Well, today, as the title would suggest was a good day. It had inauspicious beginnings at 2:30 AM when the hotel smoke alarm woke the entire hotel. I wandered out, sleepy and a bit dazed to find that the hotel staff was directing everyone back to bed. Good idea.
Roused myself to offer my services to the balloning pilots in a field nearby. Walked up and said that I was willing to help and literally seconds late Maggie grabbed me by the arm and said we could use you....and off we went. Moments later I was helping to assemble a 70 foot balloon in the shape of an indian clown. The pilot and his wife gave great directions and the other crew and I [all novices] spend about 30 minutes arranging and assembling the various components to the balloon. As we did our various assigned chores, we worked pretty well as a team. At one point I was holding the line attached to what would become the top and Tom, our pilot, said, "just keep it firm and when I add hot air I'll let you know." I am very very glad he did and had shown me how to hold the line in the event of having to let go....NO way was even my substantial weight going to keep that puppy from going airborne.
As we added our weight to the basket, he turned and said "ok, Matt and Karen [a different member of the crew], get in." This was totally unexpected and a great bonus. My expectations were to be part of the launch! We flew for about 45 minutes at 1000 feet over the Lake Powell Dam and the canyons. Absolutely spectacular!!!! We decended in a field and the chase crew caught up with us to allow the others of our crew to get their flight in.
Ultimately, the balloon landed in a badlands area that required a bit of pushing and shoving to get the balloon up the small cliff to where we could disassemble it.
As we went through the 'first flight' ceremony later with all the attendant hoopla and gravitas, we were invited to spend the afternoon on Lake Powell with 5 houseboats with all the crews and balloonists out floating on the water.
Once the balloon was safely stowed, I picked up Karen and off we went to an afternoon of meeting new people, seeing the cliffs from a new angle and drinking beer. A great group of people to meet and laugh with. Even a few of the folks went skinny dipping. NOT a shabby way to spend a day no?
Doug and Salli, two friends from Virginia are driving out to meet us tonight. Be great to see them again.
All for now - the festival continues tomorrow and Karen is also going to try to crew.
Remember, we love to get your comments! Kris, we've added more pictures but will, when all this is over, post a link to Picassa where you can view at your leisure....or not.
And tomorrow is yet ANOTHER sunny day...
Matt
Roused myself to offer my services to the balloning pilots in a field nearby. Walked up and said that I was willing to help and literally seconds late Maggie grabbed me by the arm and said we could use you....and off we went. Moments later I was helping to assemble a 70 foot balloon in the shape of an indian clown. The pilot and his wife gave great directions and the other crew and I [all novices] spend about 30 minutes arranging and assembling the various components to the balloon. As we did our various assigned chores, we worked pretty well as a team. At one point I was holding the line attached to what would become the top and Tom, our pilot, said, "just keep it firm and when I add hot air I'll let you know." I am very very glad he did and had shown me how to hold the line in the event of having to let go....NO way was even my substantial weight going to keep that puppy from going airborne.
As we added our weight to the basket, he turned and said "ok, Matt and Karen [a different member of the crew], get in." This was totally unexpected and a great bonus. My expectations were to be part of the launch! We flew for about 45 minutes at 1000 feet over the Lake Powell Dam and the canyons. Absolutely spectacular!!!! We decended in a field and the chase crew caught up with us to allow the others of our crew to get their flight in.
Ultimately, the balloon landed in a badlands area that required a bit of pushing and shoving to get the balloon up the small cliff to where we could disassemble it.
As we went through the 'first flight' ceremony later with all the attendant hoopla and gravitas, we were invited to spend the afternoon on Lake Powell with 5 houseboats with all the crews and balloonists out floating on the water.
Once the balloon was safely stowed, I picked up Karen and off we went to an afternoon of meeting new people, seeing the cliffs from a new angle and drinking beer. A great group of people to meet and laugh with. Even a few of the folks went skinny dipping. NOT a shabby way to spend a day no?
Doug and Salli, two friends from Virginia are driving out to meet us tonight. Be great to see them again.
All for now - the festival continues tomorrow and Karen is also going to try to crew.
Remember, we love to get your comments! Kris, we've added more pictures but will, when all this is over, post a link to Picassa where you can view at your leisure....or not.
And tomorrow is yet ANOTHER sunny day...
Matt
