Flynn and Ollie made it back to the foothills of the Sierras mid-September. They settled in for a few weeks in the home-park, were miserable with the Covid for a bit, and took a well-deserved rest from the previous 3 months. Additionally, it gave the avian and mammal time to take care of some business: naming the new rig and the Starlink network. The rig has been deemed “One Time”, which is a poker reference applicable in a variety of ways to our lifestyle. The Starlink has been christened “Galileo”. For the inquiring minds, the Verizon network has a name too. It’s a secret.
You know what’s fun? Getting up before dark, freezing your butt off, and having to conserve power and water to survive.
But, first – how did we get in this predicament? Here is a quick summary:
Went to Barstow, CA. Yipee. Here is Barstow, which is really Newberry Springs:
From Barstow to Kingman, AZ where we crashed in a stranger’s driveway (thank you, BoonDocker’s Welcome) and took a day-trip to Oatman. Oatman is a mining town, but it is really most known for it’s donkeys which run amok through the area and town. There are mines, including one that is a government affiliated Fort Knox gold reserve type place that you probably won’t get into unless you have the special password, knock and handshake.
Moving EB, F&O hit the following highlights: A hike in the Petrified Forest NP, THE Corner, and Homolovie SP. You can figure out which pictures are which:
Enough messing around. Time to hit Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta! There they met up with friends, legit got lost in the parking lot, were rescued, and got set up for the festivities. Here are the before and after pix of Flynn’s handler, Ollie’s handler, and friends (Beth and Rob):
4 days of balloons, the hot air type. F&O did the entire gamut, from getting up pre-dawn to watch the morning glow, to staying up past dark to watch the evening glow, to catching crashing balloons behind their rig (legit), to checking out the balloon museum, to hanging about during the day on the ‘grounds’ to watch balloon games. They hung out with family, friends, and the Boomer’s, listened to the The Border Hookups, and blew the GFI circut a few times. Did they mention that they were also in the direct line for the solar eclipse? So, yeah, that was a thing as well.
And, as a special treat, F&O also got to chat with a tracker of the Gordon Bennett 2023 international balloon race. The HQ was inside the museum (worth the visit). This year the winning team (French, we believe) made it all the way to North Carolina! Unfortunately, the Polish team hit a power line in the middle of nowhere TX in the middle of the night, had to be ‘tracked down’ by the flames, and rescued. Severely injured, no deaths (whew). This was the first time in 15 years that the US has hosted this race, so F&O were lucky to score such cool detail.
Yeah, that about sums up the balloons. It was an absolute blast.
F&O bid adieu to their friends, and headed home. They followed the same path and had an uneventful trip back to CA.
Up, up and away,
Fin
Flynn
Great writing and photos. Thanks for sharing!
It was great seeing you in November and catching up on your adventures. What great photos! Seeing donkeys everywhere in Oatman had to be a real hoot. I hope you actually got a shot with the statue on the corner in Winslow Arizona while taking it easy. The balloons in Albuquerque had to have been just spectacular to see in person. Did you know the National Balloon Museum and U.S. Ballooning Hall of Fame is in Indianola, Iowa? (30 miles north of where we lived) They host the National Balloon Classic each August with about 100 balloons.
I’m so happy for you two– having he times of your lives, while meeting terrific people along the way. Keep up the great story telling. What a wonderful way to journal while creating memories that will last a lifetime. Carol