In the next few weeks it will calm down and I can get back to searching for stuff and compiling another excel sheet of things...and yes.. that will make me happy.... weirdly... its also making my job easier. The weekend was a flop, and then a jump... no skipping at all... unless you call the skip of the flop... Yeah.. that works.
There "was" a AAAA balloon meet in Rio Rancho this Saturday.... but... the rains the night before did not stop. Now... mostly that's not a major deal in the city as most water flows down the arroyos or the man maybe culverts to the river and is gone... Due to the uncleared and nicely left alone ground in parts of Rio Rancho it was sloggy. Not muddy but sticky. Its sand.. gritty sand up there and when saturated with rain it can cling and saturate fabric. Been there and had that done... and Sunday looked nice as well so we skipped the slop and jumped right at flying Sunday. And it was...and it was.. nice.
Bringing out two balloons instead of one is dicey. If there inst enough knowledgeable crew it can be rough.
Having crew come out that knows to handle the fabric by the load tapes and not to step on the fabric or how to plant their feet away from the fabric before moving it saves holes and tears... Holes and tears that are not seen until the next time you try to fly just grounds you and stops the fun.
Great crew that instructs new people saves the Pilot from having to explain over and over and over again... I love it.. and we had great crew today. So I got to work with the cameras and check the system out with a closer eye than normal.
We flew In Czech ( Terpsnickery ) since I am trying to rotate the envelopes every flight. She is lighter but as strong and easy to load in and out. Flying was a nice curve from South East to South West in a very nice curve curve... from the track the tablet saved it looks like a fantastic bow. What you cant see is that we went up and stalled out around 6320msl for a while... shooting pictures and such until deciding to drop in to the nearby arroyo for a short break on the ground.
Landing we noticed we had stopped short of a bush full of big bumble bees.... after checking that Trent was not going to bounce off us we started taking pics of the bees but they were bouncing so fast all about it was next to impossible....
We lofted out of there and continued our curve and ended up headed towards a park.. but not close enough to make the first part. The second section was possible but it would be a quick drop over a tree.. which happened.. and with a brush past the tree landed nicely.
The grass of the park was so wet the crew had to walk me and the balloon out to the parking lot to lay out... and that went off with only a little sea sickness on my part.... swaying around about it a bit... much.
Here are the shots of all the fun today....
The crew..and crew and crew and balloons and stuff that happens after you leave the ground.
Some people like to fly above the ground.. and some dont.
Trent owns the sky around his beautiful balloon.
Eric and Kisses effortlessly zip hither and yon.
There are many balloons below me. Can you all separate so I can come down.... They did.
Sun Dagger flies the skies of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho again under new management. Its a lovely balloon and they had a good time today.
MOJO ( Ytivarg ) floats over the park in Breezys hand under instruction of Mo and Mezz. Cant get better than that.
The morning watch... See the sky... feel the breeze.... decide to wait...
Off to the South East its rippling but the breeze is almost nonexistent.
Over head the clouds are breaking up in strange patterns.
Landed and walked to the car.
Laid out and ready for straps and a warm bag.
Crown ring. It holds everything together at the top... very nice.. very big.. very strong.
And on the way back to the main road from packing MOJO up we almost drove right over this snik. It was just laying there. Thought it was dead. Got out of the truck and walked up to it and nope... ALIVE... not rattling but def big enough to take us out. We shot our pics then advised it to get off the road .. which it did .. it curled up and started getting fussy so we got back in the truck and drove on... Leave and let be.
NO BITES!
Back home after tailgating and swapping stories... video and picture dump. Another time the GoPro failed but the Kodak 360 caught it all. Something is wrong with the battery I think.
Loaded pictures to fazebook cause I love sharing with my friends and they take fantastic shots of me so we share....
Here is me in the yellow and white balloon taking pictures of the bees...
Eric pic.
Bee!!!!
Just had to.
Have a great week! See you next...
