Second highest in the air on this long run to Rio Rancho after a wonderful splash and dash with my brother.
So its over. AIBF put on a great show. The team and volunteers did a fantastic job of putting it all together. Amazing work. Sam Parks our Balloon Meister was excellent.. and he will also remember forever the little horses!
I was going to blow out the blog with amazing pictures but I am just too tired. What you are going to see is outtakes from my phone camera and some from the 360 cam and some from friends and one or two from the professional Fiesta photographer Bennie Bos.
Ill try and relate each picture.. and later when I sort out my thoughts I will blog the time line as best as I remember it.
Upward!
At 7450 or 2250ish feet above the ground I found a nice East going wind to take me across the field below and towards the nearby highway where I intended to drop to about 200 feet and take the Westerly wind back to the field. It didn't happen.. but we did get a visit by this damn huge blue chicken... who came up at us .. stayed a while and then zipped right back down to the field. Much closer than this lens shows. Sis, Carolyn along for the ride.
Since I could not get back to the field on this Friday the 13th flight I nudged my balloon off a few roofs and to the other side of some power lines and descended to the ground. My lovely Sherpa crew dragged my poor self off to a nice park to the South to lay down in grass. The best way I find to drop the system is to lay down with the upright pole behind me and just go down with it. Other Pilots have other methods. New crew member learning the ropes to the left and Justin to the right. My Ex Son in law. Great guy.
The Lindstrand Clear Choice basket with an acrylic clear floor. Lisa lent it to me for the weekend and I made good use of it flying one of my crew, Andy and then Bennie Bos the official photographer. Both excellent flights. More on the basket as we go....
My Granddaughter Emmers was out for a few days and had a great time making faces at anyone with a camera pointed in her direction. She is the sweetest kid Ive ever known.
Morning Pilot brief at 0600! The first day we were almost late due to the amount of traffic trying to get in to the field.. and we have our own entry ways just for Pilots and crew. The blow up pylon is to show us how high 75 feet is during competition.
On landing the second day I had to search quite a bit to find some grass... and I did but I didn't want to lay the beautiful leather on the grass so I had Reed run to the truck to get a cushion.. he did but tripped while coming back and I was able to grab the cushion and slip it between the grass and the leather with inches to spare. It was impressive. Yes.. the leather would have been fine but I treat other peoples equipment as I treat my own...
A new special shape off to our West on the field. Very cute. Bob ( in the hat with the flower ) is watching the balloons inflate South of us.. this indicates when we need to be inflated and ready to lift.
Hedgehog... someone had a video of a hedgehog somewhere I saw... Another new special shape... as cute as the video was. Probably more noisy though. Pulling a leg here.
Bumper sticker on a friends trailer.. Seriously correct. We are having far too much fun most of the time. The only serious thing is safety and flight behavior. Everything else is up to be made fun of .. so you had better be able to give and take out there.
Mounted Police. They are some of the best folk out there and keep us safe... and the horses are a lot of fun for the kids... and some of the older kids.
Lindstrand.... And here I am going to get a bit fussy.... I looked over many balloon builders before having Lindstrand USA build my system. They did everything I asked and did it with a perfection you rarely see.. and attention to detail I keep noticing on everything they make. Beauty, Quality, Attention to detail and lastly ( I know this because I bug them constantly about upgraded equipment they are coming out with ) Service and Support.
These are the new Vortech burners. So damn awesome. If I had the cash I would buy them in a microsecond and never look back. The only change would be all the blue would be yellow.
Bolster sewing ( this is the upper padded edge of the basket. Perfectly straight sewing and neat seams and fittings. Every bit as straight and true... not just where you see it everyday but everywhere.
Underside of the swing bolster on a basket with a door. Doors are to get people who have handicaps in and out easily. Special made and to exacting standards. Even the flippin laces are sweet.
Not a great shot but this is the kick leather on the bottom of the doorway. its not a wedge or a slight lip but a real hard leather covered lip and the soft blonde wooden floor behind.
All the colors you can have on the Vortech burners. See that yellow there... the last before the silver.. that is what I want.
Side view of the burner bottoms... yummy!!!!
On the river run day... Thursday... we scooted out to the Rio Rancho area and came down over a big arroyo so that I could tack back towards a park at low level and as we got to the park and set down the penguin came over to check us out. I don't think it was peeping in those windows but I don't know for sure.
Heading to propane after the flight. Due to a slowdown we were backed up. Fueling 550 plus balloons every day after we fly is a daunting task but it gets pulled off nicely... so what if you have to wait a bit... Its all good fun.
Wednesday is Whiskey and cigar day... its a serious business. I do not partake but I do enjoy the colors. We now have a Gin Saturday and I think they are trying to come up with other days as well.. Nowhere did anyone speak of a milk and cherry pie day so I am a bit miffed.
Patturns Highperactive laid out waiting to get cold inflated. We stood her up for a static display and also flew her but it was somewhat hot out for her though she fly's so wonderfully.. but I will speak of that in a moment.
Tailgating is another thing we kind of go overboard with. Everyone contributes and everyone is welcome. Coolers full of water, soda, beer and other items to drink and food of every kind.
Our last day was blown out and we couldn't fly due to the high winds so we stood around in the cold until it was official and then went and had breakfast at Vics. Great food but when you hit a small restaurant with 35 people it kind of opens their eyes... but they handled it nicely and we were very happy. Andy was posing and now we have claimed our grid spot for the Queen Of England. Hope she is happy with it.
Some of the Zebras using the trailer to shield them from the cold wind... We knew then that we were not going to get to fly. Zebras launch us. You cannot fly unless a zebra allows you to. Makes for safe flights.
A shot up at my Kennedy Envelope, In Czech, attached to the Lindstrand Clear Choice Acrylic bottomed basket. Its really really clear.
Here we are in Kurt's picture sitting on the sandbar on Thursday. You had to cross the river farther to the right on a higher wind then drop down quickly to grab the low winds going to the left in this picture to get to the river. It was fast and hard to slow down to get in. I used the sandbar as a break then popped into the river for a good sail before jumping back up in the fast Westerly.
Eric got this ballooner eclipse of In Czech as we were lifting off the field. I love this shot. So many balloons and we only touched fabric one time with a friend. Excellent control with that many balloons in such a tight packed place.
Another great shot by a friend. In Czech is such a camera magnet. One of a kind.. and Mo my son in the yellow balloon with the black thunderbolt down below me just coming up to play.
A Bennie Bos spectacular shot of us sitting on the river edge. Love it so much.
The underside of the Lindstrand Vortech burners. Just wow!
The usual suspects lined up and ready to run. Right to left.. Bob Mass in Pitas Kiss, Myself In Patturns Highperactive, Eric Hodges in Kkisses Of Fire, Lori Van Sant in Black Magic Woman, Her hubbys balloon next, Kurt Van Sant in Burning Desire, ( dunno who this is or I forget ( old age )), Paul Olguin in Silver Linings, ( and another I cant tell you.
Another shot of the clear floor. You just cant get tired of looking through it. Yes it is very novel to fly. Scary.. not really. I didn't get much of a chance to get weird with it as I look out more than directly down. My passengers loved the heck out of it.
Patturns Highperactive.... A little back story for those that are new to this blog. Everyone else can go past this.
She is a purpose built racer shape balloon. She is made to go up and down at extreme speeds. She is small and nimble but will kick your butt if you let loose the controls. She is made that way. You can fly her and never have a problem but if you are going to fly her they way you are supposed to you can get her to do some amazing things.
An amazing thing was getting this 69,000 cubic foot balloon into a tiny park between three tall buildings and not touch anything but that tree in front of us and that only lightly. What looks to be a huge expanse of grass was really only 15 feet from where I sat to the building edge. we were touching that tree. We had to come in over another building and around another tree to get in here. All the people working in the buildings around came out to watch us and visit. Lots of goggly eyes on faces in the windows of the building in front of us. Even a good friend was there in one building so that was a total bonus for fitting PH in there.
Then just to show me he could do it My son found a way to get lower and cut in another way to land exactly where I did... though he had people there to stop him when I did not. hahaha unless you count this very nice guy on a bike with his little doggie. Totally wild day and awesome landing Ill never forget. The video will be out later and when it is ill post it here.
Here is a clip of my river run with my Brother Nick. Just a bit.... speeded up.
http://InvisibleBlack.zenfolio.com/p715442282/e99237a17
Ill try and load the tracks as well soon.
So much to talk about but this blog is way over sized as it is.
Gotta do a thing before I pass out so... Have a great remainder of your day and more to follow.
