Columbus is a great chance to see many of my best friends in ballooning. It's the first event I attended when I started to pursue ballooning as a hobby, and I've come to know many of the locals there, too.
I woke up Friday morning and prepared to leave Little Rock for my drive to Columbus. It was raining heavily at my house, and when I looked at the radar, it was apparent that it had rained heavily in Columbus, too. I called Charlie Venable, in Neosho, who told me they had over 6 inches of rain overnight! I knew it would be too wet to fly (I was wrong, but sometimes I love being wrong).
I drove to Columbus, making a short stop in Springfield, MO to drop off phones for the kids. It was a nice, but short visit with Alex and Shane. As I got nearer to Columbus, I saw lots of flooding. Baxter Springs, KS seemed to be underwater. Again, I knew we weren't going to fly.
Upon arrival in Columbus, we were told that because it was so wet, our normal launch fields wouldn't be used, I thought, "no other launch fields will be used, either!" But, we headed to the fairgrounds, and despite muddy conditions, many balloons glowed. Using tarps, and lots of crew, those that glowed stayed pretty dry. My crew was pretty laid back, and we made the decision that a static display wasn't worth getting wet for. "No fly? Stay Dry!" was our slogan.
Saturday morning, though, the winds looked too good to pass up a flight. Besides, we figured, if the balloon gets wet, we'll have all day to dry it out! So, we went in search of a launch site. We found one in a gravel parking lot on the highway that passes through Columbus. It was a short hop to the target field (a fly-in, in Columbus?) which I missed to the right. Janine, flying "Venus" launched to my right, and missed it to the left!
No worries, we had lots of fuel, and lots of morning left, so we flew on over a big school complex (Central School. It's on the edge of town. Huh?). Flying out of town to the southwest (I'd never flown that direction before in Columbus) I saw several balloonists ahead of me in good landing sites. Steve Libel had a nice big field, and I thought about landing by him (he has a big tarp), but when I climbed to fly over power lines, I got too sharp a right turn to get there, then I saw Tony Goodnow had landed next to a gravel road. Because he was packing up there, I knew there were no power lines, and it would be a great place to pack up.
I planned my approach, staying low over trees until I could drop in just over the road. This week, I was able to clear the barbed wire fence that was in my path, and landed just in the field on the other side. Crew member Ben Crawford was there to jump on the basket, making the landing very smooth. We carried the balloon over the fence, to the other side of the road, and packed up nice and dry. It was only a 30 minute flight, but Keith (my passenger) and I had a nice ride!
After the parade, we all napped then went out to see that it was too windy to fly Saturday night. My hosts, the Shumakes, then had a nice party at their house.
Sunday morning, we got up and went tot he Pilot's briefing, but the winds were too quick for a good flight. It might have been ok if the ground had been dry, but a high wind splash and stick is not a good landing option. So home to pack up, then off to Josie's for a meal I look forward to all year.
Many thanks to Darrel and Marylin, Carl and Pam, Ben and Mo, Marty and Dana, and John and Willa. They always make Columbus a fun event!
my best crew members, the Redburns, everyone's friends, the Rays, and Ben and Mo
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