Friday

Well, I thought Thursday was my last day crewing, but, I left two beloved jackets in one of the permanent crew's vehicles, so I went back Friday morning to retrieve my jackets and crew for them one more time. It paid off because I got to ride again. The wind was coming up and none of the permanent crew wanted to risk a bumpy, windy landing. Inexperienced me said, "I'll go!!!" And I did. It was a much longer ride than Wednesday's ride, and in the opposite direction, so I got to see new sights. But since it was a last minute decision, I didn't have my camera with me so I didn't take anymore pictures. :-(

We landed in a field where other balloons had already landed, so lucky for us there were experienced people on the ground to help make our windy, bumpy landing a little less dramatic. We bounced a few times and the basket ended up laying flat on the ground, but I experienced not even a scratch. There were, however, reportedly a few serious accidents. But my pilot, Art, kept us away from power lines and shallow rivers. :-)

The wind is expected to last for several days, with rain sometime tonight. So I will be hitching up and heading to paved ground to avoid getting stuck in the mud again.