See out netlink is down at work and our provider is no where to be found. Insane! Monday is gonna be bad. Very bad.
Me and our ITO have been on the phone most of the day. Sucks.
On the other side of the coin is.... I took enough Imodium to get my balloon system down to Ortega's and refueled. 15.4 gallons. That is 4 for one, 10 for another and bleed 1 from the last. Not bad for an hours flight in the summer.
Building a balloon.. or at least having one built to what you want is pretty convoluted. Not that the builders were .. they were excellent... I had lots of things I wanted a specific way and they pretty much let me just go with it.... No one said no... they just were so nice.... maybe I took advantage.. I don't know but they made a nice system for me... Birthday coming up. 5 years!
Its the largest racer they made at the time... now they make much larger but they are so tall too!!!
I asked for a ring of matching colored patterned throat when they usually single color it. I asked for a yellow baffle in the middle of my balloon and they made one. We went around and around on the basket fabric colors but I agreed with them on the two changes... That's it below... I designed my own color chart for showing each item and how I wanted it to reflect the colors of the balloon... Yellow, Red and Blue...
The colors are how they were built. I did want yellow tank covers and a blue floor but they said they would get dirty so quickly that I would hate it.. and looking at just shy of five year old mark she has picked up some dirt. Its impossible not to here. The inset picture is for the type basket and wicker coloring, rope coloring. In the picture the ropes are all red.. on mine the center two are black. The color bands are slightly changed for my three colors. The black leather on my system is an upgrade they gave me for free... never doubted that choice. Red panels in the basket are pads so you don't scrape into the wicker on landing. The flooring.. Another request of mine.. its a very strong compressed foam pad that normally comes with it but I wanted a fabric cover for it... which they did and it has Velcro so I can take it out and wash it... Super nice. Flat topped baskets are so very nice and spacious... I went with the more powerful double burner over the single... but hay....
So many little details.. but that's nuts to go into here ...now....
Just wanted to show my idea drawing and say that Lindstrand did everything perfectly.
A quick shot they sent me of my basket being wove... and the poor guy who is doing it was dealing with flooding at the same time in Galena Il.
I have a "baby book" of photographs of her creation.. maybe Ill share that on her birthday in August.
I made up my own briefing card for passengers.... I'm not sure if its everything but its most everything I could think of... at least I am not telling people you could die anymore.. thanks Bob.
I love the "have fun" part at the end... Its better to let people read this then tell them the high points after.
I even made up a balloon certificate but have been very bad at making them and sending them out to those that have flown.... sigh.
Time to do things.. its 69 days out..... yikes.
Since I was on the balloon and going over records I used my order design for my banner on facebook today and the basket colors design as my logo...
Thanks Lindstrand for being there for me over these five years. No problems at all other than what I created myself....like 8 panels burned two weeks after I got it...YEESH! Less than a month to Fiesta! Lindstrand took my call on a weekend and got the panels in and Aerco had them sewn in ASAP! You would never know. Another reason I picked the design was the separate panels. No long panels in it anywhere... Better to repair.
Oh can I go on.. and there is so much more....
Almost its five year birthday.. Tomorrow if I have the strength and security of stomach she gets a good wash... condition and clean.. Ill take pictures.. make a brisket... we will laugh.... Or I will stay curled up in a ball in my chair...
