It Begins With A Lot Of Hot Air!!

About 7:00 yesterday morning as I was writing the blog, I heard the familiar whoosh of a propane burner.  I grabbed my camera and got outside just in time to see this guy cruise by right over my rig.  As I turned around there were 7 more ... in all 10 balloons.

We are parked at the edge of one of the landing fields, but these guys were heading further southwest.  They all belong to the Rainbow Riders group, giving rides to people and sponsors.

It's pretty amazing to see them float by.  You can't hear a thing except the noise of the burners giving the balloons a little more hot air to stay aloft.  They have definite altitude restrictions depending on what they are flying over and are of course, are not allowed to go near the Air Force Base or land on Indian Reservation property.  It requires an act of great penitence to get your balloon back!!

When I heard talking, I looked up to find another very close to the ground, this one with a smaller basket and only four people.  Some of the bigger balloons have baskets that can carry 10-12 passengers.

Rainbow Riders is a fitting name for these guys!!

Here's a beauty!!  As they headed further southwest, depending on the altitude they were at, they caught winds taking them different directions.

 Just above the basket is a small brighter yellow spot ... that's the burner throwing out a three foot flame!!  In the evenings, they tether the balloons to the ground, fill them with air, then set off the burners which light nearby glowsticks ... it's called the evening glow!!  Can't wait to get some of THOSE images!!

There must be about 50 of us now with the rigs that came in yesterday.  We had a quick happy hour, then sat down to hear Cool Judy talk about crewing.  This morning those who have filled out the paperwork will attend crew training and hopefully hook up with a pilot for the weeks events.  If the weather is good and the wind below 5mph, they will fly every morning.  Due to the early rise time, the blog won't appear until late in the afternoon.  I'm used to 5:30 am, but 4:30 to get the blog done is just TOO early for a retiree!!

As I walked back to the rig, the clouds started making amazing patterns in the sky ... the black ones were pretty black, but didn't drop any water on us!!

They did make for a pretty sunset however!!