Colorado River Crossing Balloon Fest 2006
Chasing after hot air balloons was not something on my list of things to do this month, (or any month for that matter) but after making some new friends while staying in Rancho Sedona RV Park, I find myself awake at 5:30 am (to an alarm clock no less!)
Colorado Crossing is a smaller fest, maybe 75 balloons total. Red Rock and Albuquerque bring them in by the hundreds. But it was a beautiful site to watch the balloons rising and soaring into the still morning sky. A rule of thumb with ballooning I am told, if the winds are high enough to fly a even think about flying a kite, you will not fly a balloon. That is why they tend to fly early in the AM, before the sun heats the winds up and makes the thermals move to fast.
The first balloon off, some times called the Hair Ball, is usually a shaped balloon. Once it flies, it goes out and drops a big marker. Every other balloon tries to drop a marker as close to that spot as they can. Closest wins a prize, usually $$.
At this event on Saturday, the first balloon out was in the shape of an Eagle. Bigger events usually have a "shaped" balloon as a featured attraction. On Saturday the wind was low enough the eagle could fly, on Sunday, only those who needed to fly to eat braved the wind and went up. As Bill Butler said, it is better to be on the ground, wishing you were in the air, than IN the air, wishing you were on the ground! Besides, landing in a lettuce field can get pretty expensive for the balloon owner.
The balloon on the right is the one for the people I am going to chase for in Red Rock in December
These 4 are of the balloon I worked with this trip. Captain Bill Butler at the controls
One of the things I had forgotten about from when I used to help chase in CT, was just how loud and how hot the burners were when they fired.
On Saturday night, they got a bunch of balloons together for what is called a "glo", where once it gets dark, you set the balloon up but tied to the ground and fire off the burners. Is nice to look at. They tell me it is hard on the equipment, that is why not every pilot does that. The diner they put on that night for the pilots and chase crews was very good. Of course it was happenstance that I was first in line to eat. Really, it was just luck. And I had already taste tested the deserts, chicken and steak to make sure they were worthy of my pilot. After all, these are the things expected of the junior member of the crew :-) Good thing I road my bike to that meal. I must have burned off a few of those deserts on the ride back to the field for tomorrows flight. After almost 2 months at altitude in Colorado and northern Arizona, I felt like superman riding down here at sea level!
From the border of Arizona