|
Recent Events:
International Forest of Friendship
.JPG) 
From Pam: We had the most wonderful weekend, I wish you could
all have been there, it's hard to convey the feeling of awe we
had being in the presence of these remarkable women and men. The
Forest of Friendship is a beautiful place, pictures we had seen
prior didn't do it justice. Walking around the park, reading the
names of the people honored there, was a remarkable experience.
And did we ever have fun! Shannon and I left Havasu on
Thursday morning and flew 4.4 hours to Snyder TX, one of my
favorite little airports and fuel stops. We were still learning
how to use our Spot GPS personal tracker and found we had given
those following us a scare when we inadvertently turned it off
over Carlsbad NM. It was just about an hour further to Donna's
airpark. What an adventure to land there! You come in right over
a highway and a chain link fence, it feels like you need to
pounce in and then stop quick, at the other end of the (short)
runway is a big hill covered with trees. It looks a little
higher than your standard FAA approved 50 foot obstacle. As we
slow down, we glance over to our right and there is Donna,
waving us into her driveway. What a thrill to park my airplane
right outside her door!
 
We had some delicious Texas barbecue for supper and took a
walk around the airpark to see the beautiful homes and peak
inside the hangars. And everything is so green! We walked across
a little stream into an area where they had ball parks with a
walking path all around and we saw about 7 deer. The next
morning we were up early for our flight to Atchison, Kansas. We
packed our bags, said "let's go to the airport" and opened the
back door and there we were there! The flight up was smooth and
we flew low (to us) across Dallas, through the north of Texas,
across the Red River into Oklahoma, and then across Kansas to
the northwest corner. It was about 450 miles but with a great
tailwind and making as high as 211kts across the ground, we made
it in no time. The small Amelia Earhart airport was deserted
when we landed, we even had a moment's doubt that we had landed
at the right place-maybe we were at some farmer's private field?
Then a gal, wearing a straw hat and overalls and looking like
she had just come out of the cornfield, came riding up on her
bicycle, and welcomed us to Atchison.
The city is small, with lots of industry, huge tanks that we
found out later were where they make vodka (in Kansas!?) and the
Sante Fe railway runs right through town. We had lunch at a
great soup and sandwich place and then went out exploring. We
found the Amelia Earhart birthplace museum overlooking the
Missouri River. We found the beautiful, old, Benedictine college
where we checked in with the Forest of Friendship committee.
  
Later we went out to the Forest and walked through winding
pathways to look at all the people honored there. We found our
names, up by the Colorado spruce tree. We couldn't figure out
why Tookie's name had been placed there, years ago, but we knew
we had requested to be in her area. Then we thought-hey, Rio
Colorado 99s-people mistake us for being from Colorado a lot at
the section meetings, that must be it! It makes a good story,
doesn't it? Well, that's not it, they put Tookie where she is
while she was in the Inland Valley chapter in California, but
like I said, it does make for a better story and we're stickin'
to it.
Friday night we attended a cocktail party at the college and
met some of the other honorees and friends that had come for the
ceremonies. We sat with a group of ladies that head up the
Amelia Earhart museum and they told us to be sure and come back
the next day, Ninety-Nines would be admitted for free and, be
sure to check out the gift shop. We were able to do some good
shopping there!
Saturday morning Shannon and I boarded a special trolley to
take us out to the Forest, while Donna stayed behind to read and
correct our press releases before boarding the bus that took the
rest of the group to the Forest. It was wonderful traveling with
Donna, she became our "people" and took care of all kinds of
details for us, it made us feel very special! Thank you, Donna!
They opened the ceremony with a parade of flags, children
from all over walked through the park, carrying the state flags,
and then placing them beside the state's tree. Then each honoree
was called to the podium, where they read the autobiography of
each person, and then presented them with a certificate. It was
so interesting to hear all the adventures, and firsts, of these
women and men. Such a variety of stories...
Saturday evening was a prime rib banquet back at the college,
and General Magnus was the keynote speaker, along with short
speeches from Lt Cmdr Harper Phillips of the Coast Guard,
honoree Capt Aruna Kandarpa from India, and Angela Masson from
the International Society of Woman Airline Pilots. We had our
pictures taken with many of Tookie's friends, they asked to be
remembered to her and were so sorry that she and Don were not
able to attend.
We were expecting morning thunderstorms on Sunday and were
grateful to wake up to nearly clear skies. After a little delay
getting the airplane fueled, we were able to take off, and first
order of business was to try and find the Amelia Earhart
earthworks from the air. Check it out on our YouTube videos! It
took us almost an hour longer to get back to Donna's place in
Texas, the lovely tailwind from Friday was fighting us all the
way back. Donna made us some sandwiches and we said our
goodbyes, then put the nose on W and headed for home. Lucky for
us, Jeff was tracking us on Spot on the way home and met us at
the hangar to help us unload and put the airplane away Thanks
Jeff!. It was a wonderful weekend! Thank you so much to our
chapter for the honor of being nominated to the Forest of
Friendship. It meant the world to us.
to
view video of our trip go to
YouTube.com
and type in
billpamrudolph in the search
Membership -
Women pilots from areas along the Colorado River are invited
to join the Rio Colorado 99s chapter. Membership is open to all
licensed women pilots.
Photo Album View pictures of our events, fundraisers, and
Fun
|
UPCOMING EVENTS:
July Monthly Mtg Sat 18th
Fly-out to Catalina for brunch
Airport phone number is 310-510-0143 and the shuttle runs at
9:30am, 11:30am, 1:30pm, 3:30pm and 5:00pm. It is $20 per person
round-trip! Great price and a lot less than a taxi! The shuttle
will drop the group in town and the group can then proceed to
the hotel!
Best Western Catalina Canyon Hotel-for
those who want to stay overnight
Phone: 310-510-0325
Scholarships:
 -
The Rio Colorado Chapter 99s is offering three different
scholarships in 2008. Deadline for our next application
submissions-February 1, 2009 and August 1, 2009.
Recent Events Continued:
Breakfast Fly out to Big Bear June 13th
What a beautiful day to fly to Big Bear! We took two
airplanes and seven people, leaving at 8am from Lake Havasu. The
flight over was smooth with a little haze in the air. As we got
closer to Los Angeles, you could see the whole valley was socked
in with the "June Gloom" but up at the 6700 foot elevation where
Big Bear sits, it was clear as a bell. We did some sightseeing
over the lake before setting up the downwind for runway 26. The
airport was hopping, the EAA was flying Young Eagles, but we
were quickly directed to a parking place out of the way and
headed for the Barnstormer Cafe. It was a shock when we got out
of the plane and felt the cool mountain air! First stop would be
the gift shop for some sweatshirts. We enjoyed a great
breakfast, had a lesson on leaning for takeoff at high altitude
airports, did a little more shopping, then headed back to hot,
sweltering, windy Havasu....
 
Southwest Section Meeting in Glendale AZ May 1 through
3
Members Tookie, Shannon, and Pam, along with 49 1/2 Dottie
attended the Spring Meeting in Glendale AZ. What a great time we
had! We came away with so many new ideas, and talked to the most
interesting women, I wish you all could have been there.
Painting the Compass Rose
.JPG) .JPG)
In a two day event, we painted our fifty foot compass rose in
the old run up area near runway 14. Many thanks to Ken Hicks for
doing all the hard work of converting the measurements we had to
a size that would fit and for experimenting with chalking in the
compass rose on their back patio! We celebrated at the end of
the day with a potluck in Sherri's motorhome that she brought up
to the hangar.
|
