This was quite a weekend! Quite a HOT weekend to be exact. I canceled a
flight tonight because it was 97 degrees at 6 oclock. Wouldn't have been any fun
for the pax or the crew!
But, it wasn't hot enough to stop the balloons in Eldon!
Cheri and I arrived a little late but it made no difference since only one
balloon flew I think. We did set up on the west end of the field and glowed for
an hour while more people than I thought actually lived in Eldon came by to pick
up cards and jump back whenever we hit the burner. I think there were 20
balloons set up in a field made for about 10 but all went well.
Saturday mornings fog disapated quickly but the high pressure and high
temps made the wind almost nonexistent so Jerry Tierman, the balloon meister and
event organizer opted to send us on a hare and hound from the field. Mark and
Ben were there to help so I asked mark if he could drive the chase so Cheri
could ride along with me for the race. An uneventful if crowded launch after the
hare had left (Carol in the CMSU balloon with the Mule on the side) sent us
inching along behind several others in hot pursuit. She set it down on the
south/east side of the highway a few fields in and the winds somehow managed to
push us to just the right spot where we could toss our baggie down 9 inches from
center. Not bad for an amatuer!
after we flew on we called the crew and I asked Cheri to take over the
controlls while I looked at the map to try to figure out wherewe were. We set
down in a field with several other balloons and after a bit the crew drove up
and assisted walking it over into the next field which was a little more fabric
friendly. Cheri discovered what effect one burn too many can have as we shoved
her over the fence but managed to get it all under controll before floating into
the next field.
An uneventful day followed except that Carl Edwards won the Busch race. I
went down to visit Elaine, Mark and Paul at their cabin on the lake for an hour
or so. Denis and friends went tractor hunting and a group of ladies went
shopping at the lake. What excitement we balloonists have on saturday
afternoons!
Thah night another Hare and Hound sent us chasing Jim in the Lottery
balloon to the north west of town. Ben and I managed to work the balloon into
the correct field but were far enough away that a serious windup and toss was
the only thing that would get us into the scoring area. Unfortunately, the
windup worked to perfection but the toss went straight up into the balloon and
fell helplessly suspended on the top of the skirt inside the balloon.
Discustingly out of reach and sturbonly hanging on despite shaking of the load
tapes. Turns out that it turned into a record breaking toss because it finally
came free about a mile past the field. I tossed another baggie a mile!
Sunday morning sent us straight north following the CMSU Mule again.
Despite calm winds on the surface the winds at even a few hundred feet were
moving quickly. The fastest I noticed on the GPS was 23 MPH. This always makes
for some neat looking scenes because we notice we are headed a little to far to
the right so we drop down to get some left in the slowere winds only to hear the
balloon that had been behind us fly past us overhead. First Layne and I and then
Andrew and I played hopscotch a few times durring this flight. At one point it
looked like the mule was never going to stop but I feared catching up too soon
to take advantage of surface steerage so Jacob (Son of Rick and Karmen Goosey)
and I dropped into this valley that had a dead end to the left. I figured that
may keep the winds from moving us too much that way but still slow us down so
she could find a place to land. Sure enough, we first slowed to a near stop then
slowly began drifting to the south! Cool! Hung around there for a few minutes as
several other balloons flew past. When we finally came up out of the valley we
were still in line with the mule as she set down among a field of big bales.
Most of the balloons were right on her tale but she got the X out quickly and
deflated so we could have a shot at it. Those light slightly variable winds
slowly drfited us toward, away from then back toward the X where we finally
dropped it maybe 15-20 inches off the center. Never found out exactly how close
it was but it was only about 2-3 inches closer than Gary Whitby's marker. Close
call!
A new record for me! I scored on more than one target in a balloon event!
And even though I missed the sat. nite target by literally a mile it was still
enough to get us the First Place Trophy! Never had one of those before either!!
Way Cool!
The event went off very well. Loads of people showed up for the glows on
friday and saturday. One older fellow told us that there were more there than
usually shows up for the county fair. I'll just have to take his word for that
cause I'm not going up there to find out!
Thanks to Jerry and Rosa and the Lion's club for putting us up and feeding
our balloons propane. It was a fun event and we hope you will do it again next
year!
Lots of Love!
Herb