Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Raining Cats and Dogs

We waved good-bye to Iowans and others who had come to Iowa City to experience the departure of forty-six airplanes.

Mary thought we could fly all the way to Norfolk, Nebraska, but not through the storms ahead. 

We diverted to sunny Harlan, Iowa, only twenty miles to our left.


Olie filled 'er up for us. 

A Cub landed just after us to fill up, too. He was on his way home to Idaho. 
"You racers? I just came in from Alliance. Storms 'r bad all the way," he said.

I felt delighted to make Olie Pash's acquaintance. He flies aerobatically. Olie donated his Pitts to the Iowa Aviation Museum, but not before removing its engine to install it in an Extra, which he still flies.

Olie's cat. One yellow eye. One blue eye. Friendly.

Time to take off from Harlan. This time we will fly much farther to the south to go around the storms.

Iowa had many rainstorms like the one I show above. Pretty . . . from a distance.

I spotted this crop circle as we left Iowa and entered Nebraska.

We landed in Lexington to refuel and found Classic Racer 24 on their way to Alliance. The winds blew at thirty-nine knots up the runway, so it did not take long to stop after landing or to get airborne.
"Will the winds die down at all?" asked Classic 24 before they hopped back into their plane.

I post this image in honor of storm chaser Ben
At this point we are seventy miles from our destination.

Thirty miles to go. Rain, rain, go away, come again another day to Texas!

Safe and sound in Alliance, Nebraska. The lineman guides us to our parking spot on the ramp.
I could have kissed the guy! After 530nm through turbulence and rain I felt happy to land. Indeed, several classic racers did not proceed through the storms and opted wisely to remain overnight elsewhere. We will see them tomorrow at noon.

Sue and Carol, Ninety-nines, greeted us at the terminal. They gave us pizza and a ride to the hotel. 

Daisy seemed interested in sharing my slice of pizza, but we compromised with a belly rub (not mine, her belly).

      The Air Race Classic begins tomorrow at noon. We depart Alliance to Great Bend, Kansas. From there, we will fly to Borger, Texas for a total of 481nm in the afternoon. If we have fair skies and favorable winds we may proceed to Norman, Oklahoma, but only if everything looks good. The rules state that we must land by sunset at one of the race towns. Safety is our priority. 

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