We woke up early and got to see two deer on the way out the drive, a doe and a fawn crossing the road plus two deer on the side of the road all before the first balloon launch. Click here for the videos. I do know Roy saw an elk but we did not get it captured on dash cam.
After shooting everything in sight yesterday today was all about picking certain balloons to concentrate on. I changed camera lenses to my wide angle so I could take in the whole scene. After we get Roy’s scooter out, I head up the little hill and start taking pictures. The sun had just risen so there were sun beams to take advantage of.
I was taking pictures from a distance and a woman came up to me and stated if I wanted to get closer I could. The balloon she was crewing for is called Morning Manna. (They will also be at the Hotsprings balloon festival in August.) I did journey closer to the balloon and took some pictures of the flame from a close distance.
When the crew told me to come closer. I do have to say that I would not make a good balloon crew member it was too hot. I enjoyed getting close enough to see all the way up into the balloon.
Most of the morning was spent chasing the balloons after lift off.
We decided to follow Morning Manna to see where the wind would blow. It would be a journey of 14 and 1/2 miles as the crow flies. This is where the game lodge is and the landing zone for multiple balloons. They all seemed to go in every which direction you could imagine.
We had to wait at a few different turn outs for either the balloon to catch up to us or the balloon to radio down to the chase car what direction the wind is carrying them.
Once we got to the landing zone there were other balloons touching down. There was a moment when it looked like a balloon was coming in for a hard landing. The hard landing wasn’t as hard as it could have been because of the fast thinking of the ground crew. Everyone was ok just a little shook up.
Last balloon standing. The balloon touched down at the landing zone then lifted off so we followed it. It was cool how they had to walk the balloon to the edge of the road so, they could pack it up.
Looking forward to more balloon chasing in my future.
On the Road with Buki-6 
Down the Road in Eighty Minutes was fine with me. Eighty days would be a ‘no go’. They are colorful and fun to watch. It’s a really interesting project for flight and ground crews.
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Yes, I agree 80 days would be way too long
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