Home!

We made it! We started the day in Wichita... Left the hotel at 5:30am and we were airborne before 6:30. Logged 4.6 hours on that flight to Santa Fe.




We were glad to do an extremely long leg early in the morning before it got too hot and humid.




The scenery didn't change much for the first 3 hours or so. And then a mountain finally appeared in the distance and we knew we were getting closer to home.




And the mountains slowly got closer and closer...
















And then we were finally in Santa Fe! We got lunch and refueled and as we were walking back to the ramp we saw Classic Racer 55 sitting on the ramp - a team from Las Vegas, NV. We never saw the racers so we stuffed a little note in their door handle.




And by 11am NM time we were airborne again - and we gained another hour crossing the AZ state line. It was a loooooong flight especially now that we recognized all of the terrain and airports. It seemed to take forever.




But we made it! We pulled up to the front of the Riddle Ramp at about 1pm and were greeted by a welcome home reception with friends and supporters.








We are so glad to be home! It was a great experience - there's nothing like seeing the country from a small plane. We had a great time, learned a lot, and were proud to represent ERAU. This will probably be my (Kristine's) last air race and I want to personally thank everyone who allowed me to have this experience this year as well as last. It's been a great ride and something I will never forget.




Thank you everyone for following our adventure! Be sure to check back next year as the ERAU Prescott team gears up for the 2013 Women's Air Race Classic!!

On our way home

We left our hotel in Batavia at like 7 this morning and decided to go to breakfast before heading to the airport. We waved goodbye to Hal Shevers and said thanks to everyone at Sporty's before departing for St. Louis. We had a nice flight in cool smooth air and we got to see the St. Louis arch from the air. Can't beat the view.



We stopped at Million Air to find an air race volunteer sitting inside who was on her way back home as well. We also heard another race team stopping at a different St. Louis airport as well. Everyone is headed home.

We took a crew car to get lunch and then took off again for Wichita. A much hotter flight although all of the controllers we talked to were very sweet and polite. Not a very exciting flight.
The only scenic thing we flew over was the Lake of the Ozarks... It seems to be horrendously over-crowded with house boats.



Nearly all of the blue and green Jolly Ranchers we had were consumed in an attempt to keep the blood sugar levels up.



We made it to Wichita pretty early and went to YingLing aviation - a favorite FBO. (In fact a Riddle grad was working inside.) We got a ride to our hotel and have enjoyed a relaxing night.  Tomorrow we're leaving EARLY and will hopefully make it back to Prescott. Almost home!

What a weekend!

Wow it's been a long weekend! We spent most of the day yesterday straightening out some mix-ups with our scores. In the evening there was a party at the airport at Sporty's Pilot Shop. How can you go wrong with fireworks and airplanes? And opera singing... (?)











At noon today we finally had everything resolved with our scores (times corrected and a penalty removed) and we could relax. So we went to the aquarium in Newport, Kentucky just across the river.





Tonight was the banquet where we found out how we placed. It was a really good dinner with a good group of people from both ERAU Prescott and Daytona who came to support our 2 teams.











They showed a really cool slideshow with photos from the race.





And we waited for the results.

Aaaand the verdict is...


We got 3rd place collegiate and 9th overall! Not bad out of 49 airplanes! We're happy with our scores and also happy for the Daytona team who got 1st collegiate and 2nd overall.





We ran a great race and wouldn't change a thing. We were safe, worked well as a team in the cockpit, and got to see some beautiful parts of this country while representing our university. Most of all we had fun and met great people. We want to thank our supporters and families... We couldn't have done it without you!!

We made it!

We made it to the finish line in Batavia, Ohio! What a beautiful day. Started the day in Michigan, and soon passed through Indiana and finished in Ohio.

We started the day by driving like 30 miles to the airport at 5am... Dropped off our rental car at the airline terminal at Sault St Marie and then walked down the road to the general aviation terminal to get to our plane. We looked like a couple of hobos and signs along the road warned not to pick up hitch-hikers because of nearby prisons. Awesome.

We got an early start and a beautiful first leg over Lake Michigan to Benton Harbor.


We got lots of awesome photos.











We landed, got fuel, checked weather and decided to continue onto our last leg after a little down-time and some food. We were excited to continue onto our next leg to Sporty's home airport in Batavia.





It feels soo good to be at the finish line! We're confident in all of our decisions and no matter what the outcome, we know we had fun, met some awesome people, and got to see some beautiful parts of this country from the best possible vantage point. It has been a great adventure and soon we will know the results of the race!




Here's the link to an article in the Columbus, NE newspaper that quotes us: http://m.columbustelegram.com/news/local/columbus-airport-part-of-four-day--mile-air-race/article_cb7bde3e-bc6f-11e1-9c88-0019bb2963f4.html

Day 3

We made it through 5 states in one day again! Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan! Today was definitely the prettiest day of flying so far. We started in Columbus, Nebraska this morning with an early start.





From there we went to Watertown, South Dakota. Lots of lakes! We now understand where the name came from. Enroute we got passed by another racer in a slightly faster airplane, which made for a good photo op.





After landing and getting fuel we headed for Ashland, Wisconsin. Another beautiful flight.








Finally we took off from Ashland for our last stop in Sault St Marie, Michigan. Sooo pretty! Lots of water and greenery everywhere.








We considered leaving this stop and continuing to the next but decided not to due to crappy winds aloft. We got a hotel room with a view in St Ignace and we're glad to relax for the night.











Winds look good tomorrow for the last 2 legs of the race!