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It's been a while since I've posted anything. I've been tied up with the books for school and other activities that have kept me from getting online.
For fathers days weekend, my girlfriend Katie and I took a couple days and drove out to Galena. As it turned out, it was the weekend of their annual balloon race, which as you can imagine is great for some photo opportunities.
As it turned out, Katie had purchased me a balloon ride.. Note that's singular, just me, not us. She doesn't like heights, stairs, ladders, etc. so a balloon ride --she would not have a thing to do with it.
So this is one of these activities that start out early in the morning, 4am in this case. Mornings and I don't mix. As far as I am concerned, morning is a four letter word with ing on the end of it. So after paying and signing one's life away (notice they make you pay beforehand, or as Katie would say "before they kill you")), I headed down to the balloon for the inflation process. Large gasoline powered fans are used to blow air into the balloons before they use the flame thrower.
And after a little bit, I was invited to take a peek on the inside.
In a little bit, after they have burned the propane we all climb into the gondola. At it turns out, there was about 12 of us, plus the pilot that climbed in. We took off fairly quickly, after a couple blast of the burner.
As you can see there are quite a number of balloons being inflated.
And now we begin to get a bit of altitude.
For the most part, it was a pretty relaxing and enjoyable time. We were chasing on of the other balloon that our pilot had trained. It was his turn to pick the landing spot...
We followed right in behind him... You can see the chase vehicle that follows from the ground. By the time we were done, we had gone about 30 miles or so (as the balloon flies). A bit longer by ground.
So after we landed, which was a surprisingly soft landing, the balloon was deflated, packed up, and loaded on to our chase vehicle (which arrived about 15 minutes later)
I immediately texted Katie, and let her know I was safely on the ground and that everything went well, and I was still alive. She texted me back with great relief, and said she was worrying about how she would break the news to my parents and children in things didn't go well and how she had killed me. Fortunately nothing like that happened.
But the next day, they had a night balloon show. This was something I had never head of. Simply, they balloons are setup, tethered, and when night comes, they blast the burners, they light up. Pretty amazing to see... Unfortunately the pictures don't do justice, but I will show the ones I have...
So needless to say, it was a very enjoyable weekend.
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Originally Posted by Old Timer
