Okay, okay, this is coming a month and a half late. But, as lame as my excuse is, my web browser crashed when I almost finished my first draft, and the thing didn’t save. So, I threw up my hands and never bothered again until now. Square Space (website host), having a feature that continually saves drafts would be nice…. *hint hint*

February, did you enjoy that month? I think I did. But, it could’ve been better. To keep things short, the Friends & Lovers Balloon Rally (Albuquerque, NM) had one successful day of flying. The Kanab Balloons & Tunes (Kanab, UT) was weathered out on all three days. The event in Utah was more of a bummer since I had driven many hours to get there; taken work days off which I could have saved instead; and I got fatter.

Friends & Lovers

The first day of the rally was canceled due to gusty winds. The second day was pretty close to being called off as well. Fortunately, some of the balloons took off; basically any pilot willing to fly did. Some balloonists didn’t feel comfortable with the conditions and took down their balloons quickly after having stood up. As time went on, some pilots had rather exciting landings (not pictured). I was able to help out those who were landing back onto the launch field.

Kanab Balloons & Tunes:

As I’ve stated before, the Kanab Balloons & Tunes had no balloon flights due to weather. A great shame indeed as the location makes for picturesque flights. On a good note though, I got to meetup with some pilots that I had not seen in a long while.

Sheldon, the pilot I was going to crew for, graciously allowed me to stay in his hotel room (extra bed) instead of being in a tent. This was particularly nice as it was pouring rain when I had first arrived to Kanab. Pitching a tent in the rain isn’t new to me but, it was nice not having to. The other pilots fed me well during the tailgate parties. In fact, I ate too much and gained a few unwanted pounds!

The end

And that’s that. I think that I got a few cool photos between the two balloon festivals. Now, will I talk about March? There was one balloon festival that I had attended. Maybe you’ll see in another month, HA!