June 1, 2013 Passengers: Kate Gagliardi, Jane Bleakney, Kit Fowler Today we meet at City Hall for the pi-ball check of the winds with it going almost straight up. Being it’s a Saturday I will move us to the parking lot at the school a few blocks away. Again today we have a “Birthday Gal” with a lot of “lookie-loos” that will want to follow along which is always fun. The “gang” gets the gear unloaded and we have two new crew for Cecil to train today (Ed & Jerry)…Welcome to the GANG! We get the cold air into Starship and soon it’s time for the passengers to get on board. We are off the lot and heading pretty much straight up. We have a nice sunrise and a peek at Mt. Hood as we “hang” over Keizer. After a bit of “hunting” I get a slight breeze that starts to carry us to the west. We get a look at the new St. Edwards church that is going up (on one of our LZ’s) and the drift continues to send us to “no land-land” as I call it this time of year. We are over Doug Zielinski’s VERY LARGE farm and only one spot to park…on a dirt road. The gang moves to us and we are caught and towed down the road about 500 yards (1/3 of a mile) to the equipment storage yard (the only open spot) next to a wheat field. The boys have to get off the road for a bit to get us around a “dead head” power line to the well below, nice job it was too! We get the balloon down and the passengers do the “sit”. We have “lookie-loos” that came out in the van, so we have to have tem ride out in the basket to the street to the cars. It’s back to the park for the picnic and the “covered” gazebo as the 10% chance of rain shows up. I get the story started, the toast is done and the certificates are presented. PASSENGER COMMENTS: Kit: “My first balloon ride—won’t be my last. Beautiful, serene ride and a very memorable trip!” Jane “My first ride but not my last! Wonderful experience, so much more than I expected, it was great!” Kate: “What a great way to see Oregon! Defiantly an incredible experience—Thanks for my first ride!!” (visiting from Wallingford CT) A BIG thank you to today’s Crew (I can’t get in the air or back on the ground without’um) Cecil, Tim. Mike. Jerry, Ed TRACK Average Speed: 2.0 MPH Distance Flown: 2.5 Miles Websystem hosting provided by WolfPk. | Site Map Copyright © 2003-2017 Balloon Flying Service of Oregon, Inc. Legal Information All Rights Reserved.