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!
We left Albuquerque and traveled about 50 miles over the Arizona border. Our campground is very near the National Park so we spent the day driving and walking the park. The north end is the Painted Desert, badlands of pinks, blues, and grays.
It's seems like forever since I've gotten a picture of Brayden that I can post. He has grown up so much. Now that Caryn is working outside of the house, Brayden is at "school".
We had some pretty ugly weather and the rest of the balloon launches were canceled, but we found some other things to do.
We took a tram ride to the top of Sandia Peak rising 1000 feet in about 13 minutes. The view was magnificent!
Yes, we got up about 5:30 am. The Dawn Patrol Balloon was checking out the weather about 6:00.
We got down to the field and found the rest of our group. They had volunteered to help the ground crew for Carmen Miranda. She was all spread out and needed to be held up, velcroed up, blown up....
Shelly, Lois, and Kim held the ropes out front so air could be blown in first to get her blown up before the hot air was turned on. David was holding the rope attached to the top of her head.
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....
done that forever either! The balloon was down about seven/eight miles away.
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.
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.