Oct 13, 2018
Wednesday, Oct. 10 ~ Day 5 of the Balloon Fest
It was a downright chilly morning Wednesday morning at 38F/3.3C 🙁 As we walked down the road, the wind bit into my forehead and I instantly recalled having a scarf wrapped around my forehead as a child. We had to wait a bit for a shuttle but while not toasty warm we were not shivering. Colin had finally switched to long pants from shorts and had added a light fleece between his shirt and jacket.
Not only was there no dawn patrol, no balloons were laid out. Everything was at a standstill.
Things did not look good. Apparently the cutting wind that we were feeling was even stronger higher up. It was a waiting game.
We needed to warm up so we headed into a vendors booth. This is the only balloon basket like this in the USA, brand new style. Cost of $80,000.00 but what a way to travel. Luxurious padded seats with seat belts, a tray table to hold your champagne and an excellent view due to the basket being lower on one side.
We chatted with the vendor who is also a balloon pilot. Regular balloons start at $40,000.00. I have no idea if the balloon envelope is included in that price. Eventually he told us that he thought that the entire morning event was going to be cancelled because of the wind. We thanked him for his time and moved back out into the bitter stiff breeze. Should we go get a coffee and wait it out or should we head back to the RV. Still no movement on the field nor a change in the yellow flag. We started walking to the food area and at the same time turned to each other and said ‘let’s go home”. We got back to the RV at 8:15AM.
About 8:25AM the green flag went up. Dawn Patrol is at 6AM and it was cancelled as well as the Laser Show and the Krispy Kreme Morning Glow which we would have loved to see. A single balloon carrying the American flag went up as the National Anthem was played. We watched that on TV.
About 8:25 we were surprised to see some balloons.
We were disappointed that we had left the field at 8AM but the morning session normally starts at 6AM plus we were cold.
At least we still got to see some balloons fly over. It didn’t seem like a lot of balloons to us, perhaps 50. The next day we found out that less than 75 had inflated and ascended.
Once again we had errands to run. The three new lights that Colin is installing in the bedroom, all have different requirements in size of screws etc. Typical RV construction, all due to different thicknesses of the three walls. We also made a stop at Costco to pick up a few things including three cases of a lovely Sauvignon Blanc that I found out is being discontinued. We are only able to get to one more Costco before we cross into Mexico and I did not want to take a chance on this one wine not being available. Bit by bit I am amassing my wine supply for the winter on the Isla.
Every afternoon a water truck went up and down each row at least 2 to 3 times to keep the dust down. We never noticed any dust whatsoever.
We spent the afternoon putting things away in the RV, with Colin editing photos and myself working on two blog posts. Once Colin finished installing the new lights ( photos soon ) he got in some guitar time. We were both ready to go to bed early as we knew that Thursday was going to be a very special day here at the balloonfest.
Sunset to the West.
But I preferred the reflection to the East.
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Too bad about the cold weather, (pretty cold here as well, frost tonight) but you still got to see a lot of wonderful balloons. Hopefully tomorrow will work out better for you .
I think that there are always some cooler days than others but once the sun comes over the mountains one warms up fairly quickly.
For a bad weather day, Colin seemed to get a good quantity of balloon photos. Do I see Vincent Van Gogh up there or is it my imagination?
What was sad was that we could have seen if from the field but these shots were taken from the RV Park. Yes the is a Van Gogh Balloon from the Netherlands. I wrote about that balloon a a few posts back.
Too bad about the balloons today but that sunset to the east was very pretty 🙂
It was most unusual to see that type of color in the East. The rocks really reflected the light.
Despite the wind and chill, still some beautiful sights… lovely pictures as usual.
Thank you Peter. It was worth dealing with the weather elements. Words can’t describe being there in the midst of it all.
Too bad about the weather,the pictures are beautiful.we were supposed to be there this year but due to circumstances we had to cancel. We are now planning for next year. I have a couple of questions,do they allow generators,do they have a vacuum service for dumping your tanks also water fill?
Sorry you were unable to be there this year. It would have been lovely to have met up with you. Yes to all three, generators from 5 AM to 10 PM and pump and fill @ $25.00 each. I have a bit on the details in my next post.
Beautiful Trip!
Thanks for sharing your photos and blog!
Happy to have you and Jan along with us.