We have now arrived at PART 3 of our series of posts about the HAVASU BALLOON FESTIVAL AND FAIR .. LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ. This will wrap up this series of three posts.
For your convenience, IF you want to go back and review PART 2 (or if you haven't had a chance to look at it yet) clicking onto the below link will take you back to it.
http://bobbacaps.blogspot.com/2022/01/jan-26-22-part-2-havasu-balloon.html
Our becoming more or less acquainted with what Hot Air Balloons are all about, has been a learning experience totally new to us. Yes we certainly have, from time to time, during our travels, seen hot air balloons up in the air, calmly drifting along with where the winds will take them.
Our first learning experience. Hot air balloons do not, are not physically able to, just go up in the air on some whim of the owners / balloon pilots. As in .. "Ah-h-h, come rain or shine I think that I will go out and fly my balloon today."
Hot Air Balloons will never launch in winds higher than 12 mph because strong winds can damage the balloons and cause a balloon pilot to overshoot an anticipated landing area. Strong winds can also cause hard landings and require more space for landing than is normal. The optimal wind speed for them to successfuly fly is from 4 to 8 miles per hour.
Our second learning experience (Oh Captain! Have you been living under a rock?) was that it takes a real team (known as their ground crew) to fly them.
Why is there a team involved? Because once they lift off and take flight, away they go often on a somewhat unknown path to the pilot. I am not at all sure exactly how precisely the pilots can navagate them.
Don't we all live in an absolutely astounding informational world!
Google says:
https://seattleballooning.com/how-do-you-steer-a-hot-air-balloon-2/#:~:text=Hot%20air%20balloons%20don't,different%20direction%20without%20changing%20altitude.
So up and away they soar. The emphasis here is on the words soar away! They usually do not just go up in the air and come right back down!
When the balloon returns to earth, it is not at, nor maybe too near, the location from where it lifted off.
So? The pilot must be met at his landing spot by his team (ground crew) who will gather up the balloon etc and give the pilot a 'ride home' so to speak.
Fascinating huh? Well it is to Patti and me!
Below you will see (perhaps far too many) photos of the vehicles the team / ground crew will use during their balloon flight, from lift up to landing.
HOT AIR BALLOON TEAM VEHICLES
The festival had a very nice program available to paying attendees.
Below are photos taken from the program that show not only the names of the balloons, but the names of their pilots.
In the first photo below, you can see the very nice trailer (under the bottle shaped balloon) that one team has in its equipment inventory.
Over the weekend, I became fascinated with the ground crew trailers as well as with some of their very 'fancy' vehicles. I then sought out and snapped some photos of the above 'fancy' trailer, the very first one to 'catch my eye'!
I shot a photo of it during a night time visit!
Here we go, looking at some of the other trailers and vehicles that transport the teams and balloons.
Destination at night!
No Siree! Not all of the teams are what I would call 'high dollar' enterprises!
Three additional photos of Cloud Kisser, now hooked up to his tow truck !
Seeking Nirvana ! I love it !
I would classify this as a very VERY NICE yet modest rig. I think that I could afford this beauty.
A quick peek inside of a trailer.
I am sorry but I have NO IDEA as to how the balloons are packed away to travel to their next outing. It looks to me like the balloons may possibly be comprised of several individual parts and not just one huge balloon. Again, I've no idea and did not think to ask the team members.Sports Fans, further I have absolutely no clear idea as to how these enormous balloons are inflated to begin their journeys! I never had the opportunity to witness this process because the high winds here grounded them after their one and only flying day on Friday.
On we go.
The CREWZER !
The balloon pilots had their own tent in which they held meetings to discuss the weather (wind) and other matters of importance to them.
Looking at the Pilot Tent from the Hampton Inn.
Now I want to show some up close photos of the gondolas that the pilot and passengers ride in. At the top of each gondola are the propane burners, the source of the flames that provide the hot for the Hot Air Balloons.
The wicker baskets are the gondolas. At the top of the gondoas are the propane burners.
I hope that maybe, just maybe, the above photos will help you as you (and me AT the venue) attempt to ascertain exactly what on this good earth was happening in the below photos taken at night.
I can't begin to adequately convey to you how much energy and planning was involved in this event with all of the many side activities that were in progress during its four days.
Yes the event continued into the night time hours !
What was it all about? Honestly I can't tell you except it was a rocking scene.
In the below photo, we are looking out and across the Balloon Field. In the far distance is the Hampton Inn, where we parked our truck to watch some of the events without going into the grounds.
The below photos show night time activities on the above Balloon Field.
From a photographic point of view, as poor as some of the below photos are, they do provide an idea of what I mean about the high energy level in the crowd.
All of the above (and below) flames were generated by the balloon crews igniting their propane burners that provide the hot for the Hot Air Balloons.
Below is a close up photo of a propane burner that goes up into a balloon and from which the propane flames are emitted.
You can see for yourselves the size of the crowd!The time has come the Walrus said to talk of many things!
We are going to wrap this series of three posts up the way we began PART 1. We will again show the few photos we captured showing the Hot Air Balloons in flight.
In many ways, our very first photo below, snapped from our motel, turned out to be our very best photo!
One day, someday, I hope to revisit a Hot Air Balloon Festival when the winds are perfect for flying and we get to experience more of what we saw here.But truly we give thanks for this weekend at the..
HAVASU BALLOON FESTIVAL AND FAIR
Cap and Patti
