The Chase is On!!

The balloon is launched and the crew asks if we would help with the chase and recovery. Duh--yes!!! So the real crew gets into the truck and the five of us pile into the open bed to....









speed down the streets of Albuquerque. Hadn't
done that forever either! The balloon was down about seven/eight miles away.




Tragically, one of the balloons had hit some power lines (killing one pilot and injuring the other) so the streets were blocked and we were rerouted.




Our balloon was already down, but it must have been a good field, because all of a sudden there were balloons coming down all over the place. Because the wind was a little high, we were all over the place helping to get the gondolas stopped before they were dragged all over or tumbled about.







When the rest of the balloons were safe, it was time to get serious about our work. The flying crew had already straightened her out, but we went to work folding her in on herself and getting all the air out.









She was then carefully stuffed in her rucksack but a little (or a lot) of "mass" was needed to get all the air out if possible.

Mitch and David supplied the "mass".









She was carefully loaded into the truck and we were almost ready to head back.












However, there was the opening of the champagne to celebrate the flight and a funky little ceremony that was a lot of fun.

The fourteen of us enjoyed the celebration. Champagne at 9:30 in the morning isn't too bad!