Not long after parking my car I was witnessing this one woman chase crew trying to hop over a high fence.
It isn't always easy to find a good place to land an object that is upwards of 70 ft tall. Sometimes a fence can block the chase crew. This balloon made it around the power lines but the single woman crew needed help pulling the balloon and it's basket of riders down off the edge of this drainage canal.
It took a bit to figure out just how they needed help - first the pilot asked for only one person to come help pull. There is a danger of being in front of a balloon so he probably only wanted one person. However, right after this photo
I ran down to help pull also. The pilot wanted to get away from the power lines and out of this messy field. We helped guide the balloon with the ropes - the pilot gave it a small bit of hot air
to get the balloon over that same fence I originally saw his wonder woman of a chase crew hop over. Another balloon watching helper just like me grabbed the rope on the other side of the fence and the rest of us ran over and around the fence. By then we had 4 or 5 of us who helped the balloon land again. Bump and it was down.Then the pilot said everyone get around the basket to lift it and we are going to walk the balloon forward several feet. He knew up ahead he would have a clean place to lay down the balloon. We all just moved the balloon forward then we turned the basket to position the balloon. As the passengers got out they were told to hold onto the basket. The only thing keeping the balloon on the ground at that point was the crowd of us holding our weight on the basket. As long as I've lived here I've never helped a balloon in this way. I saw this as a kid, but I was too young then to be a helper.
To be on a chase crew one has to be committed to getting up at 3 am for 9 days. And yes, most balloons need a bigger chase crew than just one woman. I can understand why people catch the excitement of this sport. I'm almost ready to volunteer next year to be on a chase crew. I've never been in a hot air balloon.
When you think of all the hundreds of balloons that go up, it is rare a tragedy ever happens, but this sport has it's dangers. I know all of us in Albuquerque send our prayers for the family of the woman who died this year. Yes, sadly the wind on Monday caught some balloons this year. Unfortunately one woman fell 60 feet after the balloon she was in ran into power lines. It just breaks all of our hearts.
Don't let that scare you though. Life has risks and sudden winds will take you places unexpected not just in hot air balloons but in living. One must be willing sometimes to catch and ride inspiration. I don't know if I'll ever go up in a hot air balloon, but I will always love them. And the ballonists will keep flying. To be on a field where they all go up at once is really a sight to behold.
After assisting this balloon - (here's shot of it before I got more involved) - I turned toward home and
on my way, I found another balloon which I'll show you in tomorrow's post. In the meantime go look at this photo gallery it's better than any of the photos I've shown you here.
