More Balloon Pictu

These are some of the pictures I took the first few days of the Balloon Fiesta.

Remember to check back because I still have another weekend full of pictures to post. The next set of pictures will include some of the pictures Marcia took while she was up in the balloon, and I have several of the balloon she was in although my zoom wouldn't pull it in as well as I had hoped it would. So please stay tuned.....

Bad Week for Balloons

  We arrived here at the balloon fiesta on Wednesday, saw a couple balloons Thursday and Friday, and a lot of Balloons Saturday Sunday  Monday and Tuesday. But high winds kept the balloons in their bags Wednesday and Thursday, and rain Friday washed out the activities at Balloon Fiesta.

  It was awesome seeing the balloons flying for the four days they flew. If you enjoy balloons and have never witnessed Balloon Fiesta you are missing out on a truly amazing event. We are not in the best location here at the balloon fiesta park, but we are in a great spot and we didn't have to fork out $300 per night. To have balloons land right in front of the RV has been grand, and to take pictures of them from the drivers seat was pretty good too.

 Marcia, Jim and Nancy have been faithful crew members for Morning Wood all week, and from what I'm told they are next in line to get a ride, that is if the weather will give them enough of a window of good weather to fly.  The news and the park officials have been really optimistic about the weather, and the balloons getting to fly, but it just hasn't happened the past few days.

  Saturday and Sunday (today and tomorrow) look good for flying according to the weather reports, if the wet field doesn't prevent them from laying out the balloons so they can fill them with air. The only draw back is it will be C O L D here in ABQ. Right now my android phone shows 41 degrees and the weather shows high 30's for the next few lows. Something about 30's and Chasing the 70's doesn't mix but I am really hoping Marcia gets to get in the basket and fly one morning.

 We have been to almost every casino around here while the weather has kept the balloons grounded. Some of the casino's give you $25 in free play if you sign up for their players card, so it is inviting to play the slots on their money. We have also stocked up on cigeretts here buying the indian smokes on the reservations.

 We have the "Mr Buddy" heater going in the rig, so I will stay good and warm, but the ones crewing will  get cold until the sun comes out, (if the clouds leave) and when / if Marcia gets a ride she will be cold, but she really wants to fly so she will suffer through  the cold for the experience.

 Monday we will head SOUTH, Los Cruses, NM to have the front end of the MH looked at, and them Deming NM for a few days visiting Wanda and Wallace, and then we will have to look really close at the "etch-a-sketch" to see which way we will be headed. We will have to be in TN on the 9th of Dec for a graduation, and my doctor appointment, so will we fly in from the west, or will we head east and spend the next couple months in the south and drive up?  Only time will tell....................

The pictures will have to wait until I get better cell service, (verizon is really slow due to so many using it here during Balloon Fiesta).......

 

Saturday MASS Acension

Escapee Boomers Happy Hour Friday, Cool Judy instructed us as to what would be happening.

The first Balloon I saw Thursday AM.

Saturday I saw more balloons.

I'll quit typing and let you enjoy the pictures. (Remember these are from my droid phone.)

Some landed right in front of our motorhome.

You may need to blow this one up a bit because a lot of the balloons are landing and you can see them in the tree tops.

That was Saturdays pictures, I know this is Monday and where is Sundays pictures? I'll post the later because I want to add some of the ones I took with Marcia's camera, so they will come later.

I hope you enjoyed them.

alloon Fiesta

  Wednesday we left the fam-camp at Kirtland AFB and drove across town to the Balloon Fiesta where we were met by Cool Judy. Cool Judy is from Cool Ca thus the name Cool Judy. Cool Judy is the go to person here for the Escapee Boomers, we were led to our site right on the edge of the landing field. Once we got set up we met our neighbors for the next 12 days. Later was our first boomer happy hour where Cool Judy enlightened us on what was going to happen over the next 12 days, and she gave us the meet times for tomorrows training.




  Thursday we all met up at Judy's rig where she led 30-40 people over to the launch area to watch a saftey video, and then to register for crewing. Me not being the walking type I drove over and met the group before the video. After the training video and the registration we walked through the vendor area looking around. Like almost every other event the vendors charge way too much for their wares. $50 for a nitted shirt, $12 for last years tee shirts, and you get the idea.



After looking around we went back to the rig and hung out waiting for the 5 o'clock happy hour. (several thought it was too hot and not enough shad for another 4 o'clock happy hour). Marcia and I decided to check out WallGreens where we found tees 2 for $10, and some 3 for $12. We made it back for happy hour, but a cold front coming through had me hitting the bed. Marcia did the happy hour and told me all about it. One of the pilots came and talked for awhile.



Today was Marcias first day crewing. She was up way before the sun came up, and the report I got when she returned was, "they road around looking for a place to launch". If the winds arren't right they often drive a few miles away and find better conditions, but today wasn't one of those days so they stopped and had breakfast. I was really glad I slept in this AM.



Later Marcia and I went to the casino. It turned out to be very profitable trip. I played my $5 and wound up with almost $40 before I gave it all back. When I found Marcia she was up about $125, and she wanted to play it down to maybe $100 hoping to win big again. So while I was waiting I put in a $20 and had gotten down to about $4 when I hit $175 So after all was said and done we walked out with about $225 of the casino's money. Yeppers I thought we had a pretty good day.



So we returned intime for the 5 o'clock happy hour where Cool Judy and others gave a re-cap of todays events, and she explained some of tomorrows events. Then we went to dinner with two other couples, Jim and Nancy, and Kaz and Vickie (I think that was her name). We had a pretty good meal at El Pinto, I guess they concider it a "New Mexico" Mexican restauraunt. Sorry I don't have pictures to show, but they will come later. Tomorrow is the mass assention where about 600 balloons will take off in two waves. I'll do my best to get some good pics if I get out of bed in time. The ones crewing have to meet up at 5:15 AM. I figure I got up that early and fought the cold mornings enough when I was working that I don't need to or want to now that I don't have to work............