The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that Inspires You
September 29, 2010- TCS # 218
When I wrote about crewing for The Plano Balloon Festival last week, there was something that I didn’t mention in it, The things I learned about the balloonists that I didn’t know. I already told you about how hard the work was and how fun it was. But, I didn’t mention the interesting things that they do. So, This week I figured that I would write it as a Part 2 of My Hot Air Balloon Adventure. One thing that I learned by one of the other balloonists, David, that He and His Wife along with our Pilot, Rick and his wife Carol, do something called GeoCaching. You See, one time I was talking to My Brother’s Friend, Spencer and he told me about GeoCaching but, didn’t really explain it in detail like David. Now, for those of you who don’t know, GeoCaching is like an internet and GPS powered Treasure Hunt. What you do is you go online to a GeoCaching website and find where little things such as Postal Stamps or other little trinkets are and then, you plug in Geographical Coordinates (it’s location) and it’ll take you to where it is. According to David and Spencer, there are hundreds of GeoCaches in your town alone and trillions of them around the world. He also says that you can buy these devices called Travel Bugs and then, send them out. Next thing you know, it’ll make it’s way around the world. He told us that one of Rick’s travelled across Norway and across other European Countries. I think that is really awesome. The next thing I learned was a lot about the Albuquerque Balloon Festival (in Albuquerque it’s called the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.) Anyway, Chris told us that because it’s the largest and most known balloon festival in the world that it lasts 10 Days. Now, before you freak out, they only do one session a day and two if they decide to Glow. The thing that amazed me the most was that they have to get up at 3:30 in the morning to get on the field because there is so much traffic on the road to the field, between The Balloonists and The Spectators. What was amazing was the fact that Chris told me that there are up to 800 Balloons at the festival. Which was really amazing to hear considering how big the balloons are and how long the Crown Line is. I wondering more about how you prevent your Crown Line and others from overlapping. Along with the interesting things you learn, there’s also the important stuff about ballooning like the fact that they don’t care to fly in winds higher than 10 MPH. Another Thing is, you have to be careful about flying over Cattle and Cows because some cows don’t like it when they hear the balloon overhead and other cows will come up and sniff the basket. The Next Thing is, you have to figure out what direction the wind is blowing so, they can plan out where to land. One More Thing is, according to Rick, they have a 3 Strikes Your Out Policy which means that if you can find 3 things wrong with putting a balloon in the air, like not having a radio, not enough propane, or having any wind problems, then you don’t fly or you land. All in all, it was quite a learning and unique experience. I would love to thank all the Balloonists(including Rick, Pete, Carol, Chris, and David) for taking us in and letting us do this experience.
Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. I enjoyed being taught something new, Embrace Education.
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