The final event of the race for 2016 is the celebration banquet on Sunday night 6/26/2016. The results of the race are finally revealed along with any leg prizes for the teams that may have flown fast for a particular section or sections of the race. The ladies also had the chance to bid on a number of silent auctions to try and win needed flight gear, aviation art, or just that well-deserved massage.
Unfortunately the team did NOT secure any leg prizes or win any auctions, though they cannot be faulted for effort. Even though we interpreted the rules that the Bad Elf flight data is only used if there is a discrepancy among the official timing log, that apparently is NOT the case. Once the Bad Elf stopped recording, basically the team was out of contention for any prizes. In the future we will have to find a way to confirm when the device is recording or not recording so the problem won't happen again. Other teams were complaining about incomplete data on the 'Elf' so apparently either the extreme desert heat or whatever connections they use to ensure the records are stored need some future improvement.
Overall the entire team felt the race was a valuable experience. By all rights, if everything had not gone as perfectly as it had, our team would have never made it out of the desert before the race even started. So it was a complete bonus and honor to run the race cleanly and completely enjoy EVERY experience - even the ones that made our hair stand on end. Congratulations goes out to the Purple Hearts for a very entertaining week. Cary will be returning to St. Louis commercial at the crack of dawn tomorrow and Teresa and Denise will point the plane towards its home base in Connecticut in the afternoon. What an incredible ride - what an incredible life.
Finally we want to thank our respective families for their patience, love, and flexibility to help make this impossible adventure a reality. Also a big helping of HEARTfelt admiration is due to our friends, fans and sponsors for their unmatched positivity, comments, encouragement, and exceedingly generous support to the team and Operation Homefront. We indeed feel LOVED! Thank you.
The Purple Hearts
Teresa, Cary, and Denise
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