How many people do you know that go stand in a cold wet grass park and wait for the sun to rise?
I know a lot.
I could go into minute detail about every day of fiesta but it would overload you on everything of the five senses.. readers digest versions below...
How about right now I just give you what hit me the most and I can comment on things in detail later ( weeks later ).
1. The group who create Fiesta for us all are pretty damn amazing. Sam Parks our balloonmeister for the past 6 years is awesome. He was like a touchstone of cheer even when the weather acted so very strange. It will be sad to not have him up on the tower making us laugh in the future.
2. Our Zebras who launch us into the air were fun and helpful. Even when we were waiting and hoping to get in the air fast they were there to get us moving when they could. If only some of us Pilots could understand and follow the three row rule it would make things easier on everyone.
3. The quirky travel lanes into the field and to get propane and back to the field was a good try to sort out the knots of traffic that happen in the park area.
PS .. I do not even know what hoops had or have to be jumped through to adjust the process but I would help if it was needed... no complaints here.. just observation.
4. The massive volunteer support... it was MASSIVE and so very good. I am thankful for every one person out there that helped in every way big or small.
5. Weather support.. what a year! So much strangeness in the weather.... who could deal with the subtle changes that were happening on a minute to minute basis.. I believe some of the tequila stock needed to be shunted to our weather team nightly. Props again to Sam and the team that made the decisions to hold or stop flights.
We have a saying in the ballooning community that they all know by heart....
Its better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than be in the air wishing you were on the ground.
I could go on more about things but I will in the coming weeks....
It was a GREAT FIESTA.
Our long week.
Friday the 5th. Stand up at Emerson Elementary for the kids who would probably not see a balloon at all.
Saturday the 6th. Flew from the park to a local park. Causing my crew undue hassles of carrying everything out of said park.
Sunday the 7th. Static / Stand up on the field for the visitors. Weather too fussy to fly.
Monday the 8th. Flew from the park to the Rio Grande river for a fantastic reverse flow splash and dash into the river and off to Rio Rancho. Props to Rod Baca's crew for help out to the flat spot. Our team helped a British crew get their equipment out of the arroyo and to their chase vehicle who couldn't handle the sand.
Tuesday the 9th. Super variable flight from the park to a little water catch area off San Metao. Forced crew to haul basket up rock scree to parking lot.
Wednesday the 10th. No flight due to the winds. Breakfast at Vic's
Thursday the 11th. Fun, very slow flight from the park to the ball fields Southwest of Alameda.
Friday the 12th. Racer flight from the park to a road behind a building. Caught by the awesome ladies of the Boobalina crew! Thanks again ladies. It was sweet.
Saturday the 13th. Crazy shifting winds changed the launch order from South to North to a West to East and we had to go quickly. Great launch from Zebra Shawn, smooth ride in the air alongside my son in Mojo to the river for another dual splash and dash and reverse sail up the Rio Grande then onto a fun landing in a field in Corrales. ( Mo came in 11th in the competition and I am very proud of him for it ).
Sunday the 14th it was raining..... so for the first time Pilot brief was moved to the Sid Cutter Pavilion and we all stuffed in there out of the rain and had a great time. Then off to breakfast.
I want to thank my crew who come into town from the coasts and mountains as well as the crew who live here locally and deal with me all year round...
Rory, Hannah, Reed, Brita, Donna, Andrew, Carolyn, Nick, Mary..as well as our volunteer Parker who showed up out of the blue... and those who helped here and there. It all was so much and made it so fantastic. Charity..thank you so much for the assist on Saturday.. missed saying thanks.
So here are a "very" few of the shots I took.... PS.. I took thousands of pictures and had three video cameras running every flight day... so much processing to do in the near future... but wow.. some of the videos are amazing and the shots are ... sweet!!
Edits of a few favorites from the 7th.
Its always fly first...shoot second and most times my camera is pointing in a direction I saw something from the corner of my eye. I am pretty good at getting what I want for a general direction and an awesome camera in the Sony RX10V4.
I've loaded only 24 shots from one day to FB. I have a few to post to IG that I have not shown anywhere yet.
So much and so many to be thankful for and to...
Fair skies and soft winds and smooth travels my friends....
