We arrive at the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque

We made the short drive from Santa Fe to Albuquerque and the Balloon Fiesta. We will be joining the Escapees BOOMERS group and boondock on the large Balloon Fiesta grounds.

Our first move after arriving, was to join as a volunteer Balloon Chase team. This job assigns us to one of the balloon pilots and will have us help assemble, launch, chase and recover one of the balloons. Fortunately, there was a short training session that Orinda and I attended and after this, we were approved as official chasers and given the coveted flight line pass to boot. Here you can see Orinda holding up her new credentials!

The balloons launch from the huge launch field that consists of hundreds of acres of beautiful grass. This picture gives you an idea of the field before the balloons arrive tomorrow -- there will be some 650 balloons launching then!

We also took a walk around the vendor area and lo and behold, found a symbol from our midwest roots -- the SPAM coach! We will have to see this tomorrow after it opens.