The weather guessers had it right on Thursday. The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Park was nearly 10 degrees warmer than the previous day at 5am and the day turned out to be a nice one. We took the Heart’s A’Fire hot air balloon offsite to launch for the day’s competition. There were two events – a ring toss with five poles on the Fiesta park grounds and also a bean bag toss onto golf greens at the park. The objective was to launch a minimum of one mile away from the park and fly back over it to complete the ring toss and/or the bean bag toss.

Our pilot, Brad Rice, wanted to head northwest to Corrales to launch. After conferring with his ballooning buddy, Neil Jackson, and another pilot, he changed his mind and we went southwest to launch from a shopping center parking lot.

We had to wait for the field to open for competitors after other balloonists not entered in the competition cleared the field. There are balloons launching from the field every day the field is open. So far only one day of flying was cancelled – that was Monday.

We launched a few helium-filled balloons called pie balls to check the wind direction aloft. The pie balls headed northeast – right toward the park. We set up and launched around 8:15am, about a minute after Neil took off. Both balloons moved southeast – not toward the park. So much for that day’s competition.

Both pilots tried different altitudes to see if they could find air moving north to no avail. Brad flew east of I-25 then found a wind current that brought him back to the west. As we chased, he radioed and told us he was on track to hit the Arroyo Del Oso golf course. I phoned the golf course and secured permission to land the balloon there. The manager had a groundskeeper lead us through the golf course to Brad’s balloon. I think he was near the 6th fairway. We quickly deflated and loaded the balloon and cleared off the golf course.

We joined the crew from Ireland for a little tailgate party after the flight. They had a friendly rivalry with the Viking crew which led to some tomfoolery. The Vikings pulled up in a pick-up truck, jumped out and wet down the Irish crew with water cannons!

After taking a nap back at the motorhome, I returned to the park around 4pm. We had a barbeque and little party scheduled. We celebrated three birthdays – Julie Jackson, Rita and me. I’m the senior celebrant.

Donna met up with her friend, Hazel Thornton, from Albuquerque. They rode the shuttle from the RV park to the Balloon Fiesta Park and Donna brought a carrot cake she made that morning. She also gave me the latest Kindle for my birthday so I can read books without downloading them to my laptop.

I’m 60 years old and have been retired for more than three years – all of my retirement has been life on the road. Who would have guessed it.

Friday was another competition day. High winds were reported in the area – mostly south of the Fiesta Park. It seemed like it might be a problem, but the winds stayed south and we had good flying conditions. This time we launched from a lot next to the Target store southeast of the park on the east side of I-25. This worked out great as the balloon was carried west by wind up high, then moved north to the west side of the Fiesta park and dropped low bringing it east again right over the park.

Brad missed the ring toss and landed the balloon in a parking lot on the north end of the park. We returned to the park and had the usual tailgate party with a few other crews that share row “H”. Someone had T-shirts made with “Row H Family” on the left front.

Each day after we retrieve the balloon and pack it in the trailer, we fill the propane tanks after we return to the park. Fuel is provided by the event organizers at no charge for registered pilots. A fueling station is set up on the north side of the park with more than 30 lanes. A maximum of three persons per balloon are allowed in the filling station and baskets in enclosed trailers must be brought out of the trailer before fueling.

By Saturday morning, a cold front had settled into the area. I went to the Sid Cutter Pilot’s Pavilion for breakfast as usual. The free breakfast for pilots and crew at the pavilion is anything but usual. Today we had Frito pie again. They have a rotation of hot breakfast food – breakfast burritos on the first day followed by green chile chicken stew, then green chile beef stew and finally Frito pie. I wrote about Frito pie in my last post.

It was breezy and cold. Flights were suspended and we hung out at our launch site without unloading the balloon. I handed out Heart’s A’Fire trading cards and talked to spectators. We were hoping conditions would change after sunrise. It was past 8:30am before the field opened for flight.

We quickly unloaded the gear and set up the balloon. We were the first one ready on row H. This is the nice thing about having a stable crew where everyone knows what to do and works in harmony. Brad and his passengers were released for flight before any balloons in our vicinity were ready to go. A few minutes after we launched, flights were suspended again as rain was falling south of the park. I shot this picture of a balloon inflating after Brad launched – notice the cloud cover.

Brad piloted the balloon slowly to the north and made a short flight. He could see a wall of rain moving in. He landed near a water diversion channel northwest of the park.

We quickly disassembled the balloon and had it packed in the trailer as rain started falling. I received an alert on my smartphone warning of flash flood possibility – we got away from the diversion channel fast!

A stage was set up on the north end of the Fiesta Park field. A concert with three bands was scheduled to begin at 1:30pm. We set up our tailgate party in row T, closest to the concert area.

It was raining while we set up and lightning strikes occurred less than two miles away with booming thunder. It passed after half an hour and the grills were fired up and food was set out. The cold, windy weather put a damper on things and I left around 2pm. Donna had joined us but left before me to visit with Tom and Kris Downey and warm up in their motorhome at the Fiesta Park VIP RV area.

I can hear the concert as I type this. It’s still windy and rain is expected to move into the area soon. Rain is also forecast for Sunday morning – the final day of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta may be a bust. We’ll see.