Albuquerque - part 2

 Albuquerque, NM  (Hi 72  Lo  55)

Friday, we were worried about more rain. It rained last night and balloons don't go up in bad weather.

We had bus tickets for 5.30 am to take us from hotel to field. It's so much easier then fighting traffic. We were so glad we did that.  We arrived early at 5am and already hundreds of people were there.

Here's some info we got from balloon pilots and others that's been there before. 

650 balloons this year, 400 were turned down. It's the 50th year so they added some drone shows and remote 50 foot balloons. 

                                            This is the drones from Carol. We didn't get to see them, it was rained out on the day we were suppose to be there. 

There's more rain this year then in past so some of the special balloons (the large animal or characters) didn't fly but was held  in place (static)  for people to see it. They normally fly east this yr they went more west which causes problems in landing in the road or in people's yard. The special ones are too costly if they land in places that would damage them like the Reo Grande river.

They always start very early in the morning. Balloons like it cold. They use less propane and there's less air currents. The pilots are very cautious on all weather conditions. They're down by 9:30 or 10:00 because of the heat of the day rising. We talked to a few of the pilots and they love talking about their trade. They can stay in one spot for a long time as long as winds stay down and doesn't get to warm. 

Here's a few shots I took but there's so many more on the web site of photos. 

 Dawn patrol to check the air currents and conditions above ground. This happens every day at 6am. 

This balloon was right behind us and it was huge. You can mingle around the balloons. 

Ruth and another guy where we stood while they were inflating the balloon with huge fans. 

At 10:00 everyone was pretty much gone. This is one of the transports. A balloon that didn't go in the air, but stayed static. The ones in the air have chase vehicles. 

By 11:00 there's very few people around. They'll all be back on in the evening after 6pm. 

I had my dinner in hotel and 2 hrs later I was sick. I blamed the meal. I haven't been sick since 2015. I was up the entire night. 

 I stayed down all day Saturday scared to move and very weak.  We heard on Friday night it was a washout with downpouring rain just about the time the balloons were to go up. They even had a rush to get people out because of lightning. I feel so bad for everyone involved. The vendors and the balloonist with wet balloons to contend with to store away for transport.