Home again, home again, Jiggety-jig!

What a ride that was!  Speaking for myself, it was a grand race, I had a glorious time, and am thankful to have had this opportunity. Fabulous scenery, amazing big country we live in.

To you who wonder exactly how we placed-- um-- although we were admittedly the last ones to cross the finish line, by the time they figured in our handicap, we weren't in last place.... quite.  (We were (ahem...).#37)

I curled up like a cat, and napped for the better part of two days after getting home. And now for the overdue post-race wrap-up.

The most amazing part of this whole endeavor was the fine people we met. SO many made this race the pleasure it was: First, the organizers, who did a great job of making sure we were all more-or-less on the same page. Second, all the volunteers, the chambers of commerce, the 99s chapters, the FBOs, -- and more-- who all turned out in smiling force to speed us on our way, well-fed, well-cared-for, and feeling most welcome, the whole way. Each one made us feel as if their stop was surely a special place we'd like to go back to some time when we could enjoy all their town had to offer. Third, the people who were dragged into this thing unawares. I'm speaking of Classic 6 Racers' own heroes at Dumas, Texas, who went far beyond the call of duty to get us back in the air. Rocky Rexrod, here's lookin' at ya! Fourth, the racers themselves. Oh, my, what a remarkable group of women! I so much want to hear what Paul Harvey used to call "the rest of the story" from every one.  Fifth, our own sponsors. Both Linda and I are most grateful to the support--, monetary, in-kind equipment loan, time-and-talent, and of course, our own personal cheering section. Thank you, thank you to all of you!
Mobile Air Center
Showcase Homes
Solar Gold
Coldwell Banker
Colony Tire
Albemarle Boats
Mobile Regional Maintenance- Don Ford
Anywhere Map
PilotJunk.com
WxWorx
Our families
Dear friends

WE MADE IT!!!

It wasn't a flawless race, it wasn't without its challenges, but we got here to Mobile, safe and sound, and even though we weren't able to leave Borger, Texas until noon, we crossed the finish line at Brookley Field  this evening a good 19 minutes before the deadline.

Highlights-The flying, of course. Real challenges, met and overcome. Talking with extraordinary pilots, and sharing hangar tales with great gals who enjoy flying as much as we do. Meeting the kindest people imaginable, in places we didn't know existed. (We'll never forget the beyond-the-call services of Rocky Rexrod, Our Hero.) Having college fliers in Norman, Oklahoma run out to our airplane jumping and cheering the last racer through.  Seeing gorgeous countryside from the best possible perspective and marveling at the awesome towering thunderstorms in the distance on both sides forming a perfect path to the gulf coast, as we neared Mobile. Sharing the fun and excitement with friends and relatives.

We encountered weather challenges- gusty winds, some of them ferocious crosswinds, bumpy air and 110-degree heat that made for very anemic climb rates...
We had mechanical troubles and equipment problems, which were frustrating.

All in all, it was an incredible experience!  So, how did we do? No idea until the banquet on Sunday night. Quite sure we won't cart off the top prizes. But no matter what, we had a heckuva good time.

Electrical gremlins persist-and lots of miles yet to go.

Our mechanic friend, the so-kind Rocky Rexrod of Dumas, Texas, had his head buried in our airplane until midnight last night. He was doubtless hoping to sleep in this morning. Alas, it was not to be. We launched from Dumas at 7 am, headed for a restart at Borger, Texas, and found that despite our six-hour drive to Lubbock yesterday to buy a new alternator and regulator, we still had problems. The same problems, in fact.  Back we went to Dumas, and here we sit. No replacement circuit breakers anywhere within 500 miles, apparently, and now we're waiting for the airport manager to return with hangar keys, so Peter can be robbed to pay Paul. SOMEbody in there is bound to have a couple they're not using anytime soon. Even so, at 10:30 and counting, with no breakers yet found, it's looking mighty dismal for our chances to reach Mobile before 7:58 CDT, which is our final finish time. But we WILL fly this race, just for our own satisfaction.
Nice man at Anywhere Map has given his thoughts, and if we ever get airborne, we'll have some new tricks to try to make that box show its amazing pictures for us, so we can see what weather, especially near Mobile, lies ahead.

The scenery around here, except for the occasional small town dwarfed by its neighboring refineries, is desolate and dusty. Rocky says, "We haven't had a drop of rain here since October. The Panhandle is dryer than Death Valley this year."  The nearby reservoir appears to be about a quarter of its usual size- lake bottom looks like a grassy valley.The huge blades of wind generators just south of Dumas flop lazily around and  around- rather scenic, in a way. This would seem to be great wind-power territory- the wind, even early this morning, was out of the south at 20 gusting to 26. Come to think of it, every windsock I've seen in Texas has been straight out. But it's sure sunny, much to the locals' distress. A motel sign near Amarillo yesterday, asked motorists to "Pray for rain!"  Will do.

Hope the next post has miraculous good news. If not, well, it's been fun, and a wonderful learning experience.

The deep blue skies of Texas

gusty hot wind, and remarkable hospitality are the things that will stick in our minds about today's adventures so far. We headed out to the airplane, hooked up the gadgetry, taxied out for takeoff, and immediately knew that all was not well. Radios were scratchy. Panel-mount GPS went dark. Much-vaunted Anywhere Map Septa wouldn't start at all, not so much as a flicker. We taxied back to see what might be making the electrical system unhappy, and I sat on 'ignore' listening to AnywhereMap's hold music-- figured I might as well trouble-shoot my end of things, while Linda figured out hers. Got REALLY tired of listening to Beethoven's first piano sonata, and Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, even though I'm fond of both composers. For some reason, nobody there wanted to talk to me. Can't understand that....(eye-rolling smiley here.)  So there's no AnywhereMap at all, and no AWM tech support. Good thing we have paper charts. If we get the airplane going again, we'll be running through a line of big thunderstorms between here and our destination, without benefit of XM-Weather. I hate to say it, but I wish I'd borrowed my brother's proffered  Garmin-695 instead!

The lovely men running things at Borger, Texas made phone calls, recommended a fine mechanic 35 miles west, who made room in his hangar for us. One of them hand-propped us, we noted that there was no charging happening, and alternator flickering. Nonetheless,  we were soon on our way to Dumas, Texas,  a half hour in the wrong direction, following roads,with only one radio and  no lights on. It wasn't but a moment before the whole electrical system flickered its last, and died. Fortunately, there wasn't a crowd trying to get into Moore County Airport. Mechanic Rocky soon had his head under the cowling, and took off to a local autoparts store to check out the alternator. The good news was that the alternator checked out OK, and we don't have to go to Amarillo or Lubbock to pick up a new alternator. The bad news? Rocky just got a phone call saying his dad has just had a stroke, and is on his way to the hospital. So, understandably enough, is Rocky. *sigh* Poor guy.

So, not sure what amusement there is in Dumas, Texas, but I expect we'll find out. Meanwhile, 40-some other airplanes are headed for Mobile, aiming to get there before sunset tomorrow night. Wish we were there!

Race Day Number One!

Today started a long time ago, in a faraway land. We arose well before the birds in little Beatrice, (pronounced Be-AT-tris) Nebraska, got out to the airport, admired the windsock sticking out at rigid attention, piled our bags in Ms. Lima, and got on our way to the starting line at Alliance, Nebraska. Headwinds made it a slow trip, but really rather pretty, under deep blue sky sprinkled with a very few little puffy clouds. Even considering our decision to get a bit of gas in Broken Bow, we got to Alliance with a surprise hour and a half to spare, having forgotten about Mountain Daylight time. The people of Alliance and the Nebraska 99s put on an amazing show of hospitality for us- great sandwiches, homemade cookies, chips, soda pop, fresh fruit-- just super. If we'd had more time there, we would definitely have had to go visit the world-famous "Car Henge."  Google it.
We took advantage of our low race number, lined up, and were number-three off the field. That was the last thing we did right for a while...the Alliance-to-Great Bend first leg was, shall we say, a 'learning experience.'  But we enjoyed a good tailwind across the grasslands of western Nebraska and Kansas, and joined the parade into Great Bend. Oh. THAT landing light. Oops. Oh, well. Did I mention how terrifying it can be to sit in the right seat while the airplane you occupy hurtles at the end of the runway much too fast and much too low?  No flies on Linda's flying-- she's very good at this thing. All the same, airplanes are usually supposed to slow down as they near the end of the runway, not keep on going as fast as they can, only a couple hundred feet above the asphalt.  More great hospitality, good snacks and cold beverages provided by Kansas 99s and Great Bend residents. This time on departure, we had the cockpit festooned with sticky note reminders, and took special pains to brief the procedures in excruiating detail.  I think it worked-- or at least I hope it did.
The next leg crossed high plains and near-desert, poking along with a bit of a headwind, and amazingly empty countryside. Miles and miles and miles without so much as a steer in sight. Roads were even a rarity. Borger, Texas showed up on schedule, though, with the biggest oil refinery in the United States on its northern edge. Also, we learned, it's home to a 'real hi-tech bowling alley' and the biggest movie theater in the Texas Panhandle. We're likely to miss out on those attractions, because our day is very much over. More fun tomorrow as we head for Norman, OK, and El Dorado, AR.  We will probably have a fairly early start, as the Borger residents are looking at a high of 105 tomorrow. Couldn't have been much over 99 when we got there today.  Dear townspeople have gone out of their way to get us to hotels, to restaurants, and back to the airport at ungodly hours tomorrow morning. We've had doors opened, luggage carried, homemade cookies by the many dozens, and good stories of local interest. That's probably been the best thing for me is the chance to meet so many truly fine people.

Three hours was quite enough of THAT.

We took off from Iowa City under low-ish broken clouds and a stiff headwind and aimed toward Beatrice, our first gas stop en route to the new-and-improved race start at Alliance, NE. As we cruised along in moderate chop at 2500 feet, we noticed the ground rising almost imperceptibly toward us, and by the time we reached Beatrice, we were right at pattern altitude. Along the way, we saw patches of showers off in the distance, but nary a raindrop on Ms. Lima. The neat little farms were green, green, and vast thickets of wind generators had sprouted all along our route. The visibility was a zillion miles in every direction. Crossing the Missouri River, we saw why Nebraska  is so lush-looking. Muddy floodwaters spread several miles wide, and many barns and farmhouses showed only their roofs above water. Roads disappeared under water for a half a mile at a time. Apparently that's where the levee was breached. Appalling!
Arriving at Beatrice, Linda performed a very nice 25 mph-crosswind landing. We were welcomed by hospitable airport personnel, met three other ARC race teams, and decided not to buck 40 knots or more on the nose this afternoon. . Besides, one team staying the night here knows of a great little restaurant nearby. We all piled in the Beatrice airport van, and headed for a nearby and very reasonably-priced hostelry. The forecast for tomorrow is much more benign.

Flooded Nebraska farmland.

Headed for Alliance--the shorter way

This morning Classic Racer  team #6 should have been well on its way to Brookings, SD, thence to ND, back to SD, and Wyoming. Instead, we're looking at forecast headwinds of 25 and winds on the ground along the whole route gusting to 35, direct-ish to tomorrow's noon start of the shortened race course, at Alliance, Nebraska. We're disappointed to miss out on what would have doubtless been fabulous hospitality at those first four stops, and glorious high plains scenery, but remnants of a large low pressure area continue to blanket the whole upper midwest. So, we're looking at a bumpy five hour ride in marginal conditions, and thinking new thoughts on tomorrow's strategy. Airplanes are straggling out of IOW as I write, with promises to meet up in Alliance tonight. What fun. Eager to get airborne, even if it's less than ideal conditions. Got new territory to conquer. Onward, and especially, upward!

Midwestern Weather Forces Course Change

We, and a hundred other women pilots, spent much of the last day or so peering anxiously at the weather map, wondering how on earth we were going to be able to get out of here on Tuesday morning, thunderstorm lines and high winds notwithstanding, bound for the Dakotas, and then the easternmost mountains of Wyoming. Well, turns out, we're not. The early-morning weather briefing didn't sound very optimistic, and by late afternoon, it was obvious that there might be airplane-eating dragons northwest of us. Accordingly, the race course has been truncated. The powers that be have decreed that the race will NOT start in lovely, hospitable Iowa City, but what was to have been our fifth stop, Alliance, Nebraska, a day and a half later. New plan is to hunker down here in Iowa City (Ms. Lima has lucked into a hangar for what might be a wild night) until this big low pressure area and associated lines of thunderstorms get by here, and then high-tail it for Alliance. At noon on Wednesday, we will officially start, and aim for the rest of the adventure... Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and finally, Mobile. While both of us flatlanders are disappointed not to be headed for the mountains and the Dakotas, to explore what would have surely been magnificent territory, we have to admit it's really better that we won't have to negotiate such high terrain with high winds and low clouds. The saddest part is that we won't be able to say we've been to Spearfish, South Dakota. Meanwhile, more good food and good company in Iowa City, and more adventures to come, as we head west to the other side of Nebraska tomorrow.

Saturday's fun

This was supposed to be a quiet day in which we might smugly rest on our laurels. Alas, Ms. Lima's handicap flight will need to be reflown due to an equipment problem. Today's weather didn't cooperate, with low ceilings, morning fog, and a long line of other teams to fly this afternoon. So, we're hoping for a bright-and-early morning flights. 

Tonight's hangar party featured a fine barbecue buffet and a big-band group that's been playing the same music together (with a succession of members) since the 1940s. More incredible stories. One woman was a neuroscientist doing important MS research.When she retired from that, she went and got just about every pilot rating in the book, and is now happily teaching flying. Another contestant is a retired airline pilot who traded the family ranch in Montana for a big trawler, which she and her husband have skippered all the way around the eastern half of the United States. When she's not flying her little airplane or teaching flying, she lives aboard their boat on the Mississippi River. What a life!!

So the  meetings begin tomorrow. Hoping to pick up some good hints.

Preliminaries accomplished!

We have the first hurdles cleared-- pilot credentials checked and approved for us both, aircraft inspected and approved, and handicap-flight flown to establish our baseline airspeed. The object of the game, now, is, through precise flying and clever choice of altitudes with tailwinds, to beat that average speed. The airplane and crew that can beat its own speed by the biggest margin wins; that means even slow airplanes have a fair chance. So, this evening we'll be exploring the local science museum with a batch of Girl Scouts, and tomorrow seems to be fairly uncommitted until an evening barbecue. Sunday and Monday will start our briefings and official meetings. Tuesday we're off.
The inspection was amusing-- REALLY efficient. We pulled up to a hangar, and immediately a swarm of mechanics, all in day-glo chartreuse volunteer tee-shirts, converged on the airplane. Airplane cowling removed, one mechanic inside the airplane and half a dozen more guys with flashlights, wrenches, and/or clip boards began to check lights, engine, and other components, while three more pored over our fat aircraft log books. If we weren't confident of our airworthiness before, we are now!

Welcome to Iowa City!

What a gorgeous day we had!  We took off from Mobile into clear blue sky- all the thunderstorms were behind us, and headed north, over Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri to Iowa City, over farmland, forest, over incredibly green Ozarks, and on up west of St. Louis. Meandering rivers and lakes gave way to precise midwestern one-mile square section-lined fields. The mighty muddy Mississippi crisscrossed our path, and in places, it was obvious that these people had had a LOT of rain lately. Off to the west, thunderclouds billowed, and the AnywhereMap showed brightly colored areas to be avoided. Hoping to beat the east-bound storms looming on our western horizon, we pressed on past our planned second fuel stop, another 45 minutes or so. It worked-- we got only the barest bit of a shower, and absolutely glassy smooth the entire trip. Arriving in Iowa City, we found ourselves unexpected... apparently no marshalling, no ride from the west-40-acres, no registration, ... but a warm welcome from our Mama Bird, and a ride to the Taj ma Sheraton for the night. Ahhh. Early dinner more than compensated for no breakfast and no lunch, and now it's on to go prepare for tomorrow's check-in formalities. This is beginning to feel alarmingly real! :-D 

Iowa City is a nice place. Don't know what I expected, but the beautiful pedestrian mall right in the middle of town, just outside our hotel door, with several hundred people, mostly local, from infants to elderly, enjoying a warm summer Thursday evening, was a delight. There must be a dozen restaurants, most with tables outside, big gourmet grocery/deli, gift shops, clothing stores, craft galleries- there was no sitting in a hotel room for us! Friday nights feature free concerts, and apparently the plan is to arrive early to find a place to sit..

Tomorrow: NC to Alabama!

From Mimi: Whatever it is I'll need for the next two weeks must be packed by tonight! Tomorrow morning I'll head southwest from northeastern North Carolina. First stop is at Southern Pines, NC to pick up an Angel Flight passenger. I'll drop him off in Augusta, Georgia, and then it's on to Mobile!

Meanwhile, Linda has had the busiest real estate sales week she's had in several months-- good news/bad news scenario. Good news is she may be able to afford this junket... bad news is all the air race preparation time she was counting on has evaporated.

We'll count on getting our heads together tomorrow or Wednesday, and on Thursday, we're off for IOW for all the pre-race duties- timing run, aircraft and document inspection, safety briefings, and meeting dozens and dozens of new friends. What a trip!

The devil is in the details--

Or so they say.

Details are what we're focusing on now. Getting our various electronic gadgetry set up is the fun part, and that's my bailiwick.  You will be able to follow us HERE for a SPOT GPS breadcrumb trail, courtesy of Joe Ebert at PilotJunk.com. It will update itself every ten minutes, so if we get hopelessly lost, the whole world will know it before we will. 

Get lost? Us? No way. Alan Kirby at AnywhereMap called this afternoon to promise that UPS will be ringing my doorbell by midmorning tomorrow with their fabulous-looking newest product, the Septa electronic flight bag, moving map, weather display, and approach plates- the works! I'll be taking both items on a shakedown flight tomorrow, a business trip to Charleston, SC. Will make note to self: quit playing with the wonderful toys and fly the airplane!

Linda is taking care of last minute obligations- scheduling our timing run, scheduling the airplane's inspection, making window posters to thank our wonderful sponsors, and about a thousand other things she's too kind to mention. And naturally, the real estate market chooses this week to improve, so she's got her day-job to tend to, as well. Good thing she's so energetic!

Our hope is to head from Mobile for Iowa City on Thursday, 6/16, and begin the pre-race duties  Friday. It's all getting alarmingly close--so much left to learn-- and I'm suddenly remembering how I felt a few decades ago. For nine eternities, I'd been impatiently awaiting the birth of our first baby. The morning finally arrived, and with the first contraction, I took it all back. "Wait, wait! I'm not quite ready-- give me another week, OK?"  So all I really need is about two more weeks.... Right..

-Mimi 

T minus three weeks and counting!

The support for our efforts so far is wonderful. We've had several very generous promises for a tank of gas (woohoo!) and one for dinner (an iced-tea toast to my friend!), so far. The SPOT satellite-locator gadget is on its way, according to Joe Ebert, from PilotJunk.com, and I'm thankful to say, it will arrive pre-subscribed and set up and ready to go. What a relief! And as if that weren't more than sufficient, he's also sending the charts we hadn't already acquired. What a dear! So, those who wonder how we arrived at our various destinations will, we hope, be able to follow the little dotted line on SPOT's website. Details to follow, with link.

A box arrived on my doorstep a day or two ago with snazzy Azalea City Avgals shirts in glorious hot pink and white, embroidered with azaleas and names. So exciting! We'll be highly visible.  Also in that same box was a wonderful, well-organized and well-written booklet by air racer Mary Pearson, that answered many questions, some I hadn't even yet formulated. It should be published and distributed to every ARC entrant, it's that good. In fact, it could be enlarged, with contributions from other successful air racers from recent years. Now whether any of this valuable information will be retained once the key is in the ignition is another question entirely.--

Cheers!
Mimi

Sponsors! We need sponsors

Do you have a burning desire to come along for our great adventure? We'd truly love to have you. While we don't recommend the back seat, -you might have to duck flying charts and water bottles-, you can enjoy the scenery, the weather challenges, the decision-making process, and the entire fabulous route without the bumpy air and low-tech climate-control. Just join us every evening right here for an update. We hope to have a breadcrumb trail courtesy of SPOT satellite tracking and the good technical advice of Joe Ebert at PilotJunk.com, and will try to post photos as we go.

 Even more to the point, we'd be ever so grateful for your support covering any of the following expenses. Here's what we need:
      *Registration fees-----$500 -2 of them.
      * A tank of Av-Gas--- $300 -  times 12.  (Yikes!)
      * A hotel room---------$100 for each of 8 nights.
      * Dinner for two-------$50 - again, times 8.
      * Lunch on the fly-----$20 for 8 aerial picnics a deux
      * Aerial charts----------$10 each, and we'll unfold 10 of them.
      * Your good thoughts, good advice, and encouragement- we'll happily accept all we can get!

A check in any amount would be most welcome and appreciated.


We will donate 20% of all cash receipts to our favorite southeastern aviation charity, Angel Flight Soars. It's a superb organization that coordinates free flights for people with a need for distant specialized medical care, through the efforts of volunteer pilots, including yours truly.

     

Where's the time gone?

From Mimi: Seems like it was just yesterday we had all the time in the world to prepare for this race. No problem! Now I'm looking at a calendar in a bit of panic, realizing that in one month, I'll be flying my Mooney toward Mobile, parking it there for a week and a half, and climbing in a Cherokee 180 bound for Iowa City. Whatever we didn't get done by then won't be getting done. Yikes!
So, now we have a couple of new sponsors! Don Ford, mechanic extraordinaire at Mobile Regional Maintenance, has lent his expertise to signing off Ms. Lima's annual and making sure she's in tip-top race shape. Also, Joe Ebert at PilotJunk.com has promised to lend us a SPOT satellite-based personal locater, so that we can leave a breadcrumb trail of our adventure. We may not be sure where we're going, but we'll have a record of where we've been!
Linda says our azalea-festooned shirts are ready, Ms. Lima's waiting for a part, and then she'll be all set, we've both completed on-line air safety courses. We need to make sure our log books are up-to-date, and a few hotel reservations made... and then we'll boot up GoogleEarth and fly this adventure in sea-level comfort. Whee! Somehow I get the feeling that it's going to look a bit different as viewed from Ms. Lima's cockpit.

South Alabama, heads up!

From Mimi: Several small south Alabama airports, and a couple in southern Mississippi were on alert for Cherokee strafing runs last week, as Linda and I did a high speed round-robin to half a dozen little airports. Once again, I tried to remember which stop-watch button was 'start', which one was 'stop', and which one was 'reset.' Arrggh. You wouldn't think it would be that complicated. Funny how simple tasks gain complexity when attempted at high speed, with other chores also demanding attention. If Pilot Linda weren't so darned competent in the left seat (HER left seat, by the way), I might try to persuade her to let me simply fly and she could turn her prodigious organizational skills to record-keeping and stopwatch mastery. Seriously, with our newly redesigned checklists, it should go even more smoothly next time we practice together. Oh, wait. That's going to be in mid-June....
Looking forward to trying out the latest and greatest in navigational wizardry, as AnywhereMap has promised us their new Septa, due to start shipping any day now. WxWorx has lent us a blue-tooth XM-Wx receiver, and we'll be ever-so well fixed for figuring out where we are. Looking very much forward to figuring how to extract all that information.

Also, I've promised to get to work on a fund-raising letter to possible sponsors. With gas prices soaring faster than they can get the signs changed, we're going to need 'em!

Girls Club meeting March 19

What a treat for the Girls Club and all of us adults!!

The special guest speaker was Bernice "Bee" Falk Haydu a member of the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) in 1944-45.  She spoke of the training and ordeals of women learning to fly in that era.  In July 2009 President Obama awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots with Ms Bee in attendance with other notable women pilots.  She is a wonderful 90 years old with still the love of flying. She flew the 25th Powder Puff Derby and most recently she flew the ARC several years ago with Terry Carbonell as her Mama Bird.

The program for the forty plus girls in attendance were introduced to other women in aviation.
1)  Lynda Meeks an airline pilot and founder of Girls with Wings (nonprofit organization using women in aviation to inspsire girls to achieve their full potential) presented an introduction to the cockpit instruments and radio communication.  Two of the girls made a poster about aviation with a focus on Lynda.  Side note Lynda flew the ARC also when a pilot became very ill.  Lynda was able to qualify and flew in her place.
2)  Julie Padgett a pilot with the US Coast Guard also gave a presentation of what is entailed as a pilot in the SAR (Search and Rescue) missions as well as in the law enforcement and natural disaster divisions.  Julie had been on a mission at 3am that morning but would not miss speaking with the girls.!!
3)  Other women in aviation careers who gave short introductory presentations to the girls were from Airbus, Teledyne Continental Motors, Air Traffic Control, GAT Airline Ground Support and UPS.  The girls had a lot of questions especially about how many tests do you have to take!!

Lots of pictures but the most notable were;  Ms Bee with Terry and Inger (director of the Girls Club), Ms Bee at the signing with President Obama and her gold medalk, Julie of the USCoastguard, girls with poster and Lynda, Mama Bird Terry and her two Baby Birds - Ms Bee and me  and Inger and her tireless assistants.

Pizza was served and away the girls flew!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Linda

Girls with their heads in the clouds!

March, hurtling headlong into April

The preparations are moving along-- Linda has been out practicing her high-speed low approaches in Ms. Lima, dealing with airplane readiness and paperwork, designing our business cards, and consulting with Terry Carbonell, our Mother Bird.

Terry flies her Cessna 182 up from her Florida home once a month to meet with some 50 or 60 girls from the South Alabama Boys and Girls Club, as they explore the joys and possibilities of aviation. After six months of talking about flying, the girls will be following the Air Race, adopting a team to follow, cheering us all on, and meeting us at the finish line. More on this to come.

As for her contribution to this whole thing, Mimi, mostly from her perch in North Carolina, has been eagerly anticipating, reading, compiling checklists, and figuring out the complexities of a new camera purchased in honor of the occasion. She has let her fingers do the flying- with a mouse moving over satellite images of the route- and says it's going to be some amazing territory!.

Mimi plans to be in Mobile for a few days in mid-April to compare notes, and looks forward to another chance to do some real flying.  After that, it may be mid-June headed for IOW before we can get together again, unless Ms. Lima can be coaxed to fly northeast for a pretty spring week.

Practice run!

From Mimi- Yr humble prospective co-pilot was in Mobile last week, and had a chance to see what this racing thing's all about. To start with, it was a perfectly gorgeous day, mid-70s, clear, and smooth. Linda and I departed Mobile Regional in her pretty Cherokee, headed for a tiny strip in Mississippi, and then several more uncontrolled fields in a nice round-robin, on our way to a touch-and-go at Mobile Downtown Airport, which will be the real race's terminus. Past forest fires (prescribed burns, apparently), over winding rivers and checkerboard farmland we flew, at the Cherokee's top speed- averaging about 127 knots. The fly-bys were fun. Long accustomed to nice gentle descents and mannerly arrivals, our zooming straight at the end of the runway at full throttle, then continuing the length of the runway at 300 feet, was a new experience for me. Whee! Only messed up the stop watch once...and almost always found the runway before we were there, so maybe we really will be able to do this thing. Eventually. I still have much to learn, but one thing's obvious-- this race is going to be a blast.

Well, it's official!

We're in! After much deliberation, we've named ourselves 'The Azalea City Avgals,' in honor of our hometown, Mobile, Alabama. We're also known as Linda Keller and Amelia (Mimi) Reiheld, and we're embarking on a grand adventure this summer, flying Linda's Cherokee 180 in the 35th annual Air Race Classic. The Air Race Classic arose from the ashes of the old 'Powder Puff Derby', and continues that tradition of women pilots racing stock airplanes across America.

We'll join dozens of other women pilots in mid-June, plotting our course from Iowa City, Iowa to Mobile, Alabama, taking the scenic route. To begin the adventure, we'll cross four or five states just getting to Iowa City for the start of the race. Then we'll spend several days in the company of other women pilots, learning safety considerations and race rules, having airplanes inspected, meeting new friends, and greeting old ones. The race begins on June 21, and we'll be off to cross Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, before alighting, finally, four hectic days later, at Mobile Downtown Airport for the Air Race finish.

 From Mimi:  I grew up in Mobile, and caught my love of flying and sailing there. Life intervened, and my journeys in subsequent decades have taken me all over the country.  I'm now settled with my husband, Rob, in pretty, historic little Edenton, North Carolina. We get down to Mobile fairly often to visit family, though, and whenever my Mooney 231's wings cross that lovely delta, I feel very much at home again.

From Linda: As the saying goes, I'm not from here, but I got here as fast as I could, arriving 'home' to Mobile nine years ago after criss crossing America from midwest to northwest to southeast to midwest back to the southeast!!  For the first 40 years of my life I was happy to be just a passenger in a plane piloted by my father-in-law Ace Keller a retired Air Force pilot.  I learned to fly in the great Northwest shortly after turning that awful age of 40.  My husband Bruce earned his private certificate also and is a GREAT copilot. After 20 plus years we still just love to go flying!!  When I am not flying I am a realtor with Coldwell Banker Charles Hayes Real Estate and an avid tennis player.  We are the proud owners of  N5174L, a 1967 Piper Cherokee 180, nicknamed Ms Lima - she will be our ride for the big Air Race Classic with ladies only!


News Flash!  We've just learned that we are Air Race Classic Team Number 6. As first-time racers, we're fortunate to have as mentors, that is, Mother Birds,  Team Wild Mama, skippered by Terry Carbonell. Wild Mama was last year's winner. We plan to do some serious brain-picking.