need to re-group and re-plan. Stay tuned.

June 18 - Girl Scouts at Iowa City airport

2011-06-19T06:49:00.000-07:00

Barb and I participated in the Girl Scout aviation day. Our role - using chalk, draw an airport complete with tower, windsock, runway w/markings, compass rose, taxi way, ramps, etc. Then brief groups of scouts (150 total, in 4 successive groups) on the meaning of the markings and features. Caroline Baldwin did a great job on the briefings. Then we lined the girls up and had them request clearance to taxi, do a run-up, and take off. Caroline even discussed the relationship of wind to the assigned runways.
Last evening, we had a great barbque dinner at the hanger party, and met some of the locals.

ARC 2011 - we arrive in Iowa City

2011-06-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

Barb and I flew from Kalamazoo to the race start at Iowa City yesterday. The weather was perfect - cool, slightly overcast but we could see forever. Made it in just under 3 hrs. We practiced our navigation and team skills enroute. It was a good flight. Last night we went to the early arrivals party at the children's museum. What fun! They have a whole wall of "simulators" that run MS sim, and are little wood planes you can sit in. Today we will work with the local Girl Scouts, istructing them about aviation. Tonight we attend the Hanger Party.

2011 Air Race Classic

2011-06-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

Cherokee Chicks prepare for the 2011 race from Iowa City, IA to Mobile, AL.

June 28 - Monday - the adventure continues

2010-06-28T05:22:00.000-07:00

We have had a terrific adventure. And now we get to extend it, and demonstrate our patience. The weather between Fredrick, MD and Kalamazoo, MI (our home base) is IFR with thunderstorms all day today. Looks good for tomorrow. So we plan a visit to AOPA HQ today, and a trip to Gettysburg, PA.

June 27 - that Awards and Prizes

2010-06-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the Air Race Awards banquet. Barb and I came in 40th out of 51. No leg prizes. No California gales got prizes. But we want to mention the great start that the Michigan team had, who had to drop out for mechanical problems - just to complete a couple of legs was terrific! We missed Team 22 tonight. Team 29, who had been stuck in Waycross with us, came in 43, and won the last place prize for the team without any penalties. Barb and I had one 2 pt penalty for not being wings level at the 1 mile point into Carbondale.

Maureen

Celebrating 100 years as licensed pilots, women fly 2400 miles to Frederick, MD.

2010-06-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

Celebrating 100 years as licensed pilots, women fly 2400 miles to Frederick, MD.

See Barb and I on TV!!

Score time - Saturday June 26

2010-06-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

Barb and I met with the scorers today. We are satisfied with our score, so we signed it off. We will find out tomorrow if we actually won any leg prizes - we sure did not place in the top 5! But we did pretty well on a couple of legs.
We are off to the airport, to work with the Girl Scouts for a little while, then visit downtown historic Fredrick. Ice Cream for lunch!
Maureen

June 25 - we arrive in Fredrick, MD

2010-06-25T18:53:00.000-07:00

Classic Racer # 37 arrived in Fredrick, MD today at the terminus of the Air Race Classic. We got here at 3 pm, after flying two legs - Elkhart to Parksberg and Parksberg to Fredrick. We have had a full and exciting day. We tied down the plane and registered, then took our rental car and wandered around Fredrick, MD until we found the hotel. We went back to the airport, no problem. Barbecue and greeting with other flyers. Then we got turned around - not really lost - returning to the hotel. Its much easier to find stuff when you are in the air!

June 24 - Hot Springs to Cammeron, MO, to Carbondale, IL to Elkhart IN

2010-06-24T19:36:00.001-07:00

Classic Racer #37 is back on schedule! We made it to Elkhart Indiana where we are spending the night. We did three legs, 850+ miles, today. Tomorrow will be a short day. I will post pictures from the past two days when we get to Fredrick. We expect to be at the terminus by about 1pm. Time for bed! I am too tired now to even find the camera!
Maureen

June 23 - Waycross to Tuscaloosa to Hot Springs in one afternoon

2010-06-23T20:40:00.001-07:00

Race #37 made it to Hot Springs, Arkansas today! No small feat,since we started at 3 pm, after the plane repairs were completed, and flew two legs. It was nearly 600 miles. . We left Classic Racer 29 behind - we hope they catch up tomorrow.

Tuesday, June 22 - Race start day

2010-06-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

Classic Racer #37 (us) and #29 (another Cherokee) are spending the night in Waycross. GA. A bit of trivia - Waycross is home to the Okefenokee Swamp!

We are waiting for a new vacuum pump, they are waiting for a new gasket. We may not get out of here till noon tomorrow. sigh. We had a very good first leg, an adequate fly-by - but the vacuum pump failed about 30 miles south of Waycross. We lost suction and we loast the heading indicator and the turn and bank / artificial horizon.

Barb flew the timing line using the compass and the gps. A mechanic met us and did his best to get a pump locally - none available. So we wait for one to be sent overnight. Meanwhile, we asked for directions to a launder-mat. One of the local ladies insisted on taking our laundry home with her, and we are taking her out to dinner tonight. Classic 29 racers are here, too. They need a new gasket somewhere in their engine. We are hoping it all gets done early tomorrow, but the odds are in favor of a noon departure. So I will close this message and go back to flight planning. The people of Waycross are awesome!

Maureen

Monday June 21

2010-06-21T17:38:00.000-07:00

No pictures today. We spend the day in briefing meetings, going over the fly-by instructions for each of the airports on our route. Our first stop tomorrow will be Waycross, GA, where we spent the night of Friday last. We will re-fuel and fly on to Tuscaloosa to spend the night, weather permitting. Barb re-flew the handicap flight this morning, with one of the judges. Our handicap is 115.54 - second smallest handicap! We had a severe thunderstorm again this afternoon, and the power was out for a few hours. Thank goodness pilots carry flashlights! In fact, it is storming again right now, and we may be in for another outage. We had Coldstone ice cream for dinner.
Maureen

Sunday June 20 - Ft. Myers, Fl.

2010-06-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

we had the inial briefing meeting for the race today - there are about 25 new racers this year! Then Barb and I drove to Sanibel island, where we waded in the warm water and took pictures of the bald eagle babies in a nest, and saw a flamingo and a great blue heron. Then, as we drove back to the hotel, the afternoon storm hit, and we slowed to a crawl to drive safely. This is more weather than I have ever seen!
Tonight is the welcome dinner, and Barb and I are going in true Florida style, with our flowered shirts and white capris.

June 19 - arriving at the race start in Ft. Myers, FL

2010-06-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

We made it to Ft. Myers 10 minutes before the deadline! Racers were expected to be here by noon today. We were up at Dawn in Waycross, GA, and pre-flighting our plane by 7:30 am. Our flight would be 282 miles, if we could get off the ground! The ceiling was 400 ft and mist - who knew that swamps make their own weather patterns, and we were in the grand daddy of them all - the Okeefenoke Swamp! Well, luck was with us. The ceiling became unlimited by 8:30 am. We took off and headed south to Ft. Myers. We arrived to blue skys with scattered clouds well above us.
Most of the other racers had weather delay stories, and we had a great time chatting with old friends. The plane was inspected, passed and was impounded till race start on Tuesday. Tonight we enjoyed a welcome hanger party complete with excellent barbecue. Now it is time to relax.
I had so many comments about my blue nail polish, that matches the Cherokee stripe, that Barb decided she wanted blue nails, too. We went over to Target, got a bottle of polish and she did her nails before dinner tonight. We did get lots of positive comments!
Maureen

2010-06-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

We are spending the night in Waycross, GA, once again avoiding the thunderstorms. We have been checking weather and re-checking. It looks like tomorrow will be good flying weather in the morning, so we will leave around 7 am for the airport. The folks here have been so nice. The fellow at the airport lent us a car to go to the hotel, and helped us put the plane in a hanger for the night, incase of hail. Well, so far we have just had heavy brief showers. Barb and I walked down to Walgreens, and got caught in the rain. Fun! Then we went over to Shoney's for floats. What a nice end to the evening. I got to fly all day today, 4 hrs of cross country PIC. And our tracker is working! take a look at our flight path on the GPS tracker.
Maureen

2010-06-17T15:05:00.000-07:00

We had a beautiful flight from Kalamazoo to Nashville, where we have stopped for the night. We were told that a storm was about to descend upon us. It is here! We are warm and safe in a hotel, and the plane is tied down at the airport. We were hoping to get to northern Georgia by tonight, but that didn't happen.
We spent our time today getting a flow going between the two of us, so that we are well-practiced when the race starts. Bob Goodwin, Barb's husband, presented us each with a rose when we boarded the plane at Kalamazoo. That was so thoughtful of him! And I have called Dan a couple of times - it is our 43 wedding anniversary today Happy Anniversary, Sweetie!
Maureen

Ready to fly

2010-06-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

It is 7 am on June 17. We are ready to leave Barb's house in Kalamazoo, to head to the airport. We put most of our stuff in the plane last night, topped her off with fuel, and did last minute checks. The weather looks ok this am, and good for the rest of the day. Florida, here we come!
Maureen

Off to Ft. Myers, FL. in two days

2010-06-14T17:50:00.000-07:00

Lots of route plotting to finish after weather checks. Hope to start flight to Ft. Myers, FL. on Wed. Will put some supplies in plane tomorrow and pick up Maureen in Grand Rapids tomorrow night. Anxious to talk and share more plans with Maureen.

Flew handicap flight with Mary Creason, check co pilot, on Thurs., June 10. Fun but a little tiring. GPS Logger worked easily. Fun to fly with Mary again.

Barb

Final Preparations

2010-06-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

We are completing the final details for our flight to Florida starting Wednesday June 16. For me, this means completing last minute household tasks and cuddling the kitty.