Saturday morning and up before dawn, eager to get to the balloon launch field, maybe a mile from the RV park.
One thing about these small balloon festivals, is the easy access. We parked a few yards from the field in the parking lot of a tire repair store. It was still pretty dark and only one balloon was in the air; most of the flyers were unloading equipment or getting into position. There isn't much to unload in any case; the balloon, burners, propane tank and other things, are in the gondola. Two or three people pull the gondola off the pickup and other helpers start deploying the balloon.
Adjusting the burners.
Stretching a balloon out.
Once the balloon is stretched out, it is partially inflated with a fan.
Starting to inflate the balloon.
At this stage, hot air from the burners will finish the job.
By 7:30 most of the balloons were well under way to being inflated and launched. My fingers felt almost frozen, but I could still press the shutter button. This balloon rally has added more than a hundred photos to my collection of hot air balloons going up and down. I don't think I'll ever get them organized into anything that makes sense. Oh well, its a lot of fun and I won't stop going to rallies.
At first, it seems that launching a balloon is a lot of work; with enough help, however, balloons go up in 15 to 20 minutes. Getting into the gondola is a bit of a climb, no one seems to have ladders or steps of any kind to make it easier. The gondolas are small, designed for two or three people, but I saw several with at least five people sandwiched in the small space.
A small space.
Smokey The Bear.
This balloon, or a clone, has been at every balloon festival we've been to.
Bundle up the kids.
Well, so much for balloons this year. Johnna and I have decided that the small events are much easier on the nerves and result in the same funess level as say, the monster in Albuquerque. I guess we'll go to another one later this year if we get close enough.
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