4CU 004 : 2009 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

[Charlie M]

Richard;

I have some photos from the Balloon Fiesta to post. How do I manage this?

[azflycaster]

Charlie,
You must be home in Las Vegas. We should arrive in Phoenix later today. We are enjoying the cool (mid 30's) weather in Flagstaff this morning.

To post pictures, take a look at post #7 in this thread.
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f138...ics-44928.html

BTW, it was great traveling with you and we look forward to doing it again.

We are at the KOA in Flagstaff. The sites are a little tight, but the park is very nice and very well taken care of. The view from our trailer is spectacular.

[Charlie M]

Here's a couple photos from the Fiesta, (I hope). This is first time
trying to add photo to the post.

We had a great time and look forward to next year's Fiesta!

[Charlie M]

Dawn patrol. The pilots have special lights, go up before dawn and other pilots can see the wind pattern.

[Charlie M]

(1) Mass ascension

(2) Balloons making their return trip to the field, crossing the Sun.

[Ken J]

Charlie - very cool pictures...Ken J.

[Charlie M]

(1) Our truck and trailer, (2) AZFlycaster's vintage trailer
We went from 70 deg. temps in Albuquerque to the teens at Ft Collins CO
Region 11 Rally where we had a fantastic time and met many great Airstreamers.

[azflycaster]

We made it home safe and sound early this afternoon. 15 days on the road and a little over 2 thousand miles. It was a great trip. So many friends, some old and many new.

The following items did not do so well:
1 bent vent cover (wired shut)
1 tire (replaced in Fort Collins)
1 broken cooler (lowered the trailer on it)

I'll post some pictures later tonight...

[elfirebob]

Richard and to all of you, thanks for posting some great photos and tales of your travels.
We made one day of the Fiesta and are now in the Santa Fe area. We head back west Saturday, lots of Airstreams on the road, saw a few in Placitas, Lake Cochiti and in town.
Stream Safe, I hope to get my time off in sync with a 4CU rally soon.
Bob 'n Nanc- On the road, southwest travels in search of the perfect enchilada...

[6PackCharlie]

Pictures from Tuesday, October 6, 2009. We really had a good time.

[TBRich]

We are home from our marathon Balloon Fiesta trek now, too... we left home on 30 Sept and met up with Steve & Faith, Ken & Linda and Frank & Carol in Show Low, AZ to continue the next day on to Grants, NM where we met 15 or so other rigs for the night...then we all headed on to the Camping World in ABQ to form two 23-rig caravans into the Balloon Grounds... That feat in itself was a site and very exciting, especially when we hit the I-25 city traffic...we were all spread out by that point, but we all made it to the destination using walkie-talkies and craning necks to keep track of the aluminum ahead in the traffic... And what great sites we had at the Fiesta...we were about a block from the nearest lift off area...rows 2, 3 and 4 of the VIP RV section (next year we have rows 1, 2 & 3 tied down Ken J told us!)... The fiesta was worth every penny, despite the windy weather and the cancellation of several events...but we had a great time ... seeing the balloon launch up close & personal and float gracefully over our trailers was a sight to behold. There will be pictures posted later once we have a chance to go thorugh the hundreds of photos and pic the winners. Promise.

After the rally we and Sandy from UT said our goodbyes and headed south on I-25 to Socorro then west to visit the Very Large Array radio telescopes in central-west NM...an interesting place and totally alien-esque. From there we stayed over night at a wonderful small BLM campground, Datil Wells at 7300 feet, then the next day we headed west to Show Low, AZ at Fool Hollow Lake State Park where we stayed for another 5 nights...

We and Sandy were met by Louis & Sergio from Phx, Mark & Ron from Tucson, and Bob & Lou from CO (who are on thier way to Quartzsite for the winter)...and had a wonderful mini-rally and Oktoberfest weekend celebration complete with brats, sauerkraut and polka music courtesy of Mark & Ron... We all went our various ways from there departing at differnent times, but we'll regroup again for Thanksgiving in Quartzsite... In the meantime it's get some rest and catch up on sleep after all this great rallying for us! What a great bunch of folks...saw many old 4CU friends and made some good new ones, too...the more the merrier. We increased our 4CU numbers either in new members or Associate Members...who could resist??

Again, pics will be forthcoming when we have sorted them out...there are many.

Rally on!

[Jim in Pima]

Does anyone have a good photo of THE PIG, somehow we messed that one up. Doing a CD, videos and Pictures of the event. Between 3 of us we got about 500 shots...(pictures that is)

[azflycaster]

Here are a few shots from the fiesta. It looks like a pig in one...

[Airstream25]

Originally Posted by Jim in Pima

Does anyone have a good photo of THE PIG, somehow we messed that one up. Doing a CD, videos and Pictures of the event. Between 3 of us we got about 500 shots...(pictures that is)

Here are a couple of pig pics.
These were taken 10-9-09 after most FCU members had left.

[arodriguez60]

Heres the only one I've got

[azflycaster]

These photos were sent to me by forums member MJBear. They show how close to the action we are at the Balloon Fiesta. The trailer #7513 is my 75 Trade Wind.

[MJBear]

We are still traveling as well. Went that very route you just mentioned - spent 3 days at Cottonwood Campground and toured Canyon de Chelly. Had Navajo Tacos there. Then went to the Toadlena trading post - great place and lots of weaving history - they offered lunch to us while there, yep, Navajo Tacos again. Then we had them one more time for lunch..... ! They are good!! We traveled 160 through Tuba City and Cameron and are now at the Grand Canyon. Planning a few hikes and the mule ride to the bottom.... Then we will be heading for Tucson. We may never go back home. There was several inches of snow on the ground there and it's just Oct. Not looking forward to winter!
Here's the pink pig and company. The local police were having portraits taken late Tues. morning when we were having a breakfast burrito before departing the fiesta grounds.
MJ and Barrie

[Jim in Pima]

Great "Swine Flew" photos, thanks much
On our 3rd cut of CD fighting with Microsoft Movie Maker
Now need a MP3 of up up and away, for background tune.
LOL

[RonaldC303]

Many thanks to Ken and Ellyn and the rest of the FCU for hosting such a great rally. This was our first and we appreciated all the friendly and helpful advice. We had a great time and hope to return next year.



Ron & Robin

[Ken J]

We hope you can make it back next year too - I want to make sure we thank Richard and Lewster - they with me are the organizing team for this event..

Ken J.