Events and flights
Red Rocks Balloon Rally, Gallup New Mexico
On the first full weekend in December of each year, the people of Gallup, New Mexico invite about 200+ balloonist from all over the world to come to this small, western New Mexico town and fill the sky with fantastic colors, special shaped balloons and variety of types of balloons. For the third year the Wildfire Balloon Team ventured south to attend this event. Skip and Debbie Howes along with Tom Connolly, Dave Charbonnel, Deb Colbertson, Chrisette and Wayne Soderberg said yes, lets do this again! It’s about a 9 hour drive from Colorado Springs thru Albuquerque and then west on 40 to Gallup. When we got there we discovered Myia Danley was attending, Chuck was left behind because he had to work!
Friday is a free fly day with balloons launching from either the Golf Course in Downtown Gallup or the Red Rock Park on the east end of town. As an out of towner, we get the privilege of flying from the park. This day brought gentle winds for us to launch from the park and fly around the canyons and the rocks of the park. Debbie Howes was the first passenger and we circled thru the park flying up the rocks, into the canyons, then back thru the park, landing nearly where we took off.
Quick change out of pa
ssengers, out with Debbie Howes out and Deb Colbertson in, and off thru the park we went. The winds were still allowing flights in the park but had shifted to a solid westerly/northwesterly flow. We danced thru the park with Tammie Foley nearby and both ultimately ended up in the same landing area. Over one wall finger into a canyon up and over another finger into another canyon heading west to leave the park. New direction towards the north to the balloonists favorite landing areas -"Superman Canyon". With Motion X in operation, crew could follow the balloon and determine the best route to get to the Wildfire balloon. Winds were still light, making the goal of reaching a road for crew to retrieve a definite challenge. With a two hour flight and 6 various take offs and landings we made the road where crew showed up to pack things up. We went 3 miles in the balloon and crew went 10 on the twisting roads available.
Friday night the park hosted a balloon glow with the balloons nestled in one of the canyons, lights reflecting off the red rock walls, a real sight to see. Also there, around the large campfire were the Navajo Indian dancers showing their proud dancing heritage.
Saturday was nice but the winds were from the wrong direction and the winds aloft were swift at best. Therefore, we didn’t fly, off to breakfast and prepare for the events of the afternoon -the "Gallup Christmas Parade". Balloonists, bikers, bands, floats, fire trucks, displays of all varieties and finally Santa Claus make this a community event. The cold temperature didn’t chill the hearts of both young and old or keep them from attending the parade. This is a time when you can actually dress up in a crazy costume, look stupid and no one cares. This was our third year in the parade and our theme each year has been "Pink Flamingo Christmas". We start on the west side of town and head easterly for about 30 blocks. We pass out candy as we walk along the route and enjoy the joy on the faces of all during the event. The flying is great here, but the parade warms the heart and shows how much the people of the town appreciate everyone in the parade. What do you do when the parade is over? Pop a cold one and prepare for what do balloonists do in the evening? A balloon glow!
Jason Gabriel put on a good show, with the "Spirit of 76" balloon, for the balloon glow that night at the local Mall. It was interesting watching the various balloons and the techniques they used to stabilize their balloons. The very successful ones used two crown lines for the glow. The others played with the wind and the crews worked very hard for about 90 minutes of the glow.
They rope off a whole sec
tion of the parking lot of the mall the night before to keep cars out. Then about 5:00 pm the crowds start building, the balloonists show up and organized chaos begins. The crowds were outrageous in size with people wandering all around the parking lot, getting the opportunity to get up close to view the balloons, speak with the pilots and crew and enjoy the evening activities. We didn’t glow but we did head over to the mall where we parked in the warm car, ate pizza and drank wine while watching all the spectacular balloons.
Sunday morning brought great weather again, along with the noted colder temperatures of the Gallup Red Rocks Balloon event. That morning the temperatures were in the teens with toes and fingers keeping cold. Sunday we stayed within the Park and did a large figure 8 from take off to the west end of the park flying up high and dropping down brought us back to a central point to change out sponsor rides and pop in another sponsor. Our sponsors were a local Architectural Design and Construction Company called LAM Construction. They are a Native American - Navajo owned company building housing on the reservations in the area. They are working on a project building over 300 homes. This was our third year with them as our sponsors and Loren Miller, the President of the Company joined us again to give some of his employees a ride. They sponsored four balloons this year to support the event and the community. Last year we did two flights and flew him and his daughter and friend.
Playing the winds we decided to try to get back to the launch site to make the figure 8 complete. As we came over the red sandstone finger we were heading right to our launch spot until the warm air along the rocks decided to invite me to them and a small tree to see if it was healthy. After a full horticultural inspection of the shrubbery, we landed on the launch field just a short distance from Myia Danley. Successful flight, good landing and happy sponsors.
On Sunday the even
t has a spectacular breakfast with auction items, drawings and prizes. With the long ride home, we decided to deliver our canned food to the event, give our tickets to another pilot and head north towards home. We got home abut 9:00 pm safely with another great year of flying under our belts at the Red Rocks Balloon Rally. If you have never flown the event, put it on your bucket list. When you fly, the flying is great and the scenery is spectacular. Thanks to Paul DeBerjeois for some of the photos. I’m sure if you are
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
During the summer months of Colorado, Steamboat Springs opens it's skies to dozens of balloons that come in from all over the United States to fly the scenic valley of Steamboat Springs.
September in Snowmass Village is a fall wonderland
Western Sky Balloon Festival July 4 week 
I do have to say that Delta did a bang up job with their first Western Sky Balloon Festival! Some festivals that have been around for many years would be justifiably envious of these first year accomplishments. Below is a photo I took of Wildfire over Confluence Lake adjacent to the Launch Site on Day 1 at the start of our chase. Wildfire is rather bright on the launch field and in the sky.
Fun crowd. No . . . a really fun crowd. Our style of flicker with Kids of All Ages participating was a lot of fun with Skip and I sharing time in the basket. A quick pack up when the rains came had us discovering the next day that it was an easy way of putting the uprights in the basket and with access to the balloon (glove) box. Debbie and I had just packed it in to where it fit during the rain. Who knew!
First night with a glow-flicker at the Devil’s Thumb Golf Course saw lots of people attending and while we departed before it really got going, the vehicle lights approaching had the effect of and as Debbie said, like the final scene of Field of Dreams. It just went on and on along a long and winding road, rather cool to see.
The next morning offered a great launch site that was very comfortable and green grass to launch from. The ospreys nesting on one of the light standards by the ball field were fun to watch. However, they just ought to turn that light off – that is a seriously nasty night light for the osprey at oh-dawn thirty! Confluence Lake was directly adjacent to the Recreation Center. You can’t help but fly over the lake each and every day. Jennifer Nichols, a great local photographer, took this photo for us, it's awesome isn't it
Day 1, and with Veterans on board, saw us land adjacent to the white structure on the farm of local farmer, Lyle. Great guy, engaging and very friendly. Ask Skip to tell you Lyle’s joke. The Veterans were also great Crew, meaning young, strong and enjoyable. And yes, we tarped it for the new envelope.
Day 2, and with Kelly and Red aboard – Sponsors of that day – saw us landing behind the house with a rather thick green lawn that was friggin’ huge ! Skip landed to the right of the house in the bottom right corner on the fringe and upon seeing the backyard I said we’re walking Wildfire around to the back. We used the wagon to haul the envelope bag and basket to the bottom left side where it was reasonably flat. New balloon with green thick grass is better than using the tarp. I didn’t care how far we had to haul the wagon – we’ve hauled it much further.
Cool Event shirts on Red and Kelly that saw oh so many wearing. The event poster was of a nice design and with Wildfire having a prominent up front location. It caught my attention when I saw it at Devil’s Thumb. Very few event posters grab my attention. This was one that did.
We had a great location for the tailgate that was next to refueling, public restroom, and with lots of shade ! It was very nice to just kick back and be lazy. Kelly’s red, white and blue vodka Jell-O shots were strong, but still enjoyable!
We had great Volunteer Crews and kudos to one – Laura – who crewed with us on two days. She helped pull out the bag, helped Skip with the tabs and I had her learning the crown line and going solo, though she did ask for my hands on the first day with the envelope halfway up. She went solo all the way on her second day – July 4 – which ended up being a static display for us, and the two of us took it down as well.
On the launch day of July 4, the Police and First Responder vehicles parked next to each other side-by-side along the full length of the launch field, and with lights going during the presentations of the colors and national anthem which was a great touch, detail and sight and as three balloons launched, each carrying the US flag, and with a rather large US flag flying from a construction crane adjacent to the launch field. All rather cool and impressive. Simply a nice touch and in keeping with and for a great nation.
In the end . . . a Town dared to envision, then stepped up, came out which all added up to it being amped it up rather well! Thank You Delta . . . Sincerely,
Tom Connolly, Dope on the Rope!
Upcoming events
Erie Colorado
May each year
We have two great days of flying from the Golf Course off
ight, Frederick, ColoradoLaunching from the Community Park by the elementary school, the sky fills
with balloons as the community celebrates it's heritage and Summer activities.
Steamboat Springs Rainbow Weekend
July each year