The Balloon Fiesta was on Kathy's bucket list, and we had learned last year that the Boomers group in our Escapees full-time RV'ers club have an annual tradition of arranging for members to crew as volunteers for balloon pilots in exchange for getting preferential, discounted RV sites at the fiesta. Kathy said, "Let's go!" and so we went. We weren't disappointed!
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
We arrived at the Fiesta Park early in the morning, having spent a couple days at Enchanted Trails RV Park nearby in Albuquerque to get ready for our boondock adventure. We had filled our fresh water tank and stocked up on groceries. We practised our boondocking skills and readied our ballooning crew tools.
We had a lot less trouble getting into the park than we had anticipated, and when we were parked, we had more room than we feared. Even so, the RV's were chummy, with Sandia Peak in the background. Why, a rainbow even blessed us!
Our friends Eric and Ginny planned to arrive on the same day as we did, and as soon as we were settled, we caught up with them.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1
We lost no time getting out on adventures. On Thursday, we pedalled 4.5 miles down the bike trail along the canal to Nexus Brewery for a scrumptious lunch and even more tasty microbrews. We also had made a stop at Sportsman's Warehouse to pick up some camping equipment and clothes we needed. Unfortunately, Eric's and Ginny's bike tires picked up one too many goatheads (formally known as Tribulus terrestris), and when we returned to our bikes from lunch, all their tires were flat. Eric and David rode bikes home to the RV and Eric returned to pick up the women and flat-tired bikes while David caught up on some chores.
That afternoon, recovered, we showed up at the Boomers Happy Hour, where we received training by video and through a very personable presentation by David and Leslie, the owners of one of the balloons:
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2
For those of us who were game, we had an opportunity to participate in "Albuquerque Aloft," a program in which some pilots demonstrated hot-air ballooning at local schools for elementary school children. Here, David and Leslie explain how a basket is rigged up and readied for a balloon flight. Our good friend Duane stands by, ready to assist:
Once the balloon had been inflated, it had to be deflated and then repacked into the bag for stowage and transport to the next fiesta. Here, the schoolkids help pack up the balloon envelope:
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3
Saturday was our first day for serious crewing. We set our alarm for 4:45 am, in order to be to the launch field by 6:00 am. Little did we know that the shuttle buses transporting RV'ers to the launch field started running just after 4:00 am, and we were startled awake at 4:15 by the first bus roaring past our window.
Okay, so we were up, we might as well get over to the field. Here we are, waiting in the dark for the action to start:
Promptly at 6:15 am each flight day, the balloon pilots get their briefing on the weather and wind, and whether or not they will be permitted to launch. If the command is "Go!" the "Dawn Patrol" lifts off promptly at 6:30 am. The Dawn Patrol is a group of up to 11 balloons with experienced pilots who volunteer to lift off early in order to show other balloon pilots what the winds are doing that morning. Here is a shot of the Dawn Patrol as they all begin their hot inflation and prepare to launch:
We met our pilots just after Dawn Patrol lifted off and the sun was rising. The lead pilot, Todd Monahan, of Monahan Airways Ballooning, brought four balloons: Kermie the Frog, Squirt the Fire Hydrant, the Clown, and the Fireman. To pilot them, he invited two Aussie pilots, Peter and Dan Gillesppie of Balloons Aloft Canberra, and their pilots and crew chiefs, and two French Canadian pilots, Jean-Francois Ferland and Ian Shelton of Montgolfier Aventure Balloons, along with their Business Manager Valerie Doucet. Here are some of the crew gathering around the basket for Kermie the Frog, getting it set up for inflation:
Once the basket is set up, the balloon envelope is laid out for inflating:
To start the inflation, a huge, gasoline-powered cold-air fan is turned on to blow air into the envelope. Below, we are holding the throat of the balloon as the cold inflation begins:
Once the balloon has been inflated and takes its shape but remains prone on the ground, the propane jets on the basket are fired up to heat the air inside the envelope. Here, Kermie is getting his injection of hot air:
Voila! Once the air inside is inflated, a balloon is not to be denied, and upon the signal from the Zebras (the launch field flight officials), the balloon takes flight!
We didn't chase Kermie on Saturday, but instead moved over to help Jean-Francois (known as "J.F." or "Jeff") and Ian inflate Squirt. Squirt is a HUGE special shape balloon and very sensitive to winds, so Jeff and Ian only wanted to fly Squirt when conditions were just right. On this day, the winds were not acceptable, so they elected to deflate and pack up, waiting for another day. We also helped them pack Squirt. Noting that the French-Canadians hadn't had any other crew assigned to help them that day, we decided we would come back and help them again on Sunday.
After quenching our thirst with lemonades, feeding our famished selves with an early lunch, and wandering around the vendor tents, we returned to our RV by 11:00 am, exhausted. Baxter understood and helped Kathy nap:
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4
Saturday had been the occasion for a "Mass Ascension," meaning that all 550 balloons were scheduled to ascend together in waves within the space of an hour or two. Sunday was scheduled for the same. This time, while the winds were not very amenable, Jeff decided he simply "had" to fly - so he and Ian piloted Squirt on a short flight east, just making it over some high tension electric wires, and setting down not 200 yards away from the launch field up on a hill in one of the fiesta parking lots.
Jeff asked our friend Rick to drive the chase truck to bring our crew up to where the balloon landed. We rode with Rick and attempted to navigate. But this was the first time for all of us to be chase crew, AND none of us knows Albuquerque streets, so, even though the balloon landed less than a quarter mile from the launch field, we had trouble navigating the streets the police had closed off for the fiesta and it took us over 45 minutes to get to the balloon!
As the day went on, Sunday became rainy and windy. After returning to the launch field with our newly-retrieved balloon and pilots, we roamed "Main Street" (the row of vendor tents), exploring the Sid Cutter Pilots Pavilion, and taking a photo of Kathy in front of the statue of Sid Cutter, the founder of the Balloon Fiesta:
We were caught in a rainstorm before we could leave the launch field, and so we took shelter in a picnic pavilion. We were joined by hundreds of our closest Albuquerque friends, including these two kids, who were thoroughly enjoying themselves despite the weather:
When the rain paused, we hightailed it back to our campground, stopping only to snap a photo of these two dapper gents enjoying the thoroughly-English weather:
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5
After the extensive festivities on the weekend, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were scheduled to be light days for the special shape balloons such as the ones we were volunteering with. The special shapes were permitted to launch in the mornings, but were otherwise not scheduled for evening launches or "glows" (displays in which balloons inflate and light up from their propane burners, but do not lift off the ground).
We were there bright and early to help with Squirt. Here, Kathy assists our pilot Ian in laying out the balloon envelope:
David had a chance to chat with (L-R), Jeff, Ian and Dan Gillespie before Jeff launched Squirt:
This time, Squirt made it all of about 3/4 mile to the Landing Field right beside where our RV was parked. We got to chase and here we are in the back of the chase truck:
Coincidentally, our other balloon, Kermie the Frog, also landed in the Landing Field. The leader of our Boomers RV Group, Judy, took the photo of us in the truck above, and also snapped this shot of our truck entering the field as Kermie was landing further up the field from Squirt:
Monday was a little more eventful than we had bargained for. As we rode in the chase truck over toward the Landing Field, Kathy called out: "I can see our RV.... Wait, there's a balloon near our RV.... Oh, no! The balloon is getting close to our RV.... IT HIT OUR RV!"
As soon as our chase truck stopped and Kathy and other crew jumped out to start packing up Squirt, David ran back to our rig to see if, in fact, we had been hit by a balloon. A quick visual examination and discussions with neighbors confirmed that, indeed, the English balloon, "Grand Brittania," hit the cover of our roof air conditioner, shattering it but otherwise doing no apparent damage. In fact, one of our neighbors took a video of this unprovoked attack by the British.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6
Tuesday the weather was better yet, and Jeff was determined to fly again. One of the Boomers caught this photo of two of our balloons, Squirt and the Fireman, inflated and ready to launch among some of the other balloons:
We did our usual crew thing, helping to get the balloon inflated. Here (L-R, top), Chris, David and Eric are bravely holding the throat open as Jeff (below) directs that intense heat that blasts through the throat to warm the interior of the envelope:
Just as Jeff was getting ready to lift off, he yelled at us to jump in! You can see the excitement on our faces as we got ready to take a turn flying in Squirt:
Our flight was short but sweet: we landed again on the Landing Field and could have walked back to our RV if we had wanted to. Our chase crew arrived and we packed Squirt up without further misadventure. Oh, and no balloons hit our RV.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7
By this time, we had committed to be loyal to Squirt and his doughty captains through the entire Fiesta. This was a big commitment because Squirt is such a tall, ungainly balloon. It takes nearly an hour to deflate and pack it up after a flight.
This day, Eric and Ginny got a ride, and flew northwest to land across the Rio Grande River in a farmer's field. We manned the chase truck, eventually arrived and helped deflate and pack up the balloon. Here, the balloon has been deflated and rolled up before stuffing into its bag:
In this photo, Dave helps Ian knot up the bag containing the balloon envelope as Kathy and Eric look on and recover from the exhausting job of punching the air out of the balloon:
This day, we were joined by two additional volunteer crew, Chris and his daughter Emmie. Here, Chris, Emmie and David grin after the three of them wrestled the bag into the chase trailer all on their own!
Most landowners are welcoming when a balloon lands in their back yard or on their farm. These two ladies, who owned this farm, were no different. They pitched in and helped us pack up the balloon, and in thanks we took their photos with the pilots and Valerie:
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8
Thursday was the "Special Shapes Rodeo" - a chance for the special shaped balloons to launch by themselves. By this time in the week, our crew had been joined by four people from Dallas, Texas - Eric, his fireman son Justin, Justin's wife, and Justin's younger brother Jake - all pictured here with Jeff, Ian and Dan Gillespie:
Eric and Justin are very experienced with ballooning and hope to get their own balloon. This day, Jeff flew the balloon to the southwest and we landed in a beautifully manicured, sandy corral owned by a gentleman horse rancher and his doctor wife. The rancher helped us pack up the balloon and, again, in thanks, we snapped his photo with Ian, Jeff and Valerie:
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9
Friday was merely a "Special Shapes Glowdeo," so, rather than launching, the special shaped balloons inflated, glowed and then deflated on the launch field. Here is a shot of our balloons, the Clown, the Fireman and Squirt, all inflated and looking proud. Only Kermie the Frog was missing from this group:
We had two additional volunteers this day: Max and his mom. Max's mom has been a ranch hand among other strenuous occupations, and she more than held her own in the hard labor of unpacking and packing the balloon. Max was no slouch either. Here he demonstrates the "12-Year-Old Rolling Technique" that Kathy invented for more efficiently pushing the air out of our bulky balloon:
I guess we pleased our pilots with our work over the week, because Valerie asked us if we'd like to have our photos taken with Jeff in honor of all of us wearing orange that day. We were pleased to do so. Jeff is a dedicated, serious balloonist and businessman, and we were honored to be able to help him with a difficult balloon:
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10
Saturday was another Mass Ascension. The weather this day was perfect for flying and Squirt took off under the steady hand of Ian, landing not so fortunately in a field of cactus, sage and goatheads. Our crew spent maybe half an hour trying to clear cactus and squash sagebrush to avoid puncturing the envelope unnecessarily as we deflated and folded it up.
We were joined by a father and his 8-year old son, who had spotted Squirt in the air and chased along until it landed. According to the father, the boy loves balloons, but, rather than going to the Fiesta and being a mere spectator, the boy prefers to have his dad help him pick a balloon, chase it in their truck, and help the crew in deflating and packing it. We didn't even have to teach this kid the 12-Year-Old Rolling Technique. He had somehow already mastered it on his own, and he demonstrated a great deal of strength and stamina, joining right in with the adults in packing up. Here, he sits victoriously atop his vanguished opponent as we finish stuffing it in the bag:
During the Fiesta, we made good friends with many Boomer RV'ers. Besides Eric and Ginny, whom we had known before, we got to know George and Nancy, Ed and Kassandra, Don and Julie, Ted and Karen, Alan and Joyce, Tony and DeeDee, Duane and Jean, Tom and Pam, Mike and Sue, Bob and Molly, Ray and Cindy, and of course Judy and Luke. Some of them - particularly George, Ed, Kassandra, Alan and Joyce - helped us crew on various days, which was a welcome help.
Here is a photo of Nancy and George, who took an opportunity on Saturday to stroll the launch field and get some photos of the Mass Ascension:
Nancy is an accompished artist, and she has a very unique and compelling eye as a photographer. Here is our favorite of her balloon photos:
We agreed with several friends to meet for drinks Saturday evening at the Cantina on the Launch Field, and watch the evening balloon glow and late fireworks. Here's a photo of the gang - (L-R) Ted, George, Nancy, an unnamed fellow from the neighboring table (who agreeably photobombed us), Kathy and Karen:
The fireworks were spectacular. We took several photos of them, but none even compares to this particularly striking photo captured by our friend Ed, who was kind enough to share a big bunch of his photos with us:
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11
On Sunday, the winds did not permit an ascension, which was depressing not only for the ballooners and crew, but also for all the local attendees who had come hoping to see the balloons flying. We got the day off and did some shopping at the vendor tents. David picked up magnetic "Balloon Chase Crew" signs for the sides of our truck. This way, as we haul across the Interstate, anyone passing us will know that we're Very Important People Who Crew For Balloons in Albuquerque!
Sunday afternoon, the Boomers held an auction of items contributed by each of them, to raise money for CARE (Continuing Assistance for Retired Escapees), the Boomers' adopted charity. As part of the festivities, in addition to filming a "Happy Birthday" video for little Sir William, we also posed for a group photo by Boomer Gail Kapusnick to memorialize this great ballooning adventure:
MONDAY, OCTOBER 12
No activities were scheduled for Monday other than to pack up and leave. By the time we got up and out and looked around, our rig was almost alone on the Landing Field:
We felt a little sad, leaving such a great adventure, but, by the same token, we have many exciting stops ahead of us, with, hopefully, a reprise of this adventure in October 2016.
Happy Trails, all you Ballooning Boomers!
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