A Terrific Tuesday In Florida

Looking at the weather forecast I can already guess what the title is going to be for tomorrow's post!

But today began with a telephone call at 5:45 advising me it was time to prepare for my 6am meeting in preparation for my first ever hot balloon ride. After meeting our crew and receiving instructions we were driven to a large field in the middle of orange groves where setup began. The passengers are expected to help so I was somewhat limited in picture taking at this point.

My main task was to hang onto the balloon in the early stages of using a powerful fan to fill the balloon with air. Then the air had to be heated to bring the balloon upright.

Airborne! From now on the pictures are of a companion balloon.

Landing!

Fortunately our landing was a little less adventurous than this one, though the younger fellow did end up with his brother on top of him and I got a scraped shin :(

And this is the official photo of our captain and crew just before takeoff.

As you can see there is not much room in the gondola and that makes the takeoff and landing pretty tricky as you try to climb in and out of a rather unstable basket. We dragged and bounced across the sandy soil for about a hundred yards before coming to rest more or less upright.

It would have been fine with me if the ride had been twice as long but the length is somewhat restricted by the rise in the winds as the day progresses. That, I gather, is why they leave so early in the morning. I now have a much better appreciation of ballooning and Jules Verne and all that!

All in all a great adventure, for me probably a once-in-a-lifetime (it's quite expensive).

After a free breakfast, presentation of "Official First Flight Certificates" and opportunities to buy t-shirts and pictures, which I declined, it seemed like the day should be about half over, but it was only 9:30.

So I came "home" and wandered around the resort taking a few pictures, ending with a self portrait.

There were quite a few people swimming and sunning but the sky is somewhat overcast and the air temperature is only about 68F so I chose to head for the tub and have the longest hot bath I've had in years.