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I know lots of our friends and acquaintances have been wondering what happened to us?
When you last wrote Betty had gone through an MOA (Military Operations Area) airspace which it is advantageous to be looking out for other aircraft on military training, missions. She had some funny looking bullet holes in her, and I had more than one
Concerned phone call on it. That was a joke! They were decals, of which many a car has sported. So, no, we did not get hit by friendly fire or hostiles either!
Our last leg of the race from Franklin Kentucky to Mansfield was very interesting, to say the least. Leaving Franklin, the ceilings were about 3500 feet, and it was a 300nm or so leg, the visibility was terrible to say the least, but we always remained VFR. Perhaps to minimums, but always VFR with and out if need be. The flyby in Saratoga Springs went fine, but the mountains came up upon us quickly, and still at minimum VFR. This leg was a short one, about 140 nm. At times we decided to go around the mountains, the Berkshires, instead of above them, especially since the cloud bottoms obscured the tops!! Then on to Mansfield, Mass for our final time line and landing. The airport was packed and the town of Mansfield had all come out to meet us. They had tents with vendors, music, a car show and old airplanes. It was a wonderful sight.
We ended up in the bottom 1/3 of the race, but I feel we came out on top. It was a great experience for both Gloria and I, and we are even talking about looking into other races. It is quite a challenge to fly your airplane 200ft above the ground at full speed, sometimes so close to red line it glows, it’s a real adrenaline rush! And I think we may be hooked. :)
Eileen
When a whirlwind comes to an abrupt halt, the calm is like an engine out—unexpected and so very quiet. That’s how Eileen and I feel with feet back on the ground and a forecast of lots of “catching up on work” ahead. We came in 27th out of 33 racers. It wasn’t where we’d like to have finished…but we finished without getting disqualified and we learned so much that we feel the position…and the costs…were well worth the education. It’s strange for us to be apart. A race in a Mooney makes you feel like you’re quite literally joined at the hip!!! It was such a great few weeks and we’ll never forget the excitement of engines revving and the experience of flying with women who are arguably among the best in the field. Our sponsors were with us every moment. Overall, I think we’re left with an intense pride to play a part in aviation and to be pilots. The community of plane-lovers is vast and passionate. We met them all along the way—in the hangars, at the FBOs, in the Girl Scouts, and most importantly in each of the other planes who flew in the race. Some people think we were nuts to have tackled this project, but we weren’t really nuts…just “plane” crazy.
Gloria
Check back often, we are not done yet………………………
Sorry to have been silent for two full days…but if you were here, you’d understand!!! We arrived in Franklin, PA, eager to proceed and complete our flight. We’d had visibility issues coming into Franklin…we flew above one MOA and through one that we knew was “hot”….That gave us plenty of encouragement to fly faster. We decided to check weather in Franklin before continuing on our way to Saratoga We took a last look at the weather. It indicated that we’d better stay put. The airport had a great restaurant…we lingered over a lllooonnnnggg lunch, then waited a few hours more. At about 4PM, we decided that we’d had it for the day and headed for the Quality Inn. A few teams hung out for a 5:30PM “window”. They got in in front of some fast moving thunderstorms. Another team wasn’t so lucky…they had to file for an IFR clearing due to conditions—and that disqualified them from the all-VFR race.
We loved Franklin,PA,--it’s the home of America’s first oil well and there are homes that reflect just how much of a “boom town” the town must have been. Eileen photographed the “oldest barbershop in PA.” There were quaint old stores—a candy shop, a great antique shop and a “to die” for coffee house with gelato. The town is very clean and proud. We wanted to hear the concert in the park but ended up running through the pouring rain from a teaming thunderstorm instead. It’s always fun to talk to the other teams when there’s a lay over…and back at the “Inn” we did just that.
From Franklin, it was a two-leg race to the finish. We waited for IFR conditions to clear across our route, then took off. It was the most harrowing leg of our journey! At one point we were “sandwiched” between two layers of clouds with the tops coming up from below and down from above. We decided to get below to avoid worsening conditions…and that meant doing a “180” back to a good enough opening to be clear of clouds to duck below. Below the clouds, we were at low altitude with lots of haze. We decided to go beyond Saratoga and get to Mansfield before the forecast thunder activity began. Outside of Saratoga, we had to skirt some mountains that had their peaks in the clouds.
We cruised into Mansfield and got yet another warm, welcoming reception from the town. Rich Barlett was here at the end as he was at the beginning. It was a fun race…and it was great to have it be over. The stop chair arranged for us to have dinner with a local family—they were delightful. We couldn’t have asked for a better ending to a great race. Their children, Roger and Kira, showed us some of their projects. We think the next generation of pilots will be great if these two are an indication of who’s coming up in this truly sensational field!!!
Well today has been great. We arrived at Mason City airport this morning but were unable to leave until about 1pm. Our next stop was Decatur, Ill but there was a line of thunder storms between us and Decatur. We called weather about 4 times then sought the advice of our unpaid weather man, Rich Bartlett. He agreed that waiting until about 1pm was the safest bet. BTW many teams have their own paid weather man! They are about $350 and give the team a personal weather briefing and flight suggestions. We opted to go with Flight Service, our FREE government weather service. We did two legs and arrived in Frankfort Kentucky about 7:30pm today. One of the nicest thing about this race is the people we’ve met—both on the race and at each stop. When we arrive, the FBO’s generally have a spread of food waiting for us—and tons of water and cookies too. They’re all helpful and so nice. The same has been true of each hotel. We’ve loved the Holiday Inns we’ve been at—especially the indoor pools after a long day of racing! The crowd at Frankfort was impressive. We were treated to local root beer yum…and local chocolate—saving for home!
Now, about the race. We encountered highly scattered clouds on the way to Decatur—and flew above them. We are perfecting a long, slow decent. It becomes really exciting to hear all the racers reporting to the airport…Classic racers fly by to continue…or fly by to land. Then a low pass in front of the timers…followed by a cool down circle or two before coming in to land. It was bumpy almost the whole way to Decatur…otherwise, we’ve had generally smooth air en route.
What happens in the cockpit stays in the cockpit. That’s Eileen’s and my vow to each other. Suffice it to say, it was an exciting day. We took off at about 8:30 AM from Bozeman. It was thrilling. The mayor (a woman) flagged us off as one by one we ascended into the Big Sky. The mountains around us were formidable but we decided to take them…that is, until the altitude..or “density altitude” made us wonder if we could really clear them. So, to be safe, we circled to a pass. But we got a “kick-ass” wind off of the cliffs to make up for the “go-around”. We were amazed at how quickly the racers fanned out. We only saw one racer on the whole first leg to Miles City. Yes, we passed them…but they had a “fixed gear” plane and we have a retractable so it was no match. As we’ve probably mentioned, the race is against your own plane’s time with handicaps for improvements etc. So if we overtake someone, it really doesn’t mean very much. We flew by Miles City, messed up our timer…then went on to Aberdeen. The FBO there –Quest—did our windshields, gave us a card and provided a great lunch. Then on to Mason City. The whole Miles City/Mason City similarity made for a little confusion…but not too much. We lost our tail wind on the way to Mason City…and the bugs splattered on our leading edge and windshield added considerable drag I’m sure. But we got here, tired…yet proud to have been a part of this very historic event. We were interviewed at Bozeman by the Gazette…and when he asked us why we’re doing this…Eileen and I launched into a memorable version of “Girls Just want to have Fun”. If that’s our goal…we’ve reached it already.
Stay tuned…and thanks for seeing us through!