The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Saturday, October 12, 2013
The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Mass Ascension

We started the day at 3:20 a.m. Half asleep we dressed, had coffee and made the 20 minute drive to the Intel parking lot. There we joined another 100 or so cold souls and we all boarded school buses for the ride into the fair grounds. The Fiesta grounds are the size of 54 football fields. Along the entrances are white tents filled with vendors selling everything from breakfast burritos and coffee to a walk-on-water  attraction and a mini zip line. There are balloon themed tchotchkes everywhere. One enterprising vendor stocked up on cold weather gear. It is as cold as I imagined it would be, but of course I'm not dressed warmly enough.

Balloon worker, early morning

At 4:30 there is nothing much to do here except buy coffee and walk around in the dark. Nothing is scheduled to happen until 5:45 but the crowds are large and the distant line of traffic lights coming into the park is constant. Slowly the pickup trucks and trailers with balloon gear on them start to arrive.  It's still very dark. Everything is done by the light of headlights. It looks chaotic, with trucks parked haphazardly, even though the grounds are laid out in a grid with numbered, lighted posts to guide and organize things.

The Dawn Patrol starts first. They will be followed at 7:00 by the  Mass Ascension. The winds have kept participation down this year, but it's still thrilling to watch upward of 200 balloons taking off. Getting one up is quite a production, taking 5 or 6 people who know what they are doing and often several more who don't know what they are doing but just can't help but help. People crowd in to  watch and whoop when they fire the burners into the belly of the balloon. When the balloon finally becomes an aircraft and lifts off the crowd cheers and moves on to the next balloon. It is refreshing to see that they allow people onto the field. The spectators become part of the show. The lawyers and risk managers haven't put a stop to that, yet. The zebras are the traffic cops of the launch. Their uniforms are part of the show.

Fire in the Hole

We watch balloons go up and pick our favorites. As the sun starts to rise over the nearby mountains it lights up the balloons aloft while those on the ground are still in shadow. It is a beautiful sight I must admit. After the mass ascension there isn't much going on that interests us. We're hungry and tired so we make our way back to the Intel lot, a Denny's breakfast and a long nap at home. We'll be back in the evening.
The evening agenda calls for Evening Glow and fireworks. The participating balloons are all tethered. The sole purpose of this event is to display the balloons in all their colorful propane lit glory. If you've never been in or near a balloon it may surprise you how loud it is when they pull the handle to fire the propane jet. One favorite pastime of moms, dads and balloonists alike is to park  kids on the edge of a gondola and have a parent take their picture just as the pilot pulls the handle.  The boys love it and the girls tend to scream.

As much fun as they are to watch I don't think I'd like ballooning either as a hobby or a business. I looked up what a commercial balloon, which most of these are, cost: $20,000 to $30,000. And that doesn't include costs for a pilot's license, re-certifications, balloon inspections by the FAA, repair and maintenance, insurance, a truck and/or trailer to carry it all in and a chase crew. I've been up in a balloon once and I really enjoyed it. That was enough for me though. I have heard of them catching fire while aloft. That is a hard landing I would like to avoid. It's a risk.

Monday, October 14, 2013
Statkus Engines
Nothing much of interest to report today.  We spent Sunday night in the driveway of Statkus Engines. They were nice enough to let us park here overnight as we have scheduled an oil change for this morning.  We were supposed to be at Carlsbad Caverns today. Best laid plans, thank you Congress. We spoke with an RV couple here this morning who have 12 years of semi-full timing experience. The wife said when they first started out they planned where they would be every day.  Now they don't bother, and I can see why. They were on their way to Surprise, AZ. but are stuck here for at least 4 days because their radiator is clogged up.

There was one interesting thing. While doing the oil change they noticed a front axle seal leak and asked if I wanted it fixed. I said Yes, of course. The head mechanic came out several hours later and said that the oil had completely covered the front brake drum and pads, but they thought that they could salvage the pads by cleaning them. He said that it was a good thing they found it, because under heavy braking it could have caught fire. I imagined myself going down one of the 6% Colorado mountain grades with my front tire on fire. That's interesting.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Pecos, Texas

After ransoming retrieving our rig from Statkus we motored to "the World Famous" Clines Corners, a short stop in the middle of nowhere. We were thankful it was there, as many motorists before us also must have been since it has been there since 1926. We parked  for the night then came on down, 303 miles, to Pecos, Texas. We are in a Walmart here until the morning. So far we're doing pretty well boondocking. It is saving us a minimum of $30 a night in camp ground fees, and forces us to read (doesn't take much forcing) since we don't bother with trying to watch TV. We also tend to go to bed earlier to save battery power. It's raining here now and we're relaxing. We have a long drive ahead tomorrow but we will end up in Mustang Island State Park, hopefully on or near a beautiful beach. I am ready to settle down and not drive for a week.