We are running out of time...
Fiesta... The 2019 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is 40 days away.
Should I worry... you're asking yourself.... you should worry!
Okay,... dial it back... So what. Sit back... it's coming.. You have propane right... Right... Okay.. tomorrow when I refuel from this Saturdays flight I will have propane.
Trucks okay right....kinda.
Trailers right... yep!
So what's to worry about?
Not a thing!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAhahahaahahHAahahAHAAhAhaAHHAHAAHa
Sigh...
Due to the high temps this year it feels.. and it probably isn't different than last year or the year before but humans have such short memories for such things.
Its more like its getting close but the things I want to do are held up because its still hot outside.
Its all butter on the bread type of stuff...
I would like to clean the balloon system... Burners cleaned, basket cleared and washed and soaked, bolster and leather conditioned Tanks wiped down... everything put back together.
The truck really needs two new tires and the side steps reinstalled.
Trailer is okay except it needs a bit of a sorting preparing it for all the items that will be put in it during the fiesta.
That and a myriad of things in the house to deal with... well... it seems daunting but it's not really.. just sitting over your head because nothing can be done all at the same time and you want it out of the way.
I am thinking the basket conditioning can wait till the last week of September. That way I won't get it dirty flying it before Fiesta starts... Check!
Truck tires are an any weekend before Fiesta thing I think.. so let's call that the weekend after Labor day...
The steps will be the weekend after that because it should be cool enough to get on the cement and under the truck to remove the old bolts and see if new bolts will fit and work.
So it all seems a terrible amount of things but it isn't.
Now getting food and drink in is a different chore altogether but that can be done anytime just prior to Fiesta so it's not eaten and drank up before.
So why am I still freaking out?
Okay.. find your special space... Breath in... relax...
*
This week was a wash. Many interesting things that have no interest to you all...
Saturday though I went flying. I got to fly!!! I got to fly my own balloon!!! I had new people to fly!!!
It was nice.
I had a new bag made by Aerco for the extra red line in In Czech. It kept it from wrapping around my legs when I turn around. Worked great. now I did get my head wrapped in my turning vent lines somehow. It was very comical at the time.
Here is the problem.
I have a 42 by 52 inch basket. Throw three fuel tanks in there and three people and it gets ... snug.
So I had little room to move about as did my passengers... though they loved the flight I should have pulled the 10-gallon tank. Its a great size for two people but three is pushing it. Patturns In Czech would have been a bit more fussy to handle as she likes to go and not sit. If you have too little weight in her she will try and take off...too little and she turns into a sail.
But it was a fun flight and we ground tracked, which I really love doing, and we lifted into the air at 600 feet per minute which seems slow but is a lot of fun. We saw a lot of back yards that ( like my own ) need some TLC ( not in this heat ) and a lot of things that baffled us. One thing balloonists do it critique your landscaping as we drift over it.
I had to do a little 100 foot adjustment on the end to get the balloon to move away from the power lines and into a nice arroyo to land and it was a powered landing which was awesome. Powered landing. I had to drop fast enough that we would have banged the ground hard to get to the spot that was perfect for the landing but also use a lot ( only half power really ) to slow us down at the last moment so as not to bang into the ground... which means hammering the heat then venting hard at the last moment to stop the balloon going right back up into the sky.
It worked. We touched down and slid over a couple of feet because of a rim of dirt but stopped right there. It was wonderful to have that kind of control over a 90,000 balloon.
I took zero pictures with my Sony DSLR. I was having fun flying and talking and all the other balloons went elsewhere... but then seems to come right over us at the end. I landed where I thought was the best place as going farther West it's much harder to get the chase crew vehicles in there...
Loads of fun... but no pictures.
Here are some throwback shots form 2015 with some comments in lieu of iffy stuff from Saturday.
My 10 gallon backup tank. It's always nice to have when flying from Fiesta field.
From the portico on fiesta field on a cold evening. it was lovely to sit and watch the sun go down behind us and see the colors the Sandias had on.
There are many ways to get into and out of a hot air balloon basket... This is a bit more complicated.
Wear sturdy shoes.. preferably a high on the ankle type... because these bad boys can go through jean material easy.
A design for Kkisses up pin. I should do the same for my own but never find the time.
My son Mo. Now a commercial rated balloon Pilot and I am very proud of him. Shh...
This is a picture I took that's completely unrelated to balloons except that they fly balloons out of this park. Its a picture of Victoria Park in Bath England. My favorite spot. This was a badly shot picture with film. I intend to get back and take the exact same shot with my Sony RX10V4. It will be crisp and clean and beautiful. It will go into this frame too. I will take many other shots of which I will post here.
Edit edit edit... Patturns Highperactive with Holly and Joe crewing. Time to do some more flying with her... after Fiesta.
A great sign that needs to be recreated and put in the trailer.
See how much room is in the basket. Take out the burner bag and upright pole bag and still tight.
A well-maintained trailer is wonderful. Yes.. it looks like this right now. The white storage thing on the right has been changed out to a more sturdy version in black.
So now that a few off the hook shots have been shared as I have nothing else...and some insight into the preparation for fiesta for a ballon family... a very tight view...
Maybe if it's a quiet week I will get some details in on what we do right before, during and after a balloon fiesta.
Lastly... I changed phones to the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus. 1TB of memory onboard was one of the reasons. It's very fast, very pretty, very powerful. I am still playing with all the settings and things it can do. Maybe that will be what I talk about next weekend.
I am far too scatterbrained right now to think which what how who when where why what.
Hope you are better, brain-wise.
