May 30, 2012 Passengers: (Cousins) Nichole & Maria Albright, Pam and Steve Foster We have a really “rare” birthday group today two cousins that were born on the SAME day thirty years ago. Then another birthday gal to add to the mix along with her hubby, who tried his best to “surprise” her. I call for the West Salem site as the wind forecast is SSW and very light. The gang gets to work on the top and we get the fan fired up for the cold air pump up. We get the heat in and we are standing so I call for the passengers to get on board. A bit more heat to get us to lift temperature and we are off the grass and on our way. The track is just about what I expected as we climb out and catch the drift to the northeast over Wallace road and then over the residential area and into “Bambi” country. We have crossed over the gravel pit and will cross over the Willamette River soon and then into Keizer. I’m looking for more of a push to the east so I drop a bit and do find a slow shove that I like. We zig & zag across Keizer and I miss the first LZ (landing zone) at Weddle School to the north by about 500 yards so we will continue on to the east with lots of good LZ’s on the track. We slip over the industrial area and will cross I-5 into a wide open area next to the “old K-Mart” store with a nice BIG parking lot. The surface breeze is all over the place so the “gang” makes several set-ups as I have no good steerage at all. I set the landing shot and just as we get close to the surface I get shoved (see the close up track) to the left (north) parallel to the service road and the gang have to “beat feet” to come get us in the “pucker brush”. They do a great job with the catch and tow us across the street to the side lot of the building for the deflate and take down. We get the balloon tagged and bagged, then loaded up for the trip back to the picnic at the Park. I get the story started, the toast is done and the certificates are presented. PASSENGER COMMENTS: Nichole: “What a great experience, it truly will never be forgotten. Thank you for helping us celebrate our 30th B-Day!” Maria: “What a way to start my 30th birthday. Peaceful, relaxing and beautiful! The crew was awesome and Jim was entertaining. Thank you all!” Pam: “A wonderful experience! The host and crew were delightful!” A BIG thank you to today’s Crew (I can’t get in the air or back on the ground without’um) Cecil, Tim, Molly, Mike TRACKToday I have included a blow-up of the last few minutes of the track so you can all see why we MISS some LZ’s Average Speed: 4.0 MPH Distance Flown: 4.3 Miles Websystem hosting provided by WolfPk. | Site Map Copyright © 2003-2017 Balloon Flying Service of Oregon, Inc. Legal Information All Rights Reserved.