Balloon Fiesta: Our Chase Crew

Sue, Bob, Cindy and Butch volunteered to crew for a balloonist.  The festival seeks volunteers and you are assigned a balloon.  Well they signed up for 5 times.  Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings and Saturday and Sunday evening.  We could have signed up, but we wanted to be spectators.  We got up in the wee hours on Saturday to watch our friends crew.  We were on the field at 4:30 a.m. Things were slow starting on Saturday and by the time the balloon was in the air it was about 7:30.  The balloonist had no crew of his own so our gang did it all, even took his van to chase.  

Off to the Balloon Fiesta

There are at least four RVs at this campground heading to the International Balloon Fiesta, Jim and Sherry, Tom and I and two couples from Oak Lawn, IL and several others who left early this a.m.  We plan to leave here at 10 a.m. MDT to arrive before noon. 

We have been watching the weather closely as what the balloonists are able to do depends on good weather and mild winds.  Of course all of us RVers attending have prepaid to reserve a space in one of the designated RV areas. 

Must see events are in the morning and evening so we will have the afternoons to tour the Albuquerque area. 

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Balloon Fiesta Photos Day 1

Balloon Museum

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2010

It was our understanding that we were not to arrive prior to noon on Friday.  We did arrive earlier and queued up behind a caravan of Airstream trailers.  After entering the park we were told to form two lines.  We were worried about getting separated because they put us in different lines, but once we told them there was no problem.  We had to drop our cars and then we were directed to our parking spot.  We were located in the last row of the west VIP lot.  So much for not arriving before noon.  When you follow the rules you end up last.  The parking was on sand/rock/dirt.  We had an end spot with room to park both cars next to our RV.  We had some nice neighbors Bill and Eileen from Missouri. 

We met up with Sue, Bob, Cindy and Butch for supper at Garundo Chile Packing Company Restaurant.  The best Mexican food we have had on our trip so far.

Salinas Missions National Monument

The Spanish built missions in various pueblos throughout New Mexico.

Abo Mission

The walls are 3-4’ thick.

Quarai Mission (may be spelled incorrectly).

Stopped for lunch.  We wanted Mexican.  Didn’t taste like the Mexican back home.  Longing for Taco Bell.

Off to the wildlife refuge after supper.

Horses, Donkeys and Mules, Oh My!

This is a Mammoth Jack at Kiva RV Park

We cut up some apples and tried to give one to each. 

Canyon Breezes

The winds woke me up this morning.  The gusts are shaking the RV.  This morning’s news called them breezes--8-10 mph with gusts of 40 mph.  They say that they are caused by a front passing through the area and expect them to die down throughout the day. I am glad we are not driving the RV this morning.  The front is expected to bring somewhat cooler temperatures.

Today we will be taking the car and heading to the Salinas Pueblo Missions near Mountainair, NM.  Our neighbors here (two couples from Oak Lawn, IL, (also heading to the Balloon Fiesta) at the campground visited the missions yesterday and said they enjoyed their visit. 

Later today we will be topping off the water tank and charging all of our electronics—phones, computer, camera and mp3 player, as we will be dry camping (no water or electric hookups) for four nights beginning Friday.  We will need to run the generator each day to charge up the coach batteries so we will have power for lights, furnace and water pump; the fridge will run on LP.  This will be the longest we have dry camped.

We heard from our friend Bob yesterday and he and Sue are already at the Balloon Fiesta grounds.  Friends Butch and Cindy will be arriving there any time also.  Both couples are staying in another section.  We opted for the VIP Section and will be very close to all the action.  We cannot arrive in our section before noon on Friday.  Mass Ascensions will take place Saturday and Sunday mornings and on those evenings there will be Balloon Glows and AfterGlow Fireworks Show. We are going to have some very unhappy dogs because of the fireworks.  Also we don’t know how they will react to the sound of the balloons.Other events are scheduled.