A mere week after returning to Tucson from the Four

Corner Unit “September in the Pines” Rally at

Heron Lake, NM, we packed up the Bambi and hit

the road again for Albuquerque, New Mexico …

destination: the much-anticipated 2009 ABQ

Balloon Fiesta. You know — the biggest and best-known hot air balloon extravaganza in the world! The Four Corners Unit of WBCCI has hosted this premier rally for several years now, and we thought it was high time that we went. It’s a bit pricier than our other 4CU rallies, but it’s not because there’s a big fee going to the Unit … it’s all Balloon Fiesta fees … including 4 nights of camping just yards from the lift-off field, entry fees to all events, and a front row seat to the daily activities. We were very excited to join in this well-attended event and to become part of the fun.

So we headed north to Show Low once more, taking tHighway 70 north from Tucson to pick up Highway 60 north of Florence and head east through Miami and Globe ... then north to Show Low. We have discovered that this route, though a few miles longer than taking Highway 77 from Tucson up through Winkleman to Globe, seems to have less climbing and better roads. We began taking this route to Show Low when Highway 77 north of Winkleman was closed during the daytime for construction beginning earlier this year. We still

                                had to go through some construction just before Miami, but

                                     it wasn’t too bad and the drive is really quite pretty. Of

                                         course, we end up at the same altitude ultimately, but

                                          it just seems like an easier trip somehow.

                                           When we go to Show Low we usually stay at Fool

                                        Hollow Lake State Park, which is one of our favorite

                                           places in the White Mountains (we’ll be returning to

                                             Fool Hollow on this Travel Log update, actually). In fact, we had just stayed there one night before we hooked up with Louis & Sergio and Julianne in Holbrook on our way to the Heron Lake Rally earlier in the month. But this time we headed to Ponderosa Shadows, which is a private Airstream Park. Residents purchase a lot in the park with a level pad, storage shed and full hookups and can stay there (or leave their trailer there) from spring through mid fall. It is closed in the winter. It’s like buying a condo for your trailer in a way. It’s a nice setup, really, and the folks we’ve met who live have lots there have all been very nice people. In fact, we were meeting up with Linda & Ken and Steve & Faith (fellow members of the 4CU) who have lots at Ponderosa Shadows … and another couple from Ponderosa Shadows, Frank & Carol. They invited us to stay at the Shadows for the night as their guests and then we’d form a 4-unit Airstream caravan to the Balloon Fiesta. What a nice treat for us! This caravanning can be fun!

We arrived at Ponderosa Shadows in the late afternoon, did our meeting and greeting, let the Girls sniff and initial this new territory, and got ourselves situated for the night at Steve & Faith’s site, which is right next to Ken & Linda’s site. By the time we got connected, it was time to think about food. Frank & Carol came by to join the party and we piled into a couple of cars and headed into Show Low to a pizza place to grab a bite. We had a very pleasant evening of food, drink, chat and catching up. It had been some time sine we’d seen Steve & Faith and Ken & Linda … Dead Horse 3, in Cottonwood last February, in fact. Neither couple had been able to make it to the Heron Lake rally. And it was nice to meet Carol & Frank. It was clear that everyone was excited about the trip and the rally ahead of us. Frank & Carol had not had their vintage rig on the road much, so this was a great opportunity for them to travel and put some road miles on it, in the company of other more seasoned road warriors! There is safety in numbers!

We had a good night’s sleep in the cool mountain air and woke Thursday ready to hit the road again. Nobody was in a terrible rush, so the morning preparations were leisurely and unhurried. Steve & Faith’s and Ken & Linda’s rigs hadn’t been moved for most of the summer so it had taken them a bit more effort to get their trailers ready to roll to Albuquerque.

By mid-morning we were all ready to go…Ken &

Linda led the pack, followed by us (we were the small

rig ... we’re used to that). We were followed by Frank

& Carol, and Steve & Faith brought up the rear. We all

had walkie-talkies so we could stay in touch while on

the road… “breaker, breaker.” That was entertaining.

We had a good time with Ken pointing out traffic conditions and points of interest along the way.  He’s natural tour guide. The walkie-talkies were not only fun, but they came in very handy … once we had to stop because a

window came open on Frank & Carol’s trailer … Steve & Faith saw it from

behind, so they were able to alert those of us ahead of them that that needed to

stop so they could close the window. Otherwise, we would have gotten way

ahead of them.

When we caravan with others it’s always entertaining to watch heads turn and people take note. “Look, Ethyl … there go some of them there Airstream trailers. Do they still make those??” (We have a t-shirt with a picture of a Bambi

                              just like ours that’s captioned, “Yes, they still make them!”)

                                   This caravan was no exception … we saw plenty of heads

                                    turn as our little pack of aluminum made its way down

                                     the highway.

                                       The route we took was partially the same as the one we had traveled a couple of weeks earlier on our way to Heron Lake Rally in northern New Mexico. We headed north out of Show Low on Highway 77 through Snowflake, down into the northern desert plateau to Holbrook where we picked up I-40 and headed east. The trip went well. We made a couple of comfort stops along the way to stretch our legs and let the animals out. We were not pressing hard because we were only driving to Grants, NM that day. We had reservations at the Grants KOA where we were to meet up with about 15 more Airstreams headed toward Albuquerque for the rally. As we made our way toward Grants Ken continued to entertain us with factoids and points of interest along the way via the walkie-talkies. He also alerted us to road hazards and traffic conditions. Cool. It was a very pleasant trip as we mad eor way to meet up with our fellow ralliers in Grants.

We arrived in Grants late in the afternoon … we were pleased that there were several rigs already there. Most of them were from California or Nevada. Richard & Jan from Phoenix, who had driven north to Flagstaff to meet part of the California contingent weren’t there yet. We were surprised … we were sure they were ahead of us on I-40. If they didn’t show up soon, we were going to call and check on them.

We checked in, got our site assignments and circled through the park to our site, waving at other Airstreamers along the way. It was quite fun to meet up with a gaggle of Airstreams to continue on our journey the next day. The folks from California were understandably road-weary but everyone seemed glad to be there amongst birds of a feather … with visions of hot air balloons in their heads.

Richard & Jan and their travel companions arrived just as we were

getting set up for the night, so we didn’t have to worry about them

any longer. We all greeted and caught up and made the rounds,

still saying “hey” to new Airstreamers along the way. The KOA

had full hookups with able — and you could even order a meal

to be delivered to your trailer, so we had a relaxing evening. We

filled our water tanks and dumped our holding tanks so we’d be

ready with fresh water and empty holding tanks for our arrival in Albuquerque the next day.

Friday morning we got up fairly early so we could gather with our travel partners — and the others we had met — to continue on our way toward Albuquerque, which was only an hour or so further east on I-40. The plan was to meet with the other ralliers at the Camping World just west of the junction of I-40 and I-25, which would put us on the northwest side of metro Albuquerque. When we arrived about 11 AM, there were already quite a few rigs lined up in the parking lot of the Camping World. It was qite a sight to see. We met Ken, who was the host for the rally. He had his clipboard and was checking folks off as they arrived. We met our friend Sandy from Salt Lake City ... and Barbara & Janis from Albuquerque were there to greet us as well. (Unfortunately, they would not be joining us for the rally. They had a sick dog and work stuff to deal with. Bummer. But it was great to see them!) As folks arrived we saw old friends and met some new ones. It was a pre-rally social event! There was even a TV station camera man there with a field reporter who interviewed Ken & Ellyn about the rally — we were going to be on the local news it appeared! We were only a part of the general hubbub that comes along with the Balloon Fiesta event … but one of the shinier and showy parts, we are sure!

All told there were 56 units and over 100 people in our group. What a great showing! But it’s a big group. There were so many units that Ken divided us into 2 groups of 23 units to caravan on into the Balloon Grounds. We were in the 2nd caravan. We gatehred with our caravan pals and grabbed Sandy so that

                             when we went into the Balloon Field we would be parked

                                  near each other. We left the Camping World parking lot

                                      and lined up along the access road next to I-40.

                                       Unfortunately, because of road construction, we had

                                        to back-track west about 8 miles in order to cross the

                                     interstate to head east into town. It was quite a sight,

                                     all those Airstreams lined up. We enjoyed being part

                                       of the spectacle! In fact, it’s one of the highlights ...

the spectacle of it all is fun to witness.

As we headed into Albuquerque, we quickly realized that it had sprawled

quite a bit since we were last there. The traffic was busy on I-25 and it was difficult to keep everyone in the caravan together once we merged with

regular mid-day traffic. We were behind Sandy, and she had a walkie-talkie as well, so we could stay in touch with those ahead of us, but not everybody had walkie-talkies, so we did our best to keep those behind us in sight so they could follow us. Fortunately, there were signs along the interstate to guide Balloon Fiesta attendees to the field, and that helped, but there were a couple of times when we just had to take exits and hope that those behind us could either see us or knew where they were going. We didn’t lose anyone. Once we were off the interstate, we grouped in a single line again and entered the Fiesta grounds. They were ready for us, and they were quite organized.

We were going to have some of the best seats in the house. The Airstream section started in the 2nd row of parking sites from the actual lift-off field. As we drove into the RV area, parking assistants guided us into the “sites” that were marked off with chalk on the ground. It was set up so that we had enough space on either side of our rigs to put out awnings and to have a bit a space to ourselves, and between each row of trailers there was enough space to drive through so that no one was boxed in. They just filled up one row and started the next. Before it was all said and done there were three full rows of Airstreams, each probably a city block long … each of us facing the lift-off field just a short walk away. We had a great site…right in the middle of things, with the “party central” area directly in front of us in the next row toward the field. We really did have front-row seats!

We unhitched and got ourselves situated and took the Girls for a walk and greeted everyone as we walked. The RV area was fairly level, which was a good thing. It was a combination of gravel, dirt and what appeared to be decomposed or crushed asphalt mixed in. It wasn’t the cleanest surface to camp on but at least it wasn’t as dusty as it would have been with plain dirt. The Girls didn’t seem to mind it … and of course, they’d rather roll around in the dirt than stay on the nice clean rug outside the trailer anyway, so they were in hog heaven … literally. We knew the Girls would be a mess by the time this was over, but it wouldn’t be the first time they got dirty on a camping trip. They are little camping troopers and always tickled as can be just to be with us in the thick of things.

Almost as soon as we got our little piece of Balloon Fiesta turf

staked out and organized, it was happy hour! We socialized, of

course, but made an early night of it, because the next morning

was the first official day of the Balloon Fiesta and we had to get

up for the pre-dawn Balloon Glow festivities. Now if you know

us, you know that we are not early risers especially when we are camping, So this whole “You-Gotta-Get-Up-Early-and-Hit-the-Lift-Off-Field” thing seemed like a stretch for us. We watched the news on TV and a movie and hit the hay ... and set the alarm for and ungodly 3:30 AM. Yikes!

3:30 AM came really fast. too. But we did it. The Girls just looked at us like we were out of our minds. They were smart enough to not resist when we took them out to pee, but as soon as we got them back in the trailer they wanted back on the bed to finish their beauty rest while we went off to partake of events. We, however, bundled up and got our acts together to meet up with Richard & Jan and our next door neighbor, Stan from Salt Lake City (a new friend) in his 16’ Quicksilver Airstream … and make our way to the vendor’s area for a breakfast burrito and coffee ... and then to the edge of the field to take in the pre-dawn Balloon Glow festivities. It was quite the carnival atmosphere … and not even daylight yet! And it was filled with people as crazy as we were! The announcer on the PA system was probably one of those early morning radio personalities who’d been asked to emcee the Balloon Glow. (They are always way too cheerful for that time onf the morning!) A number of balloons were already in the air, lined up above the crowd, flaring their burners in time to the music on the PA. As newbies we were just trying to soak it all in. The next time we do this we will have a little better idea of what to expect! And if we want any good pictures of the Balloon Glow, we need to remember to take a tripod with us! It was pretty cool, but we have very few decent photos of it because it was still dark. It was all quite entertaining, enchanting and mesmerizing to watch the balloons floating and glowing just above our heads. Quite the show.

Gradually, it started to get light and warm up a bit … there were quite a few balloons already in the air, but the morning’s lift-offs were just beginning in full force. It was all quite well organized. There were long rows of deflated balloons being prepped by the various balloon teams. One row of balloons would inflate and lift off simultaneously, then the next, and the next, etc., until all the balloons on the huge field were in the air and on their way. The whole lift-off event was coordinated by “Zebra Patrol” — guys and gals all dressed up in various renditions of Zebra regalia (some quite colorful), each with a hand radio and in constant contact with whoever was overseeing the lift-off proceedings. They would signal to the teams when it was time for them to begin inflating their balloons for the next wave of lift-offs.

We were impressed with how up-close and personal the general public was allowed to be with the balloons and teams. We were right there in the thick of it.

                    The balloon teams were very accommodating and willing to answer

                       questions, etc. For all that was going on, it was all very organized

                         and everyone seemed to be on their best behaviors. (Maybe

                         that’s because it’s so early in the day?)  We got some great

                          pictures of the process of filling a balloon and getting it aloft. It

                         was amazing … all this activity before our very eyes … turn

                         around and there’s a sky full of balloons that had already lifted

                            off. There was a lot happening all around us. There were thousands of people on the field with hundreds of balloons in various stages of the lift-off process. We took a lot of pictures … but it’s like taking pictures of the Grand Canyon — it’s impossible to capture it all — and when you review the pictures later they sorta all look the same. There were  lots and lots of hot air balloons in the sky — so many that it is quite overwhelming. But you are compelled to take pictures anyway. (Thank goodness for digital cameras, right?)

That first morning we didn’t get back to the trailer until mid-morning, and the balloons were still taking off. We spent the day watching the sky as balloon floated overhead and getting to know some of the new folks we met … and walking the Girls … and getting ready for happy hour. Not a bad way to spend the day. That night we went back to the lift-off field to watch the fireworks display. It was a bit windy that night so it was cut short but we still enjoyed sitting there on the grass trying to get good photos.

The next three days seem like a blur. Every morning we were up watching the balloons. We didn’t go the daily pre-dawn activities again … just too

darn early. Despite that, each day we woke to helicopters flying

about the lift off area testing the winds, etc. We’d peak out the

front window of he Bambi to see if there was any balloon

activity, and if there was, we’d hit the ground with a cup of

coffee and the camera. Or we’d stroll around chat with neighbors

and take in the sights while waking up. The weather didn’t

cooperate very well during the Fiesta. Albuquerque had lots of wind and high clouds that weekend, and when that happens balloons don’t fly as freely. Unfortunately, several events got canceled due to weather. But we didn’t let that keep us from enjoying ourselves. It didn’t seem like there was ever a dull moment, and we saw plenty of hot air balloons doing their thing during our stay.

Things quieted down a bit during mid day. Folks took that opportunity to go into town, or take in the Hot Air Balloon Museum, which was within walking distance at the end of the Airstream section. The vendor section next to the balloon field was partially shut down, but later in the afternoon things would crank up again, vendors would re-open their booths, hoping the Fiesta attendees would buy one of the crazy hats or the buttons or some of the other bazillion things that were for sale relating to the Fiesta.

And of course, we visited with the other Airstreamers through the day and gathered each afternoon at “Party Central,” which was several canopy shelters set up almost directly in front of us in the next row of Airstreams toward the field. We had the chance to get together with old friends in the 4CU … and to get to know new folks we met. There was Stan from Salt Lake City, in his 16’ Quicksilver AS… There were Max & Rosa in Max’s 16’ Bambi who had not even known there was an Airstream gathering happening! When they came into the grounds, the guy at the gate said, “You must be with the Airstream group!” So Max said, “sure” and they parked them in the row behind us. They were so pleased to have run across us … and we were just as pleased to meet them. Max is from Boulder, CO, and Rosa is from Austin, TX. We didn’t feel like we got to know everybody well … there were just too many … with over 100 in attendance that’s a lot of people to get to know! And just about the time you began to recognize someone, they’d go back to their trailer and change their clothes! So you’d have to start all over … how do they expect us to keep them all straight when they keep changing their clothes!? It was a bit overwhelming, but we tried our best!

One night we sat with Jan & Richard around their Fire Dancer (a propane gas camp fire) and watched the fireworks from their campsite. Another night we met up with Sandy and Stan and went down to the field to watch that night’s fireworks. One afternoon we went to check out the chainsaw wood carving competition at the far end of the lift-off field and have a lunch of curly fries and onion rings. (Really bad for you but really tasty.) Turns out the family who ran the curly fries booth are also vendors at the Pima County Fair in Tucson and said we should stop by and see them there! Small world. We walked through all the tents with vendors selling everything imaginable and chatting with the vendors. That was a lazy relaxed afternoon.

All the while the Girls were having a great time of it … getting to take walks frequently, lounging in the sun by the Bambi, and sniffing all their Airstream doggie friends. They did amazing well considering the fact that we could not

                                 take them with us to the field, and they had to spend a good

                                    share of time in the Bambi while we were otherwise

                                        occupied. (But we are certain they use that time to nap

                                        … and that makes them lucky!) Sadie began to notice

                                         the balloons passing overhead, too. She was so cute

                                        watching them float by like she new exactly what they

                                         were. Annie didn’t seem to notice the balloons as

                                         much, but she was happy in her own little world,

                                          usually rolling in the dirt or napping under the Bambi.

We had a donation “kitty” going at the pot lucks and on the last night of the rally the 4CU put on a special “Don’t Bring Anything But Your Smilin’ Face and Your Plate” dinner of BBQ’d brats, hamburgers and salmon. We went with Richard & Jan to the local Costco to get the fixin’s using the kitty funds and spent the afternoon preparing for the feast. We had several grills going cooking different things. It was a little difficult to hold off the hungry hordes. By the time it was over every scrap of food was consumed from the main course to the cheese cakes we’d bought. If we every do that again, we’ll know that we need to put some food aside for the cooks and organizers so that they are sure to get something to eat. Either that or carry a big stick. We were amazed that all that food disappeared so quickly.

As with any rally, when folks begin to pack up to leave, it gets a little sad. A few of our new friends had to leave a day early in order to get back home for work. And then it was the day for everyone to take off. We didn’t have the option of staying longer, as the Balloon Fiesta continued on for the rest of the week and the following weekend, with new groups scheduled to come in. So everyone had to leave. Gradually the aluminum began to thin out.

But the fun wasn’t quite over yet. As the camping area thinned out, some of the balloons floated over particularly low — low enough to talk to the pilots, and some even landed in the camping area, right next to our rigs. It was great and everybody got in the act. We all helped the team take down the balloon,

deflate it, and then pack it up into the basket into a nice neat little

package. It’s amazing how small they make it. It was a great time

and folks really enjoyed the experience. We were like a bunch of

kids in a candy store, really. And as always, the balloon team was

extra friendly and responsive to the admiring crowds. After all

there were our heros!

We had been camped at the Fiesta four nights, going on five days when we left the Balloon Fiesta grounds on Tuesday, 6 October. We had almost full holding tanks and nearly empty fresh water tanks (even after adding the extra 14 gallons of fresh water we’d hauled in the truck), but we figured we’d dump the tanks and take on fresh water at our next destination with facilities. We said our goodbyes to our caravanning friends, Ken & Linda, Steve & Faith and Frank & Carol from the trip up. They were all returning to Show Low together to close down their places at Ponderosa Shadows for the winter … And of course we bed farewell to our other 4CU friends as they left one by one. Sad.

We headed south from Albuquerque to the next leg of our adventure with the knowledge that we woul dmore linkely than not be back for the next Balloon Fiesta and di it all over again ... even the 3:30 AM thing!

Please enjoy the pictures below ... click on the “Fool Hollow” button to go to the next half of this trip...