Congratulations Red Socks Fans 2013

True Red Socks fans are euphoric with the 3rd Series in 100 years.  My cousin Rose passed away in 2002 at 92.  One of her few regrets in later years was that her beloved Red Socks never won a World Series ‘for her’.  I am not a baseball fan, obviously this little fellow is.

The big news here is that it rained on and off all day yesterday, later in the evening it developed into a huge Thunderstorms complete with lightening and 4.6” of rain in Georgetown .  In South Austin (50 Miles), they had 8” to 12” with serious flooding.  Photos are here. If rains like this hit a flat urban area at 2:00am, folks get caught in bed as their homes are washed away.   The Texas Drought is not over despite this rain, most of it runs off and does not effect the endangered water table. Jim Hoog flood control lake {Where we are staying} is still 6’ below it’s design level.

Our Travel plans disrupted.

Dad used to say that if you ignore the Doctor’s advise there was no sense going to him.  Well our Doctors have put a severe crimp on our mobility for the immediate future.  Anne-Marie’s M.R.I. turned out to look like the aerial view of a train wreck.  She has appointment with our neurosurgeon next week, pushed up from mid-December due to the severity of the issue.  I have an appointment with the same Doc as a follow-up to last springs surgery.  We are both going to physical therapy for our backs.  Lastly, I have had a few issues with chest pain which will be addressed by my Cardiologist.

None of this is really bad, we are pay the price for ignoring routine maintenance.   As in if you don’t take your old car into the shop for a check-up on a regular basis, it is sue to let you down when you need it.

Oh Deer! 2013

The access road leading up to this Army Corps of Engineers is 1.5 miles long.  It is lined by $500K homes on very large lots.  It is also a habitat of a large deer population.  They are the smallest deer I have ever seen and have no fear of us.  We’ve seen them having coffee hour with as many as 8 does.  The buck knows that he shouldn’t interfere and eats by himself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While Anne-Marie stayed home and defrosted the ‘fridge, I escaped to attend a ‘certified’ Master Mason Degree at Austin Lodge #12  We had pasta dinner prior to the Degree.  I was very pleased to present one of M.W.B. Simon Laplace’s lapel pins to the Master as well and newly raised Brother Christopher Paul Martin.

Sad news from Connecticut, Brother Charles Genovese passed away after a very long battle with a neurological disease.  Bro. Charlie served Hartford #88 for several years, he was my Jr. Deacon for 2 years.  Hugs & Prayers go out to his faithful wife, Carol.

Anne-Marie is scheduled for an M.R.I. today which should move us forward with her lower leg problems.

Georgetown Return, Fall 2013

Our last communication was from Deming, NM where we spent a relaxing week at the Escapee’s Park there.  It’s 750+ Miles to Georgetown, we made the trip in 2 days which is very aggressive towing for us.  The truck’s engine hardly cooled off during our quick stop at the Passport America park in Forte Stockton, TX.

The area’s most famous resident maybe Pisano Pete, an 11’ tall Roadrunner, we got there too late to get a photo so I snagged this one off the web.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped at one my favorite Texas Smoke Houses for Lunch, pretty easy to find something you’d like in the assortment!  Note: You know your in Texas when Coke and Pepsi are NOT an option on the soda machine!

We were very happy to arrive at Jim Hogg Park on beautiful Lake Georgetown.  Of the 175 sites, we picked and set-up on the one that had a broken water pipe as witnessed by a small swap 30’ from our rig the next morning.  So, we moved to a better site.  It’s a rule that as soon as you set-up, you will notice a site that is better than your; So we got the best of the two!  The Lake front sites are about 500’ from us which is the way we prefer it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent a couple of days retrieving Anne-Marie’s Cruizer from storage, jumpstart and give it a bath were both required.

 

A sweet 60+ red Hat Lady set up this cute as a button 1965 Airstream across from us.  What caught my eye was the period correct outdoor chairs.

Pumpkins from Escapee’s Site!

 

 

 

 

We are here for 2 weeks while we set-up various Doctors appointments.  Are hope is to travel to New England in late November, hope to see a bunch of friend while there.

OK, I agree. We seem to be always eating. 2013

 

We are at The Dreamcatchers Rv Park in Deming, MN.  Chapter #21 is hosting a rally here.  Between coffee and pastry in the am and happy hour at 4:00 (Must be ready for ‘Senior Specials’ at local spots, we are always eating.   It’s all chapter #21’s fault!

Roast Pork Supper complete with desert $6.00, would you stay in the camper?

 

 

 

 

 

Did I mention the entertainment?  We were treated to 90 minutes of Country Western on guitar by ‘Guitar Greg’.

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday evening we traveled 30 miles and crossed the border with a small group visit ‘The Pink Store’.  A very large store selling all types of Mexican arts and crafts.  Yes, they do food there also, we had a buffet which had a Thanksgiving Theme much to our surprise.  It was very good, after the dinner we were served tacos, burritos and NY style cheesecake.  All this plus 3 drinks for $15.  The video below is not mine, I found it on You-Tube.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I got our copy of The Mexican Connection’s news letter which outlines our winter trip to Ensenada, MX.  It is an 11 page pdf file which I will be happy to email to anyone emailing me a request.  You feedback to these blog effort are very much appreciated.

 

Time to go, it’s almost 4:00…..

Dream Catcher RV Park in Deming NM 2013

 

Dream Catcher RV Park is one of the parks in The Escapees group.  It is 4 star rated with good facilities and low priced.  We are here to attend the rally sponsored by Chapter #21, it promises to be fun and somewhat low key.  Monday afternoon we started with a traditional 4:00pm attitude adjustment.

We slept in this morning and than went out to buy groceries.  This evening we are doing ‘Heavy Hors d’Oevres  Anne-Marie made her spinach stuff on toast which always goes over well. I grilled up 3 pounds of Kielbasa with BBQ sauce.  BTW:  Formerly 3 pound packages of Hillshire Farms Kielbasa now contain 2 1/2 pounds.

The Crowd went wild!

Maintenance task:  The pocket door in our rig is held in an open position by a 10 cent plastic strap which is hard to use an will not hold the door closed.

 

 

 

 

While in Home Depot I found a lock which pins the door open of closed as required.  Cost?  Nothing, they couldn’t get it to ring up so they tossed it into the bag!  Everyone’s cheering over this!

    

Tomorrow, maybe we try sleeping in again.

Last Day at Balloon Fiesta 2013

 

 

Sunday morning was our last day at crewing for The Durango Balloon.  As is often the case in out travels, this is a bitter sweat time when we have to say goodbye to folks we have come to love and respect.  This is a real Family Affair; Susana and her Brother Edwardo are both commercial pilots as is Julian their Father, who is also qualified to multi-engine fixed wing aircraft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We shared several meals, each one reminding me of the festive Italian we enjoyed in the South End of Hartford or where ever Anne-Marie was serving,

.

 

 

 

Sunday’s flight was picture perfect.  Our launch was without incident as usual.  The 450 on the Balloon celebrate the 450th anniversary of the city of Durango in Durango, MX. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We landed in the same alfalfa field the we landed in on Wednesday when Anne-Marie acted as ballast.  Today was another ‘Mass Ascension’ when about  500 balloons were launched in about 90 minutes.  This gets a bit hectic.  In the scene shown our balloon is spread on the ground we will start to inflate now.  The beige Balloon is ‘hot’, moments from lift.  Blue & Yellow Balloon in going to ready just before us, we will go ‘Hot’ as he is lifting.  The 2 balloons on the left will go hot after beige clears the area, we will follow them.  Got it?

I have a new Nikon ‘Point & Shoot’ camera.  I limit my self to these $100 cameras as they are small and when I get clumsy and drop them the pain is less that a big & fancy Sony.  Below is a sequence that was filmed by a gentleman bystander on the perfect landing and repacking.  It is amazing how wonderful the help is that appears when we land.

Durango Balloon Landing 2013 Balloon Fiesta

I also found this ‘In Flight’ movie that I took on my flight.  This was taken with my I-phone.  I’m new at this video stuff, you will have to suffer while I learn

Panoramic view from 1,000 feet at Balloon Fiesta 2013

What, Me Fly? Yes, with Great Joy, a dose of Serendipity 2013

Before the story; Best wishes and hope for a rapid recovery to our dear friend Ursula Kaminsky who is recovering from respiratory distress which visited her during a a recent air flight.

Today’s adventure started at 5:15 at the huge tent where our fellow crew members have coffee + as supplied by yet another crew of dedicated volunteers.  Remember: In this activity about 2000 volunteers support 500 Balloons!

At 5:30 the Pilots have a meeting where they are given their flight plan for the day.  We are in a contest of skill, with is saturated with luck I am soon to find out.  We are to go off site at least a mile and launch with the aim to cross the field and drop a bean bag on a target.  We did the same deal on Tuesday with a measure of success.

‘Dawn Patrol’ is launched at 6:15 which as a spectator I very much enjoy.  Today however we are faced with the realization that there is virtually no wind.  Is is calm right up to 3000 feet.

Off we go in search of a magical launch area that will allow us to return to the field.  We have about 300 other teams in the same search.  We drive in circles while we watch ‘Dawn Patrol’ and other non-combatants launch and stay virtually still, most will land within a mile of launch.

Most teams we talk to are frustrated, this is like running a race with a blind horse!  We are not frustrated, we are determined!  That will soon morph into the realization that making no decision is more unproductive than making the wrong one.

 

With Great Skill, our Supremo Commander locates us on the front lawn of a beautiful estate where we are given permission (and assistance) by the land owners.  Our take-off is smooth and without incident as we have enjoyed all week.

Soon we are at about 1,000’ altitude, finding ourselves virtually becalmed and unable to control even our very slow movement of about 2mph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here I am at 1,000’, surrounded by several hundred balloons and my lovely and most skillful pilot.  Obviously she is lovely and her skill is proven by the fact that I am writing this. Before you get any dark thoughts, this is her Daddy.  I'm too old to tangle with him!

 

 

We had a beautiful landing in a baseball field.  Several folks rushed to help us store the balloon.  The shadow in this picture is from our balloon.  If possible we leave it inflated to assist the ‘chase crew’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the map below, you can see we made a somewhat straight flight passing about 1/4 mile from our target.  Most of the pilot came nowhere near as close as they knew at the start of the contest that they would be unable to manuver.  They did launch to ‘Show Their Colors’.

 

 

 

 

Anne-Maries flight was able to Zig-Zag as the wind blew in opposing directions at 1,000 feet of the ground.  Notice that she went north to south when close to surface, at altitude she went South to S-West.  This characteristic is referred to as the famous Albuquerque Box.

 

Tomorrow, we will launch in early morning, Sunday is to be our last flight day.

 

To our daughter Kelly:  This a week we will put in our box of Men’s Toes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Balloon Fiesta; Annie Flies and More. 2013

 

You might remember that on Sunday 6 Hydrogen balloons were launched in a distance of flight contest.  This is a map of their landing spots.  For More info, visit this web site.  To our friends in the Northeast, Balloon #2 was sponsored by the City of Springfield, MA.

Our Pilots P/U truck developed serious differential problems on Tuesday.  No problem; Wednesday morning The Blue Ox was pressed into service and transported us in grand style.  We woke up at 3:00am to go and pick-up the trailer & sleepy eyed flight crew.  No photos, it wasn’t pretty!

 

 

Unfortunately our launch site is located on the west edge of the field, this makes taking good photos very difficult as I must shoot into the rising sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anne-Marie was delighted to be asked to fly on Wednesday.  This was to be a ‘Mass Ascension’ which means that 500 balloon will be launched in 2 flights in rapid succession.  It is also ‘International Day’ Hence to display of our teams Mexican flag.  We are seconds away from launch here, several passersby have been enlisted to help hold the balloon down.  In the left side of the picture, you can see our truck's bumper which has the safety rope still attached.

To our east the 7 story tall Fire Hydrant is ready to go.

 

 

The safety rope is released by the pilot, lots of furious fire from the burners as she heats to 105,000 cubic feet of air to supply gradual lift.  We shout good wishes and cheer like teenagers, it’s over in 30 seconds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sky is full of Balloons, ours is one of hundreds.  There are also many ‘Special Shapes flying on the day.  Anne-Marie gets several great photos.

Notice all the balloons on the ground, they are all to take off in about 15 minutes.

 

The location of our 5th wheel is shown, the large open area is an old dump site which is too soft for campers.  Many Balloons land there!

 

 

 

 

 

Altogether too soon the flight is over, our pilot Susana and her Supremo Commandor Julian sense that the wind is coming up and put down in a very convenient freshly mown corn field.  200 feet further the would have been in a cow pasture, that would be crappy to say the least!

Time of flight, 45 minutes.  Length of memory, Forever!  Thursday flights are canceled due to high winds. 

On a sad note we found out the 1 balloon hit high tension wires causing 2 injuries, a passenger was badly burned and required surgery, our prayers go out to him with wishes of a complete and rapid recovery.