Chris, from San Diego, holds the
throat of the balloon open with
Valerie, General Manager of
Montgolfiere Adventure & Eric.
Jan Francois, aka "Jeff"
heats the air in Squirt.
He tells Eric & me
to come on board.
"Jeff" waits for the signal
to take off.
Eric & I wave goodbye to
the spectators below.
Eric is grinning,
ear to ear.
We join at least
100 balloons.
Balloons continue to rise
from the launch field.
Eric takes in the view...
It's spectacular!
"Jeff" keeps an eye on
nearby balloons.
It's a long way
down.
"Jeff" hands me the radio.
I am careful to keep it
inside the basket.
I report our position to the Ian, who is driving the chase truck.
Wow! There's a lot of
trees down there &
the Rio Grande.
A balloon "lands" in
the Rio Grande.
This is an optical illusion.
The balloon rises &
continues its flight.
"Jeff" keeps tabs on Squirt's
altitude & speed.
A balloon landed in a
yard & is deflating
across the driveway.
Eric watches
balloons land.
Balloonists are looking
for landing spots.
"Jeff" selected our landing spot and gives us instructions to get ready to land.
Squirt's shadow falls
across our landing
area.
The ground gets closer...
We've landed!
"Jeff" "hops" Squirt
over the barbed wire
fence.
Eric & a bystander hold
the landing line.
"Jeff" takes on a new
crew member &
lifts off with his
helper.
Nearby, Mommy & little
brother watch big brother
take a short ride.
They were in the right
place at the right time
for a big adventure.
The property owner comes
over to help us.
"Jeff" & Eric
"Jeff" & me
Eric and I thanked "Jeff" and chatted about the flight as we waited for the chase crew to arrive. We have to pack up Squirt, the basket and load them into the the truck.
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