Up, Up & Away

It was one of those days when I wished I'd stayed in bed. I was late leaving for my morning balloon chase, I turned right when I meant to turn left, I seemed to always be in the wrong lane for making a turn, I found myself in heavy traffic on streets I tried to avoid, and my morning shaped up to be one missed opportunity after another.

On the plus side of the equation, I did remember to bring fresh batteries, all my lenses, hot tea and a cheerful outlook, which made my silly mistakes more bearable. In spite of endless miscalculations, I still managed to find a few places to stop and snap some photos. The first two were taken through the open driver-side window while stopped in traffic.





It always makes me nervous when balloons fly so close to wires...




This balloon was especially colorful!




A smiley face balloon followed me for quite some time this morning. Every time I looked over my shoulder, there it was, grinning at me and serving as a reminder to smile, no matter how woeful things seem.


On my way home I came across a balloonist who had just hit the ground hard and was having trouble controlling her landing. The winds were kicking up, dragging the basket and envelope (the balloon itself) toward a barbed wire fence. I pulled over to help and discovered the pilot was someone I'd met last year. (See How To Launch A Balloon.) We averted a minor disaster and kept the balloon away from the fence. She was obviously unnerved by the whole thing and a tad cranky, which is no surprise. Hoping to soften the tension, I looked for the smiley balloon - already becoming a totem of sorts - but it was nowhere in sight.


All in all, it wasn't a bad morning, despite a rocky start. I've some preparations to make today for our very early morning journey to Balloon Fiesta Park tomorrow morning. At the top of the list is finding my gloves, thermals and winter coat. It's COLD at that hour of the day!

Therapy

Hurricane Norbert, now a Category 3 cyclone, is taking aim at the Baja Peninsula. Computer models take this storm across Baja and into the Gulf of California, making a second landfall in Western Mexico, eventually tracking into New Mexico as, quite possibly, a tropical storm. Leaving Florida does not, evidently, preclude being in the Cone of Possibilities. If Wall Street and dirty politics aren't enough to completely disrupt my equilibrium, the threat of a tropical storm is.

I chased balloons today, which is quickly becoming a therapeutic exercise in forgetting global disturbances. Stocks are plummeting, presidential campaigns are in the gutter, but balloons are rising.

Balloons, Balloons, Balloons

On June 5, 1783, a crowd of people gathered to watch the first balloon, fashioned by the Montgolfier brothers, a pair of French paper makers, rise skyward. It was theorized that smoke would lift the balloon and carry it away. It worked, but no one realized it was heat that made it soar over the French countryside, not smoke. After several more test flights, the Montgolfier Brothers decided to send passengers aloft: a duck, a chicken, and a sheep. Then, on November 21 of the same year, physicist Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and army major Marquis Francois d'Arlandes took flight in a Montgolfier balloon. The flight was seen by nearly all of Paris, including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. After 25 magical minutes of flight, they landed safely outside Paris with much celebration.

I hit the road early this morning to watch the Mass Ascension from Balloon Fiesta Park. I managed to snap these photos from a parking lot on Paseo del Norte before my camera battery died. I really need to remember to bring ALL my lenses and a spare battery next time I chase balloons.

2008 Balloon Fiesta

It's that time of year again! Weather was just perfect for launching the 680 balloons that filled Balloon Fiesta Park at dawn. The wind gently blowing to the Northwest, today's chase took us all the way to Bernalillo. We passed hundreds of cars parked along the interstate. Lawn chairs were set up all along roadways, while breakfast burritos were being consumed and thermoses of coffee were passed around. It was a beautiful day for balloons. Tomorrow rain is expected and the mass ascension may be scrapped, so we made an effort today to drag ourselves out of the house a little after 7 to follow the balloons.

Balloon Fiesta 2007

Here's the third chapter of a trilogy of slideshows of photos I took at the 2007 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. This year I actually got up at 4 am in order to get to the Balloon Fiesta Park by 5:15. "Dawn Patrol" consists of a handful of hot-air balloons that launch before dawn to check the winds aloft. At dawn the mass ascension begins, led by the Wells Fargo balloons, gently lifting off to the Star Spangled Banner, American flags hanging from the balloon baskets and rippling in the breeze. The day we went was one of two "Special Shapes Rodeo" days. When you watch the video below, you'll see what "special shapes" means.

Part 1

How to Land a Balloon

What goes up must come down. Today's photos were taken on the first day of Balloon Fiesta, October 6. Shortly after sunrise, four of us piled into the Subaru to chase balloons. Chase crews generally follow one balloon, but we chose to follow many, ending up just north of Albuquerque in Corrales. This balloon was just dropping from the sky into a parking lot. Step one: find someone strong to catch a rope.

A safe landing.


Now the fun part: bringing the balloon down and tipping the basket.

What you don't see in these pictures is the crew at the other end pulling the balloon to the ground.






The bottom of a balloon basket is a convenient place to post messages to loved ones.

The final phase: removing the air. Once the air is forced out, the envelope is systematically folded. The final press to remove any trapped air requires that six squealing children sit on the folded bundle.


We moved on and headed toward Rio Rancho, following hundreds of balloons.


Cam and Gail were duly impressed with our early morning adventure.

I can't say the same about this horse, who was a little spooked by the hot-air craft all around him.



Sometimes a street makes a great landing strip, especially if there are neighbors eager to help with the landing. This balloon's chase crew arrived several minutes later.



Honey, there's a giant cow in the back yard...

Time to go home and rest. Chasing balloons is hard work!