Race day 2 - oil leaks, weather and duct tape

Alison is writing this from the terminal building at Carbondale Illinois, where a large number of racers have hunkered down for the afternoon waiting for thunderstorms at our next stop, Elkhart, to subside.

Got up at 530am this morning and after a surprisingly great breakfast at the hotel there, went to the airfield to inspect our plane. Mary and I took the cowling off, after which I went off and did other things because I can't contribute much to a discussion about what's going on under the hood. But the field mechanic came and took a look, and determined that there was probably an issue with the prop governor. Not only is there a small oil leak (about half a quart each leg we fly), but the prop control is quite sticky at the top of the arc. But after talking to him, and our home field mechanics on the phone, the consensus seemed to be that we should continue and just keep topping off with oil. It appears that the worst that could happen is that the prop could stick full forward, and that's how we want it during flight anyway. But that's not all... when we came to put the cowling back on again, one of the cowl fasteners snapped, and close inspection showed it was rusted through. Simple fix - duct tape.

With the plane taped back together, we got a weather briefing, took off and flew our flyby to continue, and completed a beautiful calm flight with very acceptable tailwinds to Carbondale Illinois, which is where we are now. No problems in flight, although performance is down a little - I think the manifold pressure might be a smidge low, and vibration possibly a tiny bit more than normal, but all engine indications are good. This field is a flight school for Southern Illinois University, so its a big field with lots of facilities. As with all the race stops, it is manned by volunteers who are very nice and ready to supply free food and water. We even have entertainment (see photo)! So its actually very nice just hanging out here and talking with our friends, waiting for the right time to leave. There's a big weather system over northern Indiana that's moving East and a little North, and we should be good to go any time now.