In April, shortly after accepting the new job (in Austin, Minnesota, home of Hormel Foods and their most famous product, SPAM!), I awoke early one morning to find a text message from David Hoover asking if I was up for a morning flight. I said, "Sure!" When he asked if I had anyone available to chase the balloon, I said, "Nope!" We went for it anyway.
I drove across Little Rock and picked up David and his balloon. We headed to the Jolly Roger Marina on Lake Maumelle. The weather was great, and with a little help from someone at the marina, we got the balloon in the air easily. We drifted east, back toward town. We hoped we might wind up at Two Rivers Park, but we couldn't get that far north, so we found a great spot by a bank at "The Ranch." We were able to pack up on a street, so the envelope stayed nice and dry.
The best part was the chase crew. Remember, we decided to make this flight at the last minute? We didn't have anyone driving the truck! So, while we packed the balloon, David called a cab. Taxi got there just as we were finished packing the envelope in its bag, I rode back to the truck and came back for David and the Balloon. It was a fun morning! I'm glad we didn't let a little thing like the lack of crew stop us. As they say, without crew, balloon pilots are hitchhikers!
Shortly after that flight, Jill and I began our move to Minnesota. It was a difficult time as during the move, our dog wandered off and was reportedly found by someone (the pink-haired girl) who we think has decided to adopt our Abby. Also, Jill's dad died. We had good times too, as we found a great house and we really like Austin, Minnesota (come visit! You'll like it too!)
Being in Austin, MN, we are much closer to my mom's home town of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, so we were able to go to the airshow in neighboring Manitowoc, something I've had on my list for several years. It was great to visit two of my mom's aunts and to spend time with my cousin Trish and her husband Paul.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very cooperative for ballooning. We got to glow on Friday, but all other balloon activities were cancelled due to wind and/or rain. We did enjoy watching the other parts of the air show as well as a very nice lunch at Beernsten's, one of my families favorite places.
Back in Austin, I kept a close eye on the weather forecast, and Thursday gave me a great opportunity to fly the balloon, so I lined up my friends Dick and Belita (I owed them big time for letting Jill and me house sit for them as well as for helping me find my way to Minnesota!) and we planned a flight. Belita has a fixed wing certificate and used to be an avid aviator, so she was very interested in ballooning. It was fun flying with her as she asked lots of well-informed questions, and enjoyed comparing flying in a balloon to flying in a plane.
The winds on the surface were light, although winds aloft were a little stronger. I knew there was a chance for faster winds on landing. It did pick up a bit, so the landing was a little rougher than I like, but it was still a good one (a great one...everybody walked away and we could re-use the aircraft!)
We launched from the Mower County Fairgrounds, and flew to the north for about 45 minutes. As we flew, I worked to familiarize myself with new surroundings. Belita's experience in the local airspace was very valuable, and Dick's knowledge of the roads from his bicycling, roller skiing, and roller blading proved useful on chase!
We had an intermediate landing on a driving range (lots of golf balls on the ground, but nobody up hitting them yet), then flew on. We flew over a race track, but that didn't present much of an opportunity for landing as there were lots of power lines throughout the parking area. Once we were past the racetrack, I spotted a field a few miles ahead that was full of hay bales. I like to land in hay fields because they usually are free from livestock. Also, I can land there without damaging crops, and usually farmers welcome the chase crew. So I targeted that field. I climbed enough that we flew to the north-north-east, lining up my approach. Then, I descended and took a slight turn to the left, heading north-north-west and right into the middle of my targeted field.
A friendly land-owner let us drive right in to pack up and head back to Austin. We enjoyed the traditional toast in the Schindlers' driveway, and I headed off to work. Summer is great! I have enough time to fly the balloon and still get to work. Of course, the late sunrise of winter let's a balloonist sleep in a bit. That's not so bad, either!
Here's to more ballooning in the Northstar State!
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