First Day of Balloon Fiesta

Firstly, Jim and I are OK!!!! You will probably see on the national news photos of a man falling out of a balloon at the Balloon Fiesta. Yes, he was one of the 30 rigs and part of the Escapees Boomer group. He fractured his pelvis and a vertebrae and will be in the hospital for 2-3 weeks, but he will be OK. Jim was flying in a balloon at the same time, but I knew who he was crewing with and when I saw the balloon make such a hard landing, I knew it wasn't Jim. OK, so on with the story of the day.
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Can you believe that banner shot??? Yes, it is pretty unbelievable and indescribable, too. I'm going to quote our Escapee friend, Marty Cassidy, in his blog posting because I couldn't write it any better.

I was up at 4:30 to walk over to the launch field for the morning's activities. The forecast was for perfect weather (winds) and it's a monstrous crowd that shows up for the show. Dawn Patrol, about 12 balloons, launches at 6:45, just before the sun breaks the horizon. Their ostensible function is to show the others what happens as they go up and down in the air.

Since it's still somewhat dark, the show is pretty as their gas jets go on and off. Note to people unfamiliar with balloons: they can only go up and down under pilot control. To go a direction the pilot must find air moving that way. It's surprising that a height difference of even a few dozen feet can change the direction.

At 7:00 the rest of the field starts launching about 30 at a time. That's a dramatic sight.Most seemed to be heading towards my RV, so I headed back. Besides, it's cold out there and I wanted to get warm. Sure enough, balloons were a few feet above my head all over the place, and many landing in the field. A lot crashing, too. I'm sure one is going to hit an RV before the week is over.It seems to be the rule that, with just a few exceptions, balloons can land anyplace they want, including streets and parking lots, which happens. Actually, they can land anywhere, but the hassle they get when landing on the Air Force Base offers incentive to go elsewhere.

Once enough crew shows up, it's a pretty quick process to pick it all up and pack it in the back of a pickup truck. Crew jumps in the back of the truck and rides back to the launch field. The city doesn't seem to have any laws regarding number of people in a pickup bed.

By noon everything's done and traffic is back to normal, so despite the chaos the city seems adapted to the event and handles it well. Tonight, about now, the balloons are inflating to get ready for the Glow. They stay tethered to the ground but fire their jets as the sun goes down. I'll pass on that tonight, but pick it up later in the week. The forecast for tomorrow is rather dismal for ballooning, so I'll bet all events will be cancelled.

These are some of the unique shapes of balloons we saw on the first day. That Creamland cow is HUGE. The Witch landed right behind the Boomer rvs. Here are some additional photos I took.

There was even a wedding that took place on the field; here is the happy couple. Lots of champaign flowed!!! Typically after the balloons take off and the chase truck finds them and packs up the envelope, everyone comes back to the launch field and parties for most of the afternoon. Champaign is served every day with and without orange juice and usually brats and chips.

Sunday it was too windy for most of the balloons to fly and was today; but about 100 balloons did inflate and go up; it was a very stiff breeze and the trips were pretty short.

Remember, you are loved.