Category: Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Sky City, NM – October 1, 2019

We are on our way to Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. A long way today 310 miles of wind

We are at this RV Park so we can dump and fill with water. In site 25.

It was a struggle to find propane today. First place was an RV Park where nobody would come to the office, next place the kid could not figure out how to hook up the propane hose to our tank. A lot of places had locations we could not get into. The next place Amerigas in Grants, NM did not exist. Made some wrong turns drove out of town looking for a place to turn around ended up back in town and drove by a propane place. Why filled us up and now we are ready for Fiesta. Leave early in the morning, get gas at Flying J on west side of Albuquerque. Then on to the South RV lot at Balloon Fiesta and our 12:00 appointment for Cummins to scan the generator and hopefully find what is wrong with an easy fix.

Deming, NM – Monday October 15, 2018

Had to leave the southern RV Park by 11:00 a.m. We were out by 8:30 on our way to a laundromat and then heading to the warmest place I could find. We should be so Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument by tomorrow.

After Brian’s balloon flight I had to add more pictures.

This is Bruce, his 37th Fiesta.

View from balloon.

Where they landed.

Jean took this picture while looking for her son flying in a balloon powered by hot air. Brian and Bruce stayed north and east of the RV Park.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta – Brian’s Flight – Sunday October 14, 2018

Here are more pictures of Brian’s balloon flight.  Don Clapp took these pictures while we were setting up the balloon.

Brian’s Flight:
Landing site:

Pictures of setting up the balloon and leaving earth.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, NM – Saturday October 13, 2018

The balloon got up today, light winds moving towards the northwest.

Bruce splashed the balloon in the Rio Grande twice and then the wind changed to the north and he landed in the reservation. The tribal police were very nice however they will not let any travel off the main highway without an individual escort.

Today’s flight, the blue dot is where we are camped, just north is the launch field, red pin is where Bruce landed.

Where he landed.

Bruce and John were able to move the balloon to this point before the wind came up and they had to let the envelope down. The chase team was not allowed to step off the main road ( highway 313) until given permission which was after the envelope was down and folded up by Bruce and John.

We had to carry the envelope and the basket to this point next to the highway.

Here is where the balloon landed, GPS coordinates.

Denise took this picture as we were driving over the railroad tracks.

It was a fun day.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, NM – Thursday October 11, 2018

The balloon flew again today.

This is picture of Bruce’s balloon I got from the internet.

I don’t know where it was taken. Working on the crew does not give me a lot of time to take pictures of the balloon.

The flight was from the north end of the launch field, southeast, north, south over the museum ( first landing target), northwest to mid launch field, south to land due west of the museum by a quarter mile. Chase Crew got to the balloon three minutes after Bruce touched down, another chase crew caught him and helped us bring the envelope down. A beautiful morning.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, NM – Tuesday October 9, 2018

Brian got to ride in a hot air balloon today, ZROZRO7 pilot Bruce Skach from Wichita,KS.

We have been crewing on Bruce’s balloon all week and we have sure learned a lot about ballooning. This is Brian’s “I’m going to fly where in what?”, look.

It is truly an honor to fly in a balloon you just got to help lay out, inflate and now get off the ground.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, NM – Sunday October 7, 2018

Morning balloon crewing.

I got to work on the crown line again today. Their was no wind on the field however at 1000 feet above the grass the wind was blowing 15 to 20 mpg. The field did fill up with balloons tethered to chase vehicles.

We all took turns in the basket with Bruce and someone would lay on the ground and take a picture or five. It was a fun morning.

Brian and Christine got here yesterday and will be here until Tuesday afternoon.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, NM – October 5, 2018

Today was balloon crew training morning. I was out the door at 6:00 a.m. going to an elementary school 10 miles from here. We went through the process of inflating a balloon and then taking it down so it is ready for the next day. The pilot we worked with is a really really nice guy providing us with lots of how to information and answering all our questions. He did not fly today because we were on the east side of the valley and the wind was blowing east. He needed to get a sponsor banner attached to his balloon and it would be a lot easier in the school’s grass field rather than some other field where ever he was able to land.

This is a picture of his balloon trading card, I took a couple of pictures of the balloon but I am to lazy to get out the computer and download the pictures.

Back of the card.

pictures looking halfway across the park

today

Tuesday

Looking forward to a great Fiesta, Brian and Christine get here tomorrow.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, NM – Tuesday October 2, 2018

We are here for 14 days.

Today’s drive:

Campsite pictures.

Out the front window.

Aerials from InReach GPS.

This is an old dump which is used for RV parking during the Fiesta.

The red circle is around the balloon launch field and the yellow circle is the balloon museum where we are having dinner next Thursday the night they light up the special shapes balloons.