4CU 004 : 2008 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Rally

[Motoman]

Originally Posted by SilverPal

I'm reading overtime catching up on all the past activities regarding the festival rally. Since we are groveling our way in with an SOB, and have agreed to host a cocktail get together, Ken, we need to chat. Number of people? Cheap booze? Or not-so-cheap?! And what type of alcohol will be welcomed & consumed?! Boones Farm or some nouveau vintage??? Jim and I are looking forward to meeting this 'vintage' group. On another note our vintage Flying Cloud restoration of Pearl is coming along...s l o w l y . . . very, very slowly. I do love the challenge of locating vintage parts...it fills my days!

ps - Elated to see Paula back in the bunch....it's been too long!

From one of the attendees, no Boones Farm or nouveau vintage. Some of the bunch like margaritas with any tequila; I prefer them made with fresh limes and a quality sipping tequila like Cabo Wabo Anejo ( it's aged so it may qualify as nouveau vintage). That way we can sip the tequila if it's too cold for margaritas!

[Airstream25]

Here is my opinion; at this point, life is too short to waste time on the cheap stuff.

[Ken J]

This rally is a mixture of very new and very old trailers - and the tastes are very different - last year we had margaritas mixed everywhere from 99%/1% ( you can guess which was which) on down. We can get crazy - but I think the last Boones Farm I drank is a distant memory for me - and its not necessarly a good momory :-) ugg

I can get you a final count fairly shortly - my suggestion is you not spend a whole lot - let us all chip in or do a BYOB thing.

I'm in the process of gathering up final checks - as an estimate there will be about 60 give or take.

IF you have not sent in your final payment - please do so -

Ken J.

[joe3957]

The Balloon tradition going back into the very earliest days of flight, is to share a bottle of bubbly with whoever's field you landed in. Now as then, you typically ruined some of the crop in the process of moving the balloon out. Albuquerque has a very good local sparkling wine (it isn't champagne if it doesn't come from the Champagne Region in France). The vinter is Gruet and the winery is about 3 blocks from the Balloon museum. I suggest at least one morning mimosa be the drink of choice, or perhaps Gruet without the OJ. I will be staying just around the corner in my overlander, but plan to visit for HH if that is OK.

[Jimandrod]

Originally Posted by Ken J

I can get you a final count fairly shortly - my suggestion is you not spend a whole lot - let us all chip in or do a BYOB thing.
Ken J.

We'll be bringing a couple bottles of our home made limoncello (an Italian lemon liqueur) to share. There should be enough for everyone to have a taste. It's killer!

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, I'm curious;

(1.) How many Airstreams are coming from the Southern California area?

(2.) What day are you leaving home?

(3.) How many stops [overnight camps] are you planning on making on the way?

(4.) Where did you make reservations at, for your stops on the way? Or have you not done this yet?

(5.) Are we planning to meet at Camping World and caravaning to the Balloon Fiesta?

[Ken J]

Not sure about questions 1-4 - I need to call camping world - but at least thats the plan so far again for this year. Last year a bunch met up at the Grants KOA on the night before - I have heard that some have already made a reservation there.

Ken J.

[azflycaster]

We are over nighting at the KOA in Grants Thursday night, just as we did last year. That puts you an hour or so from the gather point at CW. We met up with a mini caravan Thursday morning last year in Flagstaff. It would be great to do it again. We made a few stops along the way and had a nice ride to Grants. The group from the left coast spent the night before Grants in Williams, AZ.

[bredlo]

We'll be coming from Chicago, either along I-40 or across I-70 and dropping down on I-25.

We'd love to hear from more midwesterners making the trip and perhaps caravan with a few of you. Looking forward to seeing the final specifics come together for meeting up, etc. I'd hate to miss out on being part of a parade when pulling into the fairground!

[azflycaster]

Originally Posted by bredlo

We'll be coming from Chicago, either along I-40 or across I-70 and dropping down on I-25.

We'd love to hear from more midwesterners making the trip and perhaps caravan with a few of you. Looking forward to seeing the final specifics come together for meeting up, etc. I'd hate to miss out on being part of a parade when pulling into the fairground!

You will drive right by the fiesta on 25 to get to the meeting point at CW. I think we are meeting there again. Trafic could be a factor, it does get a little crazy. You may want to do that the night before and spend the night at the campground next to the CW.

[ScrapIrony-2]

The campground next to Camping World is Enchanted Trails...you will want to make a reservation NOW to be sure you can get in. If you can't, well, we have boondocked in the CW parking lot.
mike

[jimmini]

Originally Posted by Ken J

This rally is a mixture of very new and very old trailers - and the tastes are very different - last year we had margaritas mixed everywhere from 99%/1% ( you can guess which was which) on down. We can get crazy - but I think the last Boones Farm I drank is a distant memory for me - and its not necessarly a good momory :-) ugg

I can get you a final count fairly shortly - my suggestion is you not spend a whole lot - let us all chip in or do a BYOB thing.

I'm in the process of gathering up final checks - as an estimate there will be about 60 give or take.

IF you have not sent in your final payment - please do so -

Ken J.

KEN
Your estimate 60 give or take.Is that number of trailer or people?
Sure am looking forward to a list of who is comming.
I and a few other are meeting at the KOA campground in Grant NM on the 2nd of Oct.

[LHall]

We have reservations to overnight in Grants at the KOA as well.

[Ken J]

60 is number of folks - about 30 trailers -