osa grande - the great balloon crash- friday, 6/23/06

my fear of heights is well documented and well understood. however, i have to say that at no point on this vacation did my lifelong fear rear its ugly head. if it was going to do it, however, today would be the day. pam and i were off on a 30 minute ride in a hot air balloon.

we were up at 6am and at the visitors center by 7am. they told us to dress accordingly, which meant long pants, jackets and decent shoes. good thing about the shoes. i could have done without the rest of it. as a matter of fact, before we ever left the ground pam had my jacket on on top of her stuff. that's what she gets for being a skinny minny! :)

we watched as the crew helped steady the balloon as they filled it up. there were about 20 people signed up for the rides, each one split into 30 minutes. pam and i were on the 2nd leg of the outing, so we were assigned to ride in the chase vehicle with tanya, who was also a potter and had immigrated to pagosa springs from florida with her father. she was pretty cool. we talked pottery and she gave me her card. she also had on a cool turquoise and coral necklace which i would love to duplicate.

the first group didn't go anywhere to speak of, as there seemed to be no wind. they came down in an open spot in a neighborhood, and we switched places. from the moment we went up, i had no fear. i was snapping pictures and watching everything. mike, the captain, pointed out chimney rock, piedra peak, and other local landmarks. we flew over chuck and linda's condo, and we saw an parachute glider. apparently, the pilot was a guy named pat parelli, who is known as the horse whisperer. mike pointed out parelli's spread and sure enough, he did head back and land there on a little landing strip. pam and i both made phone calls from the cells. i called austin and the last thing he said to me was "don't crash, mom!" hmmmm.:) i also spit a couple of times from the gondola!

when it got to be time to land, however, there were difficulties in finding a place to land. mike was trying to bring it down on the road or in a clearing in an area known as elk park. however, the wind kept blowing us back into the san juan national forest where there weren't any roads and there weren't any clearings. he kept trying to find a place, and the chase crew was busy trying to follow him, but finally it got to the point where he said he just had to put it down, period. we were running low on propane! we landed in an area known as turkey springs.

so we prepared for the tree landing! and that is exactly what happened! he told us all to squat down in the gondola so that we wouldn't get wacked by tree branches. i stayed up until the branches started really coming in the gondola, which was rocking back and forth because it was perched on the top of a tree! mike goosed the propane, the balloon rose again, and this time he did bring it down in a small clearing.

as soon as it hit the ground, he asked for a couple of people to get out of the gondola and get the lead ropes and try and guide the balloon down away from the trees. i didn't know i could move so fast! i got a rope and another guy did, and we started trying to direct the balloon away from the trees. however, we weren't successful. it caught on the top of a tree.

the chase crew arrived and everyone got out of the gondola and began the task of trying to get the balloon down on the ground without doing more damage to it. once it was on the ground, all of the air would have to be pushed out of it as well. unfortunately, it didn't come down without a fight. i heard a big snap, and the top of a tree was the victim! so was the balloon, as it sustained two big rips in it about 12 inches each.

pam was on the ground busy snapping pictures while i was trying to keep from ripping the balloon and keep from being crushed by it! it came down over my head a couple of times! mike told us not to grab the fabric at any place but at the seams, which was kind of hard to do. we had to roll it over towards the center, and a lot of things got tangled up. finally, it was all on the ground. mike said that they would have to get a bunch of 4 wheelers up there to get the balloon and gondola back. apparently, this had not happened all that many times. they sure had their work cut out for them getting all that stuff down to the support van!

we were ready for the trek back to the support van. however, there was only one problem, which was that we were in east jesus with no trail! this is where having the right shoes was a good thing. we had to hike uphill and then down hill. i pulled up the rear with mike and a couple of people from england. pam was up ahead. i got on the phone and called carol kluver to tell her to tell austin that, guess what, we crashed! we made it back to the van, and no one had water and it was getting hot, but it was all good! what a story to tell!

we returned to the the visitors center at the resort where we had started. mike served champagne, muffins and juice and told us about the history of ballooning and he did a toast and showered us all with champagne. we were now christened official first time balloonists. i could have gone up again, and while i was up there i kept thinking how i could come back to richmond and do this crewing thing!

we have lots of pictures, a certificate and t-shirts marking this adventure!