Nice Saturday over Central Arkansas

All last week, I watched Saturday's forecast, and it was looking good. Saturday came and I was not disappointed! Our friend Alex has crewed for us pretty often, so we asked him if he wanted to designate a passenger for us. Lucky for us, he chose his friend Jason. We met up with Jason and his girlfriend, Renada in Gravel Ridge. Then we headed to Bayou Meto Elementary for an easy inflation and a nice lift-off.

The flight was beautiful. We got some good views from up high, and we rode the treetops (Jason also got a video of us flying through a tree, but I'm not posting that here!) and the ridges down low.

The winds aloft were pretty quick, with us reaching speeds of over 30 mph! Most of our time, we stayed down low so we didn't get too far from our crew! We did get much farther east than they expected us to be, so we called them when we landed and told them how to find us.

The landing was a good one. The winds were a little quick, and I had to make a decision; either vent hard on landing to keep from dragging a short distance (but risk not being able to keep the balloon inflated) or vent less aggressively, and let the wind blow us around a bit on the ground. I think I found a good balance, dragging only a few yards, and staying nicely inflated.

We tried to move the balloon across our landing field, near the gate, but the winds kicked up, and we were forced to deflate it where we were. The landowners were very nice, opening the gate and letting us drive the truck right in to the middle of the field for an easy packup.

We drove back to Gravel Ridge for the standard celebration, and went on with our weekend! Thanks to Alex, Jill, Jason, and Renada for kicking off my Saturday very nicely!

CARTI Flight Foggy Morning

CARTI is a cancer treatment center that is very prominent in Little Rock. Last year, I promised a flight in the balloon that they could auction at their big holiday fundraising event. After several months, it finally worked out for me to fly the buyer of the ride!
Dawn-Marie actually bought the ride for her mom, who was battling cancer at the time, and who loved balloons. Unfortunately, her health didn't allow her to take the flight, and she passed away. So, Dawn-Marie flew with me to honor her mother's memory.

We met Dawn-Marie and her husband, Jason as well as David and his passengers (two balloons are better than one) on the westside of Little Rock an hour before sunrise (love the long days of June, but HATE the early mornings! A pibal went up, and we headed south to find a launch site.

We had to slow down fast inflations so we wouldn't beat the sun into the sky, but once the sun rose, we headed off into the wild blue yonder. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that the wild blue yonder was being covered by white fog. To our north (the direction we we were heading) was a thick blanket of fog. David and I discussed trying to fly over it, but decided to drop down to steer clear.

Fortunately, at lower elevations, the winds took us to the southwest and away from the heaviest fog. Unfortunately, landing spots are few and far between in that country. David and I both played on the treetops, and generally had fun flying. David even performed a splash and dash.

As the morning went on, I expected the fog to burn off. Instead, it became thicker and it spread our way. We found fields in which to land, and got on the ground.

My landing was pretty gentle, but it wasn't the first place you'd want to park your balloon. It was in a big pasture that was pretty overgrown. Dawn-Marie and I deflated the balloon and hiked (we were lucky to find our way to the landowner's house) out of the field. We called our crew and let them know where to find us. Then we rode back to the balloon and packed it up.

While Jill and Jason were looking for us, they happened down a dead end road. As they were attempting to back out, they were yelled at by a local resident who didn't want anyone driving on his public road. Not sure where he wanted to go so badly (half dressed) at 7:30 on a Sunday morning, but he was very angry that his street was partially blocked.

I was much luckier in that the owner of the field I landed in was VERY friendly and accommodating, allowing us to drive right in to the balloon. I'm sorry the chasers had to deal with a turkey, and I'm very grateful for their hard work and early "roll out" so I could fly!

Flight with Caitlynn and Marci

At the Y's auction last month, my friends David and June bought the balloon ride we donated. I thought June was going to fly with me, but when the weather looked good for a Saturday flight, and I e-mailed David to set it up, he said I'd be flying their daughters, Marci and Caitlynn. I've met the girls before, and Caitlynn flew with me on a tether last summer, so I was really looking forward to a flight with them.

We recruited our friend Alex to help crew, and met at 6:00 in Gravel Ridge. After a short drive north to Bayou Meto School, we assembled the balloon, loaded the passengers, and up we went.

It took Caitlynn a few minutes to get used to the noise of the burner, but Marci seemed to like it (she's a big Harley Davidson fan, so noise is her friend!) and soon they were having a great time!

I talked to the controller at Little Rock Air Force Base to let him know we were operating in their airspace (never saw anything else in the sky during our flight) and on we flew. It's always fun flying over sparsely populated areas. This was a pretty place to fly, with lots of ridges, trees, and open spaces.

The winds on the surface were really calm, but up just a hundred feet or so, they picked up quickly. The surface winds were expected to say calm, so I was pretty sure we'd have a very gentle landing, but I knew we could fly toward Cabot, and we could fly over town if we weren't able to land before we got to the city.

After about 40 minutes in flight, we saw a nice field, right next to the Welcome to Cabot sign. We flew toward it, and dropped into the middle of the field. Soon, the chase crew was there. Alex dragged the balloon to the road, and we deflated dry on the pavement.

The only disappointment of the morning was when we discovered the Fried Pie Shoppe in Jacksonville on the way home had switched to its Summer hours and wouldn't open until 10:00. Oh well, donuts would have to do!