Hot Air Ballooning
Oh my gosh what a day! I’m still on cloud nine and it has been over for almost an hour! Today I took my first ever hot air balloon ride. Maybe I should back up and describe this story from the very beginning. Roni and I got up at and were out of the house by 5:45 am. We drove to the launch site and listened to the meeting about the weather forecast and we were teamed up with Jeff Pivic’s crew for the balloon called 'Champagne Annie' out of Rock Springs. Jeff is the defending champ for this year. So we helped lay out the balloon and I was right in there helping to fill it up. When it came time to launch I was the first into the basket, along with Jeff and another woman whose name I don’t remember.
The ride was awesome, such a beautiful site, and was it a blast. Here’s a pic Ed took
of our yellow balloon. The others are of interesting balloons that flew with us.
You don’t really know when you are going up or down because hot air balloons don’t move that fast. Actually, people who are scared of heights can do this because you move slowly and your feet are firmly planted on the floor of the basket. We were up for a total of 45 minutes flying over roads, houses, and waving spectators. I think most waved at us because I was waving at them. We went down with only minor problems during the landing, behind the Holiday Inn near a senior apartment complex. Across the street some women from these apartments came out and watched us land and pack up. It was easy to pack up, taking about 15 minutes in all, and we were soon back at the launch site to meet Jeff’s dad, Bruce, who was flying his own balloon. Bruce Pivic came down on a heli pad near a medical facility, which I think would have been scary.
After the ride all the newbies have what they call a 'christening'. This is when all the people who had taken their first balloon ride that morning (4 of us, 2 were little boys) were lined up and given glasses of Champagne (except the two boys who got water and pop) and told a story about how the tradition of hot air ballooning came about. Bruce told us the story, with lots of animation, and then informed us that we had to drink the Champagne, from our cups, on the ground, in front of us, without our hands. And, if we spilled any we had to ride the next day naked. Needless to say that did not sound too great to me. After saying a prayer we got down to drink, and while we were down getting our cups in our mouths they threw water all over us. One little boy dropped his cup and he felt so bad he ran away. The rest of us got through our cups but it was hard to keep from laughing. Here are pics of that courtesy of Ed.
It was lucky that we got paired up with this group of people because Jeff is a Development Officer with the Cowboy Joe Club and can get us tickets to the UW sports events. His dad told me that he is from Rock Springs and his brother is a funeral director with the Vase Funeral Home and can use deputy coroners in Green River .He said that most deputy coroners in Green River leave over the winter so if I was staying over winter it would be great. Also, my friend from congressional award camp and also one of my frat boys from UW, was there for the BLM and we met up afterwards. I found out he is living is Lander and I hope to be able to hang out with him sometime.Today gets even better because Mom and Dad will be here at 3 pm and we are going to the balloon party for the pilots tonight, which includes a car show and some partying. They we are going to a powwow for dinner. Tomorrow, all of us will go to Roni and Ed’s cabin, stopping for a party at the museum in Dubois on the way. That kicks off my week break to go to Denver to see Luke and his family. So there is the game plan- and it may be a week before a write again, just so you know.
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