First Day of the Race

Today is what it is all about. We had our racer breakfast and briefings with ATC and the weather folks at 6 and then it was off to Centennial for the race. Centennial was really organized and got us off in short order. The density altitude was so severe that we barely made it off the runway. Luckily the same type of aircraft took off ahead of us, so we knew what to expect by watching them. We literally skimmed the tops of some buildings, so hopefully the occupants were not looking out the window. GPS keep listing "TERRAIN"! We knew we were low but couldn't do much about it. Eventually we achieved our desired altitude. The fact that the terrain dropped below us was a significant help.

The racers all were chatting on 122.75 and it was a hoot.

We shuffled for position as we flew on to KS, making calls to each other as we overtook or in our case were overtaken several times. Our heads are still spinning from the wake some of the others left but we were laughing and having fun the whole time.

Our first low pass, high speed fly by was in Liberal, KS. What a great airport. They were totally prepared for us, fueled us and the plane and we were off to TX. We crossed over hundreds of miles of desolate terrain and even crossed over Oklahoma. Our next destination was Sweetwater, TX and boy was it hot and a zoo. It was so hot... our shoes stuck to the asphalt! Sweetwater was not prepared for us and not able to handle the onslaught of 30 odd racers in quick succession. They kindly gave us a goody bag with chocolates but they were literally liquid by the time we got attempt eating them so no joy on the chocolate.

Our next and final stop was Lufkin, TX. Lufkin is lovely and we are here for the night. The only restaurant had a 2.5 hour wait, and thus it is the end of a long, hot yet exhilarating day.

Tomorrow? Who knows. We are too tired to contemplate that at the moment but will figure it out by early AM.