Well, I took the weekend off to play in the skies with only hot air creating lift.
Got a ride to my friends house with Little Guy ready to go...
Packed up the truck and trailer and off we went.
Cute puppy taking a nap in the back, Little Guy tested his luck and sat on her.
So much highway...
Stopped for registration and food, found a horse that buried his hind hooves.
Also saw an awesome pick up.
Pheona all awake and ready to see her new home for the weekend.
Slept well that night, not nearly long enough. Before light, we were up and moving.
Set up our balloon...
and off she goes. (Blue with horizontal silver stripe and square, named Silver Lining.)
My crew mate and Little Guy hit it off.
We had a little fun with a small mud puddle.
Breakfast.
Spent the rest of the afternoon wasting time and enjoying the relaxed ice cold room.
Finished my day with some raspberries in bed.
Again, up early and off we went, this time to Red Rock Park. (Here you can see Church Rock silhouetted.)
All of us were short for crew the whole weekend and so my crew mate and I went to help another pilot fly as my pilot helped another.
Our playground.
A nice shot of the colorful parachute during the cold inflate stage.
Little Guy...
During cold inflate, we must hold onto the cables attaching the envelope (balloon) to the basket in the air so that the fan has a large enough opening to do its job.
We had a few friends around us.
You can see the balloon we were helping in the top left. (Dark blue top with a multi colored pattern below the equator.)
Pheona just chilling like a villian...
We are an odd bunch, must be why I fit in so well.
Meet the Flying Monkey's mascot. "He" has been hanging on for dear life for a while now.
Playing with the rocks, the pilots like to slide their baskets up and down the rock face to be able to change which wind they are experiencing. (The winds above the canyons are more normal and the winds inside the canyon depend on what mother nature is feeling like doing. Allows the pilots to take off, play for a while and land where they took off from.)
My camera isn't too bad at zoomed shots.
Some of the colors come through, but it is very hard to capture the beautiful color array with the balloons flying all around.
Pilot for the day decided to leave the canyon, off we went to chase him down.
He wasn't the only one leaving the canyon.
Peeking the balloon above the horizon. Just gorgeous scenery, will have to take a ride through there someday soon.
Pilot for the day landed on the highway and we were able to pack the balloon up very quickly and without incident. (I totally took a power nap while the chase vehicle was slowly creeping to where the balloon was going to land.)
That afternoon, we filled it with fun. We started with a car show of what New Mexico has most to offer...
Never believe I fit into one of these, would you?
New Mexico mostly has older cars, muscle cars and low riders with a few sports cars. I tend to only take pictures of the ones that interest me.
Back to the hotel for a nap.
Pretty ominous clouds in our future...
Then my crew mate and I went to see the movie Lucy, great flick. Makes you think and causes debates.
Off to the Freedom Ride Candle fun...
The bikes passing us for the first time on their way to the western New Mexico border.
LITTLE GUY! Get out of the road!
Much better.
So we set up our baskets and burners on both sides of the road without the envelopes.
Quick random fact, Gallup gets an average of 110 trains a day.
Then as the bikes came back through, we gave them a tunnel of fire.
Ah, Gallup, where you need to have police bikes at your motel. (To be fair, they were staying there for the night.)
All packed up and ready to go before the sun rise, good job Little Guy.
A few clouds in the sky...
Due to poor weather conditions (the wind was shifting directions way too often and moving way too quickly), the day's flight was canceled.
Off to breakfast we went and there were three more toys outside.
Back in Albuquerque and heading home.
Got back just in time for an Albuquerque monsoon storm, 30 seconds of downpour on only half of the city.
Do we have any other balloonists in the forums?