JAN 25, 22 .. PART 1/3 .. THE 11th ANNUAL HAVASU BALLOON FESTIVAL AND FAIR

The four day weekend, beginning Thursday January 13th and ending Sunday January 16th, 2022, was the Volkswagen Bus festival called BUSES BY THE BRIDGE. We did four posts here on blogspot covering this amazing event.

Timing can be everything!

This past Friday, January the 21st, 2022, I arose at 6am to make an early morning trip to our local Walmart. It is a 7 mile drive that takes about 15 minutes and I wanted be be there early because the shelves are stocked to their fullest first thing in the morning. 

All went perfectly. I got 100% of the items on our shopping list and headed back to our motel about 7am. As I came into town, suddenly I thought, "There is a 7am meeting just up the street and I won't be too late."

So I attended the meeting. As it turned out, it had started late and there were only 4 of us.

O.K. 

Timing can be everything!

IF I hadn't gone to Walmart I would not have gone to the meeting. 

IF I hadn't gone to the meeting I would have completely missed the Friday morning Mass Ascension of the Hot Air Balloons (that I hadn't a clue in a carload was about to occur). 

IF I hadn't seen (at least a small part of) the Friday morning Mass Ascension of the Hot Air Balloons, neither Patti or I would have seen one single balloon in the sky!

"Captain! The event lasted four days from Thursday to Sunday afternoon. You saw the very end of the Friday morning ascension! What about the mass ascensions scheduled during the rest of the festival?"

There were no mass ascensions on Thursday. The first (the term used by the festival committee) mass ascension was Friday mornng beginning at 7:45am.   

We were to learn that Hot Air Balloons are not launched IF the wind is above 8 miles per hour. Friday morning was the one, and the only day of the festival, that the balloons were launched because the winds picked up to the extent that the National Weather Service issued a wind weather alert for this part of Arizona, California and Nevada.

From our friends at Google : 

Hot Air Balloons fly best with wind speeds ranging from 4 to 8 miles per hour (mph). 

The 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 winds continued to be unsafe for the balloons to be lauched through Sunday evening and into the early hours of Monday.

Timing can be everything!

HAVASU BALLOON FESTIVEL AND FAIR

Coming home with our Walmart shopping items, and after the 7am meeting was concluded, it was about 8:15am, as I was turning into our motel here in Lake Havasu City, suddenly I saw that the skies were full of Hot Air Balloons.

I parked our truck and I dashed into our room, I jolted a soundly sleeping Patti awake. Awakening Patti suddenly is something that I almost never do to Patti. 

"Patti get up! You've got to look outside!" 

And immediately outside of our motel room door, I snapped (what I was sad to learn) the below photo which (little did I know!) turned out to be one of the best of the very few photos I was able to photograph of the Hot Air Balloons.

Over the three days (beginning Friday morning January the 21st to Sunday afternoon January the 23rd) of the festival, I snapped 255 photos. Only 11 (out of the total of 255 photos) were of the Hot Air Balloons in the sky flying.

My first photo (the one above) was snapped about 8:15am, a full 30 minutes after the mass ascension that began at 7:45am. So I completely missed the beginning of the only time the balloons flew during the festival. Further, by the time Patti and I got to the actual site of the festival (Patti had to awaken and get dressed) it was about 9:15am, 1-1/2 hours after the beginning of Friday mornings mass ascension. So basically we missed the heart of the show.

So here, right up front, in addition to the one photo above, are the only 11 photos that I have of the balloons in flight.

Now let's have another look at one of the above photos.

When I snapped all of the above photos, including the below photo, I had not paid for admission to, and I was still outside of the grounds of the Balloon Festival.

In the lower left of the above photo, you can see 'something going on with some balloons' that are located on the festival gounds behind the fence. 

So I walked up the fence to see what was going on.

In the above and below two photos, do you see the very dark green balloon on the far right?

Patti asked me why anyone would have such a sad looking balloon?

I said, "It is Yoda, the legendary Jedi Master from Star Wars!

Compare the balloon on the left in the above photo with the below photo. Do you see that in the below photo, the Hot Air Balloon has risen from the ground?

The above balloon is tethered so it is unable to fly away. For $20 (children are $5 to $10) paying attendees to the festival can experience a balloon lift up to 20 feet in the air and back down to earth.

How can you miss the beautifully decorated trailer in the above photo? 

On Sunday the 23rd (before the NFL Football Playoff games) I got up close and personal with the above trailer and snapped the below photos of it.

Over the weekend, I was to learn that there is a (call it) sizeable cult of serious Hot Air Balloon enthusiasts that travel all over the country showing and flying their balloons!

O.K. Now in real time it is about 10:30am on Friday the 21st. 

I then decided to walk back to the formal entry into the festival grounds.

The rules of the event state that, due to the large amount of propane both in storage tanks and used by the balloons, some of which is released into the air, ignition points from cigarettes could cause an enormous explosion. Further, cigarette butts on the ground can damage the materials of the envelope of the balloons.

In the above and below photos you see the big picture. 

O.K. By now is is about 11am on Friday the 21st. I am just a tad tired out from all of the above excitement and (let me tell you) a lot of walking.

I inquired as to the cost to enter the festival grounds.

I was told that the cost (good for the entire festival) was only $20. I asked, "What is inside there?" .. "A carnival. Booths of items of interest and for sale. Many displays. Various activities and presentations. A large food court." 

The entry into the VW Bus event last weekend was only $5. 

And? Your Captain 'opted out' of entering the festival. And I returned to Patti who had been waiting in Black Beauty for some hours. Do you see Patti's nice sun hat that she purchased at the Swap Meet last Sunday?

I told Patti that .. "There is no way that I am going to pay $20 to see a Carnival. Booths of items of interest and for sale. Many displays. Various activities and presentations. A large food court."

Smiling Patti agreed and we headed back to our motel where yours truly crashed out having been on a dead run since 6am.

"Captain. You said you snapped 255 photos! Where are some of the rest of them?"

I am happy, I am very VERY happy, to report to all of you that once I was rested up and in a more positive frame of mind..

I returned to the festival early on Saturday morning. I paid my $20 entry fee so that I could see a Carnival. Booths of items of interest and for sale. Many displays. Various activities and presentations. A large food court.

More to follow in PART 2.

Smiling.. Cap and Patti right with and beside me!