Balloons, balloons and more balloons!

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Jim Melvin

A Gambling Fool

A bunch of us went to the Sandia Casino for their $5 brunch. We had to wait in line but it was worth it. Lots of good food.

I had to get a players card to get admitted for lunch and then just had to use up the $25 they give you with the card. I didn’t win anything using the card but added another $15 and walked out of there with $136. Not bad! I was up to $222 but didn’t walk away then as I knew I should.

Up early and over to the balloon field.

I woke up early and decided to go across the street to the balloon launching field to see the balloons off. It is amazing how many people are there at 6:00am. The place was packed. This group of balloons is know as the dawn patrol. They are the first to go up in the morning an they test the winds for the remainder of the balloons.

The lady dressed in the referee suit is actually the one that directs the balloons when they launch. She tells them when they can take off and keeps the crowd back from the balloon.

Then the rest of the balloons go up in the mass ascension. What a site to see! This is the Moo Cow balloon which is really large. It is just beginning to get blown up.

Here it is almost completely blown up.

And here it is flying.

It was an utterly fantastic balloon. HA! HA!

The balloons are all bunched together since there were so many of them. I felt like a kid in a candy store.

Here is a couple pics of the bees. They are always crowd favorites.

Crazy People

You see many different crazy people throughout the midway.

Up up and away

This is a pic of a couple waving to the crowd after beginning their ascent.

This one is for my friends at Wells Fargo Advisors. Please make lots of money for me.

I really enjoyed this guy with his jet pack. Very cool!

It was a great morning with all my balloon firends.

Balloon Fiesta Day 1

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Jim Melvin

Cold day

It was very windy on Friday, but it calmed down enough for the balloons to make their ascent on the opening day of the 2013 Balloon Fiesta. However the wind was on again off again and many of them did not travel very far. I got a pic of the captain waving at us.

This is my 3rd Balloon Fiesta and it gets better every year. I missed last year because I had camp hosted in central Oregon and decided I didn’t want to travel 1,300 miles from there to the BF and then another 1,000 miles to Fernley, NV to work at Amazon.

Sometimes the wind was very still as you can see in this next pic of Roger’s windsock.

This caused many balloons to land prematurely.

I have not seen the hummingbird balloon before and I was able to get this pic of it drinking out of another balloon. HA!

I also got a great pic looking almost straight up into this balloon.

That’s it for now. We had a hot dog dinner tonight with lots of side dishes. Very yummy and lots to eat.

Back on line at the Balloon Fiesta

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Jim Melvin

Back on Millenicom

I was a BAD BOY and got my hand slapped by Millenicom for going over my allotted limit. My friend Ken Fears of These are the Voyages fame told me about an app for my Mac called Net Monitor which I have installed. It will help me stay out of hot water with Millenicom.

Abiquiu Lake

Many of us met up at Abiquiu Lake and got in the Happy Hour routine. Roger even cooked ribs for our evening meal on his Traeger oven. They cooked all day and were they ever yummy.

Sandia Casino Parking

Then it was off to the Sandia Casino just north of the Balloon Fiesta. We stayed there two nights . We were all able to park close to each other.

Off to the Balloon Fiesta grounds

Then on the 1st we headed to the Balloon Fiesta grounds. John and Linda went ahead along with Terry and Karen and Roger to get our assigned spots and set up. Then we all followed. It is nice being set up for 13 days without having to move. There are no hookups, but many of us have solar panels to provide our electricity. The honey wagon will also come by and for a measly $25 (HA!) you can have your black and grey tanks emptied. You can also spend the same getting water, but several of us have 6 gallon water containers that we can haul back and forth.

Only a few balloons have gone up and the official starting date is Sat the 5th. It is always an exciting time when all the balloons go up. In the meantime here are a few pics of our group at Happy Hour.