IMPORTANT PREPARATION

Since I’m detained at home, I’m using my time productively, catching up on neglected chores and projects. Some fun, some not. The house appeared to be in good shape, but it needed painting.

I hired Jube and Joel to do the prep work. Joel worked nine hours one day, and the two of them worked 10 hours the second day. I had forgotten how much work preparation  work there is. Joel would explain, “to do it right, all of this loose paint has to be scraped, sanded and primed. ” Kind of like the seemingly endless medical tests I’ve been undergoing before surgery. To do a good job, they want to make sure you are in good shape. Of course, I want to move things along instead of all this waiting. It’s looking like I won’t be able to fly back to the motorhome and resume travels until after Christmas. (groan).

Yesterday, my son Doug came with his airless and roll upon roll of masking tape and started spraying the eves.

It takes little repairs along the way, some of which Jube and Joel did.

A cracked and rusted spot in the downspout.

The house settles and needs caulking and other stuff here and there I’d forgotten about. I guess the same is true of the old body. I could stand a bit of scraping and caulk here and there along the way and I guess I’ll get it.

The house and I will both be better off for the makeover. And, I won’t be inclined to let things deteriorate so much this time around.

It will be nice to come home to a pretty house when all is said and done. And, it will be nice to think my good health will continue with a bit of an assist. who knows, if it weren’t for the accident in May, I wouldn’t have known I had a health problem at all, as strange as that seems. We have to prepare for the future.

NOT A SIMPLE BALLOON RIDE.

The sun was barely up. Jim and I,  dressed in our morning sweats, were finishing our blog. Jim said, “Let’s skip breakfast and go watch the balloonists take off.”  In the park field, people were scattered about, laying their balloons on the ground.

The Freedom Flight and Ride began the previous night in town. The balloonists gathered on both sides of the street in Gallup,  fired their propane burners to form a flaming  arch for the motorcade of biking vets to ride through. That was the ride, which we missed. Now the flight part at the Red Rock Park grounds. (You can double-click any of these photos to enlarge them.)

Having never been to a balloon launch before, what struck me first was the number of people it takes to launch a balloon.  Ken Ferguson’s  crew put down a huge tarp, dragged out their balloon, and laid it out.  Ken answers to Fergie.

As they tested their burner and began laying out their balloon, the sun was just touching the tops of the rocks.

As the balloon inflates, crew member Debra,  assists the balloon in spreading and unfolding.

What soon resembled colorful, beached whales were sprouting up all over the field.

Balloonists congregate in clubs and have a working crew that assists the balloon owner/pilot. Crews worked swiftly, without much comment, but the propane burners filling the balloons could be heard all over the field.  I video taped a partial launch that you can see and hear at this link:

http://youtu.be/5eHj_nXY_rU

Everywhere I turned, balloons began  puffing up like giant marshmallows.

I got giddy with excitement and wanted to clap or shout each time another one became upright.

Up, up and away.

Soon dozens of them were flying as I watched, transfixed.

The heated balloon rises, but the wind dictates where it will fly.

Jim the technical person, wanted a blow-by-blow of what it takes to launch a balloon and attached himself to Fergie. He was very  friendly, patient  and informative.

The balloon is now full and is beginning to lift off the ground.

There she goes, hauling the gondola (basket) upright. Kind of taking on a life of her own.

Fergie’s balloon, named  Itsa Touchie Subject,  is upright;  the flyers are climbing aboard, and off they go.

It may seem obvious, but it is important for the members to be able to recognize the balloon in the air for the chase team to spot and follow.

Balloons from a distance can look much alike. You must know your colors or you might chase the wrong balloon.    Jim told me we were invited to ride in the vehicle with the chase crew.

At one point we were flying along this dirt road only to find ourselves fenced off.  Debra, in the balloon van  ahead of us,  found and opened a gate. There are often two chase vehicles.

Brenda, our driver, re-routed and got stopped for a minute by wild horses crossing the road as we bumped along. But, she spotted the Itsa Touchie Subject  just as it was about to land.

All hands steadied the basket while two people unloaded.  Jim and I were invited to take their place for the second “hop.”  I was bowled over by the generosity of this crew. Realize, not everyone can afford a balloon. A second-hand one, just the balloon, can cost upwards of $20,000.  It is an expensive sport. Crew members participate so they can ride. They gave up their ride for us and Thank You is hardly adequate.

The balloon from inside the basket.

Fergie gave a couple of blasts of propane and in seconds we were floating upward and waving to the ground crew.

I spotted the herd of wild ponies we met earlier on the road.

Flying is  sensuous, serene, beautiful.

The Freedom Flyers dotted the sky as we ascended to about 800 feet AGL. (Above Ground Level)

Part of the pilots job is to scout out a landing spot big enough for the balloon;  hopefully near a road where the pick up van can get to you;  and in a place un-fenced so no one has to heave an 800 pound or heavier  basket over it.

A couple of planned bumps, and we were down. The pilot keeps the balloon inflated enough to give the spotter something to see. When he is positive he’s been found, he can let the air out in a very precise fashion.

Everyone but the pilot bails as the balloon loses air and drags the basket over on its side. The ground crew lays out the tarp in the path of the falling balloon. Sometimes it is a miss, as in this case. The wind is a wiley engine.

The basket end cords are held taut. A crew member pulls out the top so it doesn’t fold deeply inside the balloon.

The balloon is “milked”, lifting and stripping  air out. Then crew members place velcro ties loosely about 3 feet apart.

Once it is secured and disconnected from the basket the lines are neatly tucked into the final fold.

The tied balloon is shouldered by half the crew, as others move the bag up three feet at  a time so the balloon can be stuffed into its bag. The tarp too, is folded and stuffed in a separate bag. The balloon alone weighs about 300 pounds.

Then the basket is loaded into the van. The flight is over, but not the fun.  Fergie referred to a ceremony that takes place after a flight.  I’m just beginning to get acquainted with the crew and loving every minute of it.  This wasn’t just a balloon ride.  We were included in every aspect of the ballooning sport.

More tomorrow. In the mean time, if you’d like to look at a partial  album where you can click on a slide show and see pictures full screen size, click the following link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/106530979158681190260/2012520FreedomFlt?authkey=Gv1sRgCK2DhYj_gfegiAE

It Doesn’t Happen By Accident…

Back in the sixth grade I had a Jewish manual training teacher who offered this piece of wisdom about life…”Plan your vork and vork your plan”. With his accent, the word work…sounded like vork. It seemed like good advice. Later in life I became an engineer and an ability to organize was an asset.

It’s really helpful in my RVing life. Researching an area prior to a visit is almost as much fun as going there.

Today we leave our RV Resort where we have been parked for the last ten days visiting friends and Mary’s relatives (another cousin yesterday) and head for southern Arizona. For about the next month we will be exploring much of the rather remote area basically south of Interstate Highway 8 and Mexico. A rough rectangular area of 150 x 50 miles.

Because of the remoteness…finding potential safe camping sites and places where we might empty our waste-water tanks became a concern. For the last several days, searching maps and books, but primarily searching on the Internet…I’ve managed to find some of those locations. With the help of Google Earth I’ve put this information in a manner which will help me find these locations while in the area. You may click upon the below image to see it in a larger view…

I’m not going to explain the codes to you…suffice it to say I know what they indicate. With this information available, as we explore the area for the about next month, it will greatly enhance our visits in that area. In other words…it will make me a happier camper! 

It ain’t easy being an ex-engineer…I just cannot help myself! 

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

Yesterday, my congressional candidate brother, Will, visited  Cousin Gary visiting from Southern, CA. Gary had never been to an Occupy Wall Street protest because, as he put it, “I’m not interested in closing ports and businesses where people have jobs. And, I don’t want to lay down in the street.”

He also confessed to not quite understanding what the point is. While vitriolic radio show hosts criticize and condemn the movement as pointless and leaderless, I notice that all National news organizations are covering this movement- because  it has legs.  As one local protester, Rick Mines put it, “Protesting the concentration of wealth and power held by less than 1 percent of the population is an effort to  save capitalism.  Capitalism has to be fair,”  (And I would add regulated.)

You can’t compete when some guy is putting $100 million down to put a  Supreme Court Justice in place, or when 80% of congress regards their major job in governing is to get rich by way of  hand-outs, insider trading, and million dollar jobs when they leave. I take heart because the long term apathy among the general population is finally over. You couldn’t get people to take to the streets. That has changed all over the world as well as  in our highly conservative mountain counties, Tuolumne, Calaveras and Amador.

It was a small band on a cold December evening during the busy Christmas season. Two young students were there. The only other woman said to me, “In our county we are all part of the 99%. We don’t have any concentration of wealthy here. But, it is still important to let people know, its time to take a stand and we desperately need change and jobs and a robust middle class.”

This sign speaks to an issue that may be more important than the government laws that tilt toward the wealthy.  It is a slippery slope to a fascist state when we weaken our first amendment rights.  There are many good things in the NDAA, like protections for whistleblowers. But, we are not to know if sub-par maintenance of our airplanes is a factor in crash. We cannot know who contributed what to the congressional committee people overseeing the granting of government contracts. On any contract,  any savings realized cannot be directed to the National Debt once the money has been set aside and is not used for that project. No clue to where that money WILL go. Suspected terrorists will not have the same rights of trial, detention, and ability to defend themselves as we do now. There are good things in the act, but  many slippery areas. The idea to audit the Defense Department Budget was soundly rejected. Hmmm. It’s on-line. Read it.