We left Farmington on Sunday morning, and drove to Grants, NM, about three hours south. We met twelve other rigs from our club and the Sacramento area club and spent the night. We all pitched in on a potluck dinner that was wonderful! The next morning, we lined up and caravanned to Albuquerque and the Balloon Fiesta. We were parked with about 200 other Holiday Rambler motorhomes and trailers just across the street from the balloon field. There were a total of approximately 1,700 rigs of all shapes and sizes in the lot. School busses drove through the lot every 15 minutes, starting at 4 AM each day to haul us to the balloon field and back.
On Monday evening, Tom and a friend rode their bikes over to the field to watch the launch of gas-filled balloons for the “America Challenge” race. 
On Monday evening, Tom and a friend rode their bikes over to the field to watch the launch of gas-filled balloons for the “America Challenge” race. 
About half of the nine participating balloons were filled with helium and the others were filled with hydrogen. The race is won by the balloon that travels the farthest. Last year, the winner landed in the Florida panhandle. This year, the winds took them north with the winner (who also won last year) landing near Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. I guess they had a bit of a problem trying to get the chase crew across the Canadian border, but it all worked out in the end.
On Tuesday morning we got an early start on the bus and got to the field where about half of the 750 balloons entered in the Fiesta took off between 7 & 8 AM.
The other half took off from other locations and attempted to fly into the balloon field. It was a spectacular thing to watch. After buying a program, we discovered that Tom’s friend, Myron, was entered in the fiesta. Tom crewed for Myron for several years at balloon meets in California, Oregon and Arizona. 
Myron has been flying at Albuquerque for 31 of the 36 years the Fiesta has been held. We thought he had retired about three years ago, as he’s now over 80 years old. The program told us where his launch position was located, so we scampered over there to see if he was really there. He was, and it was great to see him again. He has sold his balloon to a friend of his from Reno, and has been instructing that friend as a balloon pilot. He now has his private license, but to fly at a balloon meet, he has to have a commercial license, so Myron is the listed pilot and flies with him.
Once the flying activities were done, we shopped the Main Street where about 200 food and souvenir vendors competed for the almighty dollar. We chose breakfast burritos to eat, an item nearly every food vendor offered.
Wednesday morning was a “mass ascension” and all 750 balloons lifted off from the balloon field. It is something you have to see to appreciate. They lift off in waves, under the watchful eyes of the “zebras” or launch directors.
It took 1 ½ hours to get them all in the air. By flying the winds, most of the balloons could take off to the south, then rise about 1,000 feet and catch winds to the north, which brought them right back over the field.
Thursday and Friday mornings featured about 100 “special shape” balloons in an early takeoff, then a number of more conventional balloons launched from off-field and participated in flying competitions that involved trying to grab a prize envelope from the top of a 20-foot pole, and tossing a beanbag at targets marked out on the field. The prizes were worth trying for; a Honda Ridgeline pickup and an $8,000 watch were among them. 
Thursday evening, we planned to attend a “balloon glow” where the balloons inflate but do not fly. They look like giant light bulbs and “twinkle” in unison. We also decided to go out to dinner with friends a couple of hours before the event, so we picked a restaurant less than five miles away. Whoops, that didn’t work. It turned out that the Thursday evening crowd was the largest in Fiesta history, and it took us well over an hour to get back to the RV parking area. There was no point in trying to get to the balloon field before the “glow” was scheduled to end, so we watched the closing fireworks show from the motorhome. We were supposed to meet our friends, Pam and Karl, on the field, but obviously, we didn’t make it, so we met them on Friday morning for that day’s special shape ascension.
We planned to eat “at home” on Friday night so that we could make it to the field for a repeat performance of the balloon glow, but unfortunately, the wind came up and the glow was canceled. Curses!! 
Saturday morning’s weather was perfect, so we went back to the field for another mass ascension. It was as spectacular as Wednesday’s launch and we enjoyed it thoroughly. By this time, we were becoming experts on breakfast burritos, having tried three different vendors, and settling on “Hello Deli”, a vendor who also has a restaurant in Albuquerque. Their burritos were the freshest and tastiest, with scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and green chiles. Yum!!! We chose them three days in a row. Although a balloon glow was scheduled for Saturday night, we were about “ballooned out” and chose to go out to dinner again with some of our friends.
On Sunday morning, we slept in! We watched the mass ascension from the motorhome, then packed up to leave the campsite. We expected a real mess trying to get out of the one exit, but it wasn’t bad at all. We only traveled about nine miles, into the city of Rio Rancho to visit with Pam and Karl.
They have a brand new adobe style home that Pam has decorated beautifully. They have a large motorhome garage to house their coach, and lots of room for visiting motorhomes. Their motorhome area has electric, water & sewer hookups; better than a lot of RV parks we have visited. Also, Pam let Debbie wash a few loads of clothes and they fed us a fine dinner. What more could we ask??? We had a great visit, and will see them again in Sacramento at Thanksgiving.
We took so many pictures at the balloon fiesta that we've created a new web album to put them in. You can click on the link on the right side of this blog to view all of them.
On Tuesday morning we got an early start on the bus and got to the field where about half of the 750 balloons entered in the Fiesta took off between 7 & 8 AM.
The other half took off from other locations and attempted to fly into the balloon field. It was a spectacular thing to watch. After buying a program, we discovered that Tom’s friend, Myron, was entered in the fiesta. Tom crewed for Myron for several years at balloon meets in California, Oregon and Arizona. 
Myron has been flying at Albuquerque for 31 of the 36 years the Fiesta has been held. We thought he had retired about three years ago, as he’s now over 80 years old. The program told us where his launch position was located, so we scampered over there to see if he was really there. He was, and it was great to see him again. He has sold his balloon to a friend of his from Reno, and has been instructing that friend as a balloon pilot. He now has his private license, but to fly at a balloon meet, he has to have a commercial license, so Myron is the listed pilot and flies with him.
Once the flying activities were done, we shopped the Main Street where about 200 food and souvenir vendors competed for the almighty dollar. We chose breakfast burritos to eat, an item nearly every food vendor offered.
Wednesday morning was a “mass ascension” and all 750 balloons lifted off from the balloon field. It is something you have to see to appreciate. They lift off in waves, under the watchful eyes of the “zebras” or launch directors.
It took 1 ½ hours to get them all in the air. By flying the winds, most of the balloons could take off to the south, then rise about 1,000 feet and catch winds to the north, which brought them right back over the field.
Thursday and Friday mornings featured about 100 “special shape” balloons in an early takeoff, then a number of more conventional balloons launched from off-field and participated in flying competitions that involved trying to grab a prize envelope from the top of a 20-foot pole, and tossing a beanbag at targets marked out on the field. The prizes were worth trying for; a Honda Ridgeline pickup and an $8,000 watch were among them. 
Thursday evening, we planned to attend a “balloon glow” where the balloons inflate but do not fly. They look like giant light bulbs and “twinkle” in unison. We also decided to go out to dinner with friends a couple of hours before the event, so we picked a restaurant less than five miles away. Whoops, that didn’t work. It turned out that the Thursday evening crowd was the largest in Fiesta history, and it took us well over an hour to get back to the RV parking area. There was no point in trying to get to the balloon field before the “glow” was scheduled to end, so we watched the closing fireworks show from the motorhome. We were supposed to meet our friends, Pam and Karl, on the field, but obviously, we didn’t make it, so we met them on Friday morning for that day’s special shape ascension.
We planned to eat “at home” on Friday night so that we could make it to the field for a repeat performance of the balloon glow, but unfortunately, the wind came up and the glow was canceled. Curses!! 
Saturday morning’s weather was perfect, so we went back to the field for another mass ascension. It was as spectacular as Wednesday’s launch and we enjoyed it thoroughly. By this time, we were becoming experts on breakfast burritos, having tried three different vendors, and settling on “Hello Deli”, a vendor who also has a restaurant in Albuquerque. Their burritos were the freshest and tastiest, with scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and green chiles. Yum!!! We chose them three days in a row. Although a balloon glow was scheduled for Saturday night, we were about “ballooned out” and chose to go out to dinner again with some of our friends.On Sunday morning, we slept in! We watched the mass ascension from the motorhome, then packed up to leave the campsite. We expected a real mess trying to get out of the one exit, but it wasn’t bad at all. We only traveled about nine miles, into the city of Rio Rancho to visit with Pam and Karl.
They have a brand new adobe style home that Pam has decorated beautifully. They have a large motorhome garage to house their coach, and lots of room for visiting motorhomes. Their motorhome area has electric, water & sewer hookups; better than a lot of RV parks we have visited. Also, Pam let Debbie wash a few loads of clothes and they fed us a fine dinner. What more could we ask??? We had a great visit, and will see them again in Sacramento at Thanksgiving.We took so many pictures at the balloon fiesta that we've created a new web album to put them in. You can click on the link on the right side of this blog to view all of them.
We’ve decided to visit Kartchner Caverns near Tucson, AZ on the way back to California, so we’ll tell you all about that visit the next time.
Take care.
Take care.
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