In Search of Warm Clothing

With mountains obscured, rain, and icing developing, 15 racing teams were grounded for the day.  Stop chair, Donna and the volunteers welcomed us and were very helpful and hospitable.   Miami girls are not used to cold weather and Elko's temperature was just above freezing.  In an effort to minimize weight in the airplane, we didn't bring cold weather clothing -- it is June, after all.  We searched all over town for a light jacket and stores do not carry such items at this time of the year.  We also learned a lot about  Elko.  Did you know that Elko was one of the stops on the first air mail route.  Elko is also a gold mining town, even today.  Several movies were made here and Bing Crosby had a tuxedo made of denim for one of the movies.  Several of us visited the Northeast Nevada   Museum and the Western Folklife Center.  We made lemonade from lemons.  

The downside is that we must fly four legs tomorrow and three on Thursday or we won't finish the race by the deadline on Thursday.  That means about 9 -10 hours of flying tomorrow.  It looks like the weather will be better tomorrow and we will need to have engine start by 6:30 am.  We also lose one hour of daylight because we will change time zones.  So early to bed, early to rise.

15 Racing Teams waiting and wishing for better weather at El Aero FBO in Elko, NV

Weather forecast at our next destination, KPNA

Low ceilings -- too low to be able to cross 10,000' mountains

Artisans create hand-crafted saddles.

"Thank you," Donna and timers.

Race Day

Today was filled with excitement!!!  Fifty-two airplanes lined up nose to tail, tail to nose from Concord, CA.  The first airplane took off at 8:00 am and the last was off by 9:15 am -- a fast sequence of departures.  It is truly a beautiful sight.

On our way to California, we passed Tamra's Alma Mater and today we passed mine at the University of California at Davis.  That is where I received my teaching certification.  I also lived at Travis Air Force Base which we passed near, as well.  It looked larger than I remembered.

What a beautiful day it was!!  Our breath was taken away as we saw 14,000 feet high Mount Shasta.  It was snow covered and surrounded by beautiful clouds.  We flew high today, mostly at 11,500 feet.  At that altitude, we had good tailwinds and easily traversed the high mountains.

At our first stop, Klamath Falls, Oregon we saw a dozen F-16s lined up ready to fly.  Many of the volunteers were ROTC students.  We decided to stay overnight at our second stop, Elko, Nevada.  We were welcomed with a barbecue cookout.  About 12 teams remained overnight (RON) at Elko.  Many people come to Elko mine gold.  There are many stories of famous people who contributed to Elko in various ways, for example, Ronald Reagan's saddle was made by a famous saddle maker in Elko.

Myra getting a weather briefing before our first flight

A view of Mt. Shasta

Tamra submitting fuel slips and signing the RON list (not her husband but the remain over night list)

It was a great day.  We got good speed, saw beautiful sights, and had a finely tuned plane to fly.

Happy Plane, Happy Pilots

Sunday, June 15, 2014

What a day!!  We have had the most incredible support from everyone --- David and Juan at Stirling Aviation in Concord, CA, Frank at Certified Engines in Miami, and the other racers.  The guys at Stirling Aviation worked miracles.  David unexpectedly found an oil cooler on the field and installed it in N37TJ.   Tamra and I turned into test pilots again today -- a role I never expected.  The airplane flew well and after a few orbits over the airport, David and Juan checked the oil cooler and found no contaminants in it.  Woohoo!!!  He signed off an airworthy airplane.  N37TJ is finally happy and so are it's pilots.  We are ready to start the air race early tomorrow.  We hope we are able to sleep tonight after all the excitement of the past few days,

The rest of the day included mandatory briefings, including presentations from members of Travis Air Force Base because we will be flying close to their airspace.  We also received instructions about the flybys.

Inspection Day

Saturday brought an early 7:00 am start time with inspections of the airplane and the pilots.  The pilots passed with flying colors.  However, the airplane is still crying for more attention.  During the inspection, we found an oil leak and a tire that needed to be replaced.  Good grief!!!  

We are so fortunate to be on sight with another great maintenance facility.  David, Kevin, and Sam are doing all they can to get the airplane ready for air race departure on Monday morning.  After a thorough inspection, it was determined that the leak was a crack in the oil cooler (thought to be a manufactuer's defect).  No one can find a new oil cooler near Concord so Frank, from Certified Engines in Miami, is doing his best to get one flown to Oakland by tomorrow.  David from Stirling Aviation here in Concord will install it on Sunday if it arrives in time.

Everywhere we have stopped on this trip, everyone has been kind and helpful.  People involved in aviation are the best!! 

In the meantime, we attended mandatory briefings focused on flying a safe race and connected with members of other race teams.  Every team makes a fashion statement with their unique attire.

 

Friday the 13th

Friday, June 13, 2014

Did you say we need to fly from New Mexico to the San Francisco area on Firday the 13th?  Can we fly that far by the noon deadline?  We decided to give it our best effort.  

After a pleasant stay at the Grand Hotel in Deming, NM (KDMN), we got to the airport for an early departure.  Bert from Dessert Aviatioon already had the plane fueled and ready to go.  We departed for a 4 hour flight to Blythe, CA (KBLH).  Blythe was a hot, dry, and isolated airport with no food but plenty of fuel and Dave was there to fuel N37TJ for us.

In Florida, we are used to flying over airports all over the state but during our flight today over New Mexico and Arizona we noticed very few airports and the ones we did fly over were small with single runways and limited services.  Many did not even have fuel but they were all picturesque and had a story to tell.  Tamra became nostalgic as we flew over her Alma Mater, the University of Arizona in Tucson, and Mount Lemon.

From Blythe, we planned to fly to Bakersfieild Muni (L45) and as we were on final, ATC reported that the runway was closed.  We had to make a quick decision and diverted to Meadows Airport, CA (KBFL).  I am not sure how a single pilot could handle a quick change like that but with two of us, it was no problem.  We landed at Meadows and felt like we had been transported back to the future.  KBFL is a fully modern airport with a tower, unlike the airports we visited the day before.  Atlantic Aviation loaned us a car so we could get a meal and they kindly took care of the airplane, including washing the window and without being asked to do that.  As we were preparing to leave, we met a gentleman who was getting out of his airplane and he said, "Are you going to the Concord?"  Wondering how he knew about the Air Race Classic, we asked.  He explained that he had been helping one of the other racers prepare for the race.  (He recognized us from the large 25 on our tail.)

We arrived at Concord, CA (KCCR), the air race start location, at 7:30 pm.  We given an extension to the deadline because of our many mechanical issues and we were joyfully welcomed by several other racers.  A good night's sleep is what we needed to be ready to start early on Saturday.  The hotel is right on the airport and we wake up to a flight line full of beautiful airplanes.

We Made It to the Race Start!!!

We had a great day of flying -- about 9.5 hours.  We made it to Concord, CA for the race start.  YIPPEE!  Airplane and pilot inspections tomorrow.   We are so exhausted that this is all for tonight.  We'll catch you up with us tomorrow.

We Are On Our Way

We want to applaud Greg Evans, mechanic at KCXO.  He is an excellent mechanic and gave N37TJ a thorough inspection.  Greg changed the regulator, alternator, and starter, as well as addressed wiring issues.  He was thorough and patient and carefully explained his repairs to us.

We were off by noon, only a couple of hours after we expected to leave.  Texas is a BIG state.  We saw lots of oil wells and flat, brown terrain.  We stopped at KINK Winkler County, TX.  It looked like a blast from the past, an official old-fashioned ghost town.  No one was there so we had to fuel the airplane ourselves.  There was no credit card reader so patrons are expected to be on the honor system.  They leave their name and address on a stickee note on the door and they will be billed.  It is so great to find trusting people.

Here you see Tamra resting and Myra fueling the plane.

After a break, we launched again, this time to Deming, NM.  We passed lots of flat brown areas and high mountains.  The scenery was beautiful in its own way.  There were not a lot of landmarks in our path, so hoping from VOR to VOR is the way to go.

People are friendly and kind everywhere we go.  They are always interested in finding out more about the air race classic.

Ciao for now!!  We have an early departure time for tomorrow and must be in Concord, CA.