We have a bit of a push out of the south so I call for the farthest south site and it turns out to be a good pick. All surrounding stations report calm winds as we get the gear out and hooked up for the inflation. I have Cecil do the up for us and we call for the passengers to board. We slip off the lot heading slowly to the north with a bright sunrise to greet us. We track over the hill keeping on top of 12th street and when I get to about 500 feet I see that we are doing between 6/8 but the surface is still calm. This track will give us peek at Gilmore Field then South High and on to Willamette University and a close look at the Capitol Mall area. We slip into Keizer and I drop down to check the winds and we start to slip toward the river. I climb back up and get the correction I want and we will stay on the right side of the river. We are now on River Road North and move over the BIG PIN toward our LZ for today. I have the gang stage in the parking lot at the school and we get a little shove to the west so they move to the baseball field for a drop line and some “fence jumping to get to the paved (dry) lot. We get the balloon back in the bag and are ready for the 12 mile drive back to the launch site for the cars. Kathryn and Dianne beg off for the picnic as they have to hit the road soon. When we use this launch site we move to the park to “party”.
I get the story started, the toast is done and the certificates are presented.
PASSENGER COMMENTS: Diane: “Awesome!! I had a great time.” Hannah: “It was a wonderful experience I will be doing it again!” Mike: “First time up!”