July 4, 2014 Passengers: Katherine & Richard Garrison, Cherri Gregory Today we have a “birthday” gal in Cherri and a first flight and crew “payout” for 2 of our crew that are moving to Alaska in a couple of weeks; and they will be missed! I call for site ‘E’ out in Hopmere for today and on the way there we get the most spectacular sunrise that I’ve seen lately. We get the balloon out and pumped full of cold air then Cecil does the up for me and it’s time to load up and head out. We have a solid overcast today but it should burn off rather quickly. Once up I spot 4 balloon’s up to the north and a couple of more to the east. This is the second flight for our birthday gal as she went up on the first flight with her son Tim (an A team crewman). We drift off to the west toward the ponds then hook back to the south to the tree farm. I drop a bit lower to take off some speed as we cross over Brooklake. We are headed for our “local” version of the field of dreams and cross over it on the way to Keizer. I have good LZ’s on this track but miss Forest Ridge School by a couple of blocks then Clear Lake School by less than a 100 feet. I have to climb a bit to hop over the BPA feed lines then have a shot for the Medical Center at Inland Shores. I set the shot by skimming the trees on the way in, but fly out of the “wind shadow” and pick up speed as I do the drop to the gang. We have a hard landing on the grass and the boy’s battle to keep us off the light poles at the end. We are all down safe even though Cherri gets more bumps that she did on the last flight. We get in bagged and load up for the ride back to the picnic I get the story started, the toast is done and the certificates are presented. PASSENGER COMMENTS: Katherine: “So beautiful, it all looks so pretty and neat from so high up. Loved waving a the people below. An amazing way to start the 4th! Thanks!!” Richard: ”wonderful flight, thank you Jim and the crew!” Cherri: “Love the field and nursery from above, a very different view!” A BIG thank you to today’s Crew (I can’t get in the air or back on the ground without’um) Cecil, Tim, and Richard & Katherine TRACK Average Speed: 5.0 MPH Distance Flown: 4.8 Miles Websystem hosting provided by WolfPk. | Site Map Copyright © 2003-2017 Balloon Flying Service of Oregon, Inc. Legal Information All Rights Reserved.