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Published: December 10th 2009
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Balloon Fiesta
One of the Boomers took this photo of my motor home with the balloons cruising over to the landing area which was just 20' in front of our parking area. He loves Photo Shop--can you tell? I had been looking for a Silkie Terrier puppy for a few months and had finally found a litter in Albuquerque. So I arrived there on September 24th got set up in an RV park and planned a visit with the breeder of the litter from which I would select a puppy. This liter was an unexpected “blessing” for this breeder; she had not planned for Maddie (her female) to have another litter….but these things happen. I arrived took one look at the puppies and knew which one I wanted. The breeder wanted a patriotic name because they were born in July so I have called him Ike. Dwight Eisenhower was the first U.S. President in my living memory and I have tremendous respect for him, he was a good friend of the best statesman Britain ever produced, and was responsible for the Interstate system; for which I thank him on a regular basis.
It was providence that he my little Ike was born in Albuquerque because I was heading in that direction to attend the Balloon Fiesta anyway, he was exactly old enough to be taken away from his mother while I was there, and I was parked with a
Balloon Launch
Although this is a photo of a photo it shows the amazing sight of 500+ balloons launching together. great group who welcomed him to “happy hour” everyday and exposed him to a social setting at an early age. As a consequence he never meets a stranger. He has completely taken over my motor home and is completely spoiled, but I can’t imagine life without him now. He will be 5 months old on December 18th.
The Balloon Fiesta was AMAZING! Unfortunately, my computer crashed right after the Fiesta so I lost all my pictures, which even though I say it myself were great. Albuquerque is geographically located in a perfect place for ballooning. Because of the topography, the wind at one elevation blows from west to east, at another elevation from east to west and at a higher elevation from south to north and vice versa, so the balloonists can maneuver their balloons in the shape of a box.
I had never been up in a balloon, so I volunteered to crew for a balloonist and showed up on the first day at the balloon field fully prepared with my work gloves. Inflating the balloon is quite a production. (Velcro has made an amazing difference to these guys. The crown of the balloon is secured with Velcro rather
Glowdeo
There are about four nights when the balloonists inflate their balloons after dark, while they are tethered to the ground. Seen here are just a couple of the chaacter balloons that participate. It's quite an attraction than being sewed at each accent.) When the balloonist wants to come down he pulls a cord which opens the crown a little (or a lot) and that controls his rate of decent. Anyway, when the balloon was inflated the balloonist chose the gondola occupants and I was one of them. What an experience. The wind was light so travel was at less than 1 mile/hour. But being a passenger in one of the 550 balloons that were inflating and launching at the same time is a sight I’ll never forget. They have people known as “Zebras” on the ground to orchestrate the launch; they, the Zebras, are dressed from head to foot in black and white stripes, blow a whistle just like a referee and wave their arms like an orchestra conductor.
I was parked with a group of Escapees Boomers (no prizes for guessing the age of the members.) The Boomers have been coming for several years and have a prime parking spot about a mile from the balloon field. The week is filled with various tasks for the balloonists, one of which is a “truck key grab.” The organizers set up long poles with keys stuck to
Baby Ike
He has grown quite a bit since this photo was taken. He will be about 10 lbs fully grown the top. The idea is for the balloon to come in close enough to the pole to grab the keys. The morning they did this task I had volunteered (with the same balloonist, his name is Jim.) It was quite windy so Jim decided not to fly. All the balloons were launching off the field and we found a launch site but Jim wasn’t happy and decided that we should watch the balloons zooming past and not bother inflating ours. On the way back to the field I told him that I was sorry that I hadn’t been a lot of help that day, his response was “Our reward for today was that no-one got hurt.” He had no sooner said that when we saw the ambulance.
I really enjoyed the experience and am so sorry I lost my picture and maybe I’ll go back sometime, but I doubt I would ever have the same experience.
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Al
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Too bad about the pics Lyn. I hope you hang on to the old drive. Sometimes data can be retrieved by some method not yet invented. Then there is that backup thingy one should do now and again!! Keep the pics in the camera memory until its backed up.