Bourne's BIG Trip: Hot Air Balloons

PREVIOUSLY ON BBT: Dad told us, as the sunset colors broke in the horizon and trimmed down to the ground, as the fire crackled quietly in the fading light, as our dogs barked endlessly to the neighbors that passed by with their pets, as a truck, red but looking black in the fading light, passed by with fingers out the window to embrace the wind, that we were going on a Hot Air Balloon Ride tomorrow!

I could barely contain my excitement. We, the Bourne family, were actually going in a big balloon with a basket, daring the winds and sky in only some wood stitched together and paper linen! I had read about hot air balloons in my flight book, and they were made by the French before planes and used a little in warfare in the Civil War, even! Mom and Dad had already been in one twice, one by themselves in Alpharetta, GA with a lot of trees (it will be mentioned later) and another with Lauren and Julie in Sedona, Arizona, after they had been to the Phoenician. So in two days we were going to follow two events, major ones, it seems, in the lives of Mom and Dad. From an Aeriel view we would see the Saguaro cacti, and all of the local Phoenix desert. I just couldn't imagine the feeling, being up there among the clouds, only held up by a cloth thingy and in a basket. It wasn't going to be like in a plane where your in an uncomfortable seat accompanied by a sneezing kid, looking out a small glass window at the clouds, but this would be where I would get to actually stick my head out and bend over, and move around in the basket and look down at different vantage points. I would get to spit down at them!!!

Wow.... I sat in my uncomfortable couch I had slept in (because my mattress was all mushy and popped and we had returned the other one), and I just shook my head in disbelief, in a daze. A hot Air Balloon. Hot Air Balloon. Air balloon hot. balloon hot air. Wow, so crazy.

I called my grandparents and told them a little bit of being at Tucson, and also that we were really going on a hot air balloon today!! They were as excited as I was, and told me to tell them every little detail after the famed flight of the day. I told them I would, as Rebecca and I talked about this shocking new event to take place, as Dad came up and said that he and I would take the dogs out. We did, and then after they had gone to the restroom sat outside from last night's campfire, and Dad told Rebecca to go get the bowls for the dogs to eat out of. I asked Dad about it and he said it was going to be a wonderful experience when we were up there, of all the little people, and that we were going at 3:00 at the Phoenix Private Airport, where all the little planes went, like pilot planes and the whole bit. Dad told me that in Alpharetta, GA, they were assigned to do one of their scariest photography jobs yet (Mom tell who hired you and what you were going to do) on a hot air balloon. Alpharetta is all foresty and it was really windy that day. Upon landing, the pilot told Dad to get out and that if they both got out and left Mom in there, the balloon would go flying up or down with her in it. Her and the equipment was holding it down, but the boys had to actually rope around them thick ropes, and the pilot, who they were paying to take them, made Dad drag the balloon to a safe place, wind blowing, balloon dragging, trees swaying!

Of course, Dad was okay with doing it if it saved Mom and the balloon. Mom said after she felt like an Eqyptian Princess or the Queen of Sheba, in that balloon. I was on the edge of my seat with the story, wishing I had been there to record it in the blog. Well, the dogs ate their food and Dad told Rebecca to go get more. Even though they had eaten, they might be full, so maybe we shouldn...more food! They ate their second helping and Rebecca cried they might get fat. A whole fiasco happened between the two, Rebecca running inside, me getting her, and negotations, crying, Mom, declining, the whole bit. I really don't want to talk about it. It's too confusing and "General Hospital" like. But anyway, later in the day we took showers and Dad said that we should probably where good collared shirts and skirts, because Mom was going to take our picture and it was very high class. What would we do until the ride? Rebecca wanted me to play with her, as "didn't usually because of blogging and reading" and so I agreed as we went outside. The two Rescue Hero doctors (and rescue heroes are short, fat, and have big feet but I still love them and have like 50 of them) stayed and studied plants as Scifer, a rock climber, stayed too, because he was too good to be in the competition. The rest divided into teams and were going to try to scale the wall and win.

A lot of fights erupted, as people kicked and punched and tried to hold on. Kimberly the doctor wasn't that good with Navy and another guy, but after times of struggling and people falling off and a ship with Scifer catching them, Jonathan and Britney, two barbies, came up victorious. It was fun, but tiring, in the hot sun. We ate pancakes, having two big breakfasts in two days in a row. Yesterday we had gone to iHop (sorry I forgot to mention that in the last blog post) and I had had Green Eggs and Ham (because "The Lorax" is sponsoring iHop if they say to do the movie and sell that kind of food) and surprisingly it was really really good. But back to the 25th of FEB - the day of the hot air balloons.

After that Rebecca wanted to play some more, so some of the awesome toys went to hunt for fish, along the wall behind an R.V. (we tried to avoid contact with the owners) and to a little wooden playground with swing and a tire swing beneath it on the first floor. The girls filled in the empty air part under the circle top, and the fake waves pushed them and they tried to get fish. Guys fell down and tried to be held on by the girls below. People got hurt as Scifer fell on a little dock and some other funny things happened. Bob and a waterbottle who had let them come up to the second floor and down the slide to the first floor. They had to jump to a dock on the corner, just a small piece of wood, and then make it to the swings while being shot at. Navy had to go up the stairs and then go on the wooden pole that held up the swings, as did Matt, who had come to take an injured person and the ship had gone away...Scifer was the injured. Bob tried to kill them, but Captain came up behind and shot him tons of times, as Navy was really hurt. Bob, who was insane, died. It was a very emotional and action packed episode of Toyland. Bob would later be taken to a funeral.

Meanwhile, Dad did some errands like the grocery store and telling people we would stay another day, and Mom did pictures on her computer, posted a blog post, and did laundry. I felt bad about using my free time to play instead of blog, but Mom told me it was okay and that I was a kid...it was what I was supposed to do. I felt better after that. Mom was really excited too, and they would both bring some really big camera bags so they would get every lensce and shot possible. My video camera was in the car....

2:30 approached, and as that happened Dad came and told us to get in the car. I had a book called Around the World in Eighty Days that I hadn't read yet, and they went in a hot air balloon so I would ask about it. I looked around for my video camera, as we drove toward the airport parking lot where we would park and go into the vans to the Launch Location, although at that time I didn't know that was what we were doing until it happened. Until now I had been SOOOO excited to go on the hot air balloon, and talked about our feat on the way over when we were going to do it. I had wanted my video camera to video tape this awesome thing that was about to happen. Uh-oh. Where was it? I looked around, and told Dad, saying that when we were at the Phoenician I thought I had brought it out of the car, and remembered going back for it because I thought I would see some cool stuff. So it could be in three places, the R.V., the car, or somewhere at the Phoenician. We came up to the little airport, small white brick buildings and a large parking lot.... and as we went past roofs with open air and little square buildings with biplanes, seaplanes, and two seaters, plus small passenger planes, Dad decided we should drive and try to find a place to eat a quick lunch. We couldn't, and so went through the gate and back into the large parking lot, and parked.Where would I find my video camera?!?

We parked to the left, as Dad got his camera bag which is big and black, with all of the different lenses and stuff like that. I looked under my chairs, all of them, hoping to find my video camera, and then double checking before I looked into the back. All my efforts were to no avail. There were a few people in black with large tripods and video cameras (I wished I had one like them!) , and they talked to people outside of a white van. Was this the tour they had spoken of? No, the people said, that the tour was in numbers and had different groups, and were about to arrive. They were like Group 64 of The Hot Air Expeditions company, which would divide us into different balloons and then get us up there, everyone in the vans together. It would go smoothly as planned, all except for that I didn't have my video camera in which to capture and broadcast the awesome event! We walked across a row in the parking lot, going to the right once into another row filled with all kinds of tourists with cameras and sunglasses, and guys in purple uniforms controlling the whole mess, all of them lined up with clipboards in their hands, calling out names. This would be interesting.

We were going to be in Group 23 or something like that. Sitting down on the curb between two vehicles after countless minutes of holding bulky camera bags, we waited for our name to be called. The sun shone down as I pondered out my lost video camera. I left it many places but seemed to always get it back again, from people at even the most terrible of places. I would lose it a lot in later months, as you'll see in some blog posts. But, it was a terrible time of sitting on the curb, Rebecca just playing on her phone and me sitting there, bored out of my mind, looking at two red ants scramble in circles around a piece of asphalt. Our group was called, and then our name's, Bourne, party of four. A few more minutes past before we even got to the man, with a tan large lady with glasses, a blonde haired pony tailed lady, and several old people, plus a young couple, black haired guy, and a black haired lady who was claustrophobic and asked to sit in the front. Although Mom sometimes feels that way also, she let the fairly young pale lady get into the shotgun seat. The driver, a man named Jim with flat close cropped brown hair and a handsome face, told us that Mark was going to be our pilot, and Gene, a professional football player from the NFL. It was going to be a lot of fun.

I recorded all this with my phone video camera, wanting to at least video tape it with that.

Dad phoned The Phoenician, finding out that my video camera was in fact at the desert resort. SO THAT'S WHERE IT IS! I wish that it was with me, but at least we knew where it was and that it was in the good hands of the hotel employees.

Jim pulled back the long door, allowing people in. Dad told us to allow the old people to sit farther up, in the front so they could get out easily and not have the stuffy back seat. I was disappointed that was going to be the case, but oh well. We took the black bags along the right, with the big glass windows and the seat belt containers on the sides, with blue and purple old cushion as the seat. We sat down there, us both having window seats, and were somber the ride through as we buckled up. There wasn't much room, the black bags between Rebecca, Dad and I and all our junk spread about, the jackets and all. It, even though we were in a HOT AIR balloon, was going to be cold up there, and so, we were to take jackets. I made a video of riding along, hearing Jim, in the front seat, muttering something, and presumably telling the safety rules and a story, with people laughing outrageously. What was so funny? The couple were in front of us, and they didn't hear him that much either. I was missing a safety thing! Uh-oh!

Other vans were beside us along the way, as we drifted down the loud highway and the words of Jim were blurred out, I only heard tones of voice and different sounds. We passed by the very first University of Phoenix, which looks like all the other Phoenix's, like the one we have an Atlanta, a black glass boring rectangular building. I wondered what Gene, the football player, would be like. What was Gene short for? Eugene. Wow. A player in the NFL named Eugene, a football player. It sounds more like a nerd or astronaut's name, not a ground man, as they called him. What would that job be? How about Mark, this supposed pilot. Hmmmm.... Maybe he would be good. I told myself to stop asking questions, to just wait until we saw the employees that our lives were in the hands of.

I did hear one thing from Jim, that we were going on some bumpy roads on the launch site, out in the desert, where all the other hot air balloons were also going to launch. We should probably put our seat belts in.

Despite the loss of my video camera, we were gonna almost be ready to go into the Hot Air Balloon! I videotaped going over shrub and desert dust, the brown and black mountains surrounding the very flat valley. Little bushes with grass leaves were by us, and I didn't get the best footage as the car went up and down and up and down and up and down and my head was shaking the whole time and it was really crazy and I couldn't believe how bumpy it was. How I wrote that was how it was.

Other trucks wee lining the sides, with white front parts and a long wooden bed, and crosspatch black metal on the sides. Either on platforms behind them, in the bed, or beside it, were square baskets with four cylinders leaning in to make a silver cup on top of a little roof, where the balloon linen would go. It's not actually made out of linen, it's made out of a material which will be mentioned later, as you will read. Some of the baskets were upturned, on their sides, and had colorful "linens" under the balloon, and were hooking on. All kinds of tourists and employees alike stood by these tons of trucks and vans and balloons. Jim said that the van was coming up closely, and even over the weird sounds and tires on the rocks, I heard him loud and clear.

Jim got out and opened up the door, as many people drifted out. We were about to go on a hot air balloon!!!

The truck with the long bed and something in front of it tied up to an upturned balloon that was in front of it. We were walked over with a man that looked hardfaced, but seemed nice. He had on a pilot's uniform, white, short sleeved and collared, with badges or chevrons on his shoulders. His eyes were big and his brown hair was flat, like Jim's, but he had a more senior and serious face, and he introduced himself as Mark. He could have been an old army general, perhaps McGarther, Patton, or Eisenhower, erect, tall, and taking care of the situation soundly and swiftly, being a man of few words. He led us in front of the van after people had drifted around and looked at all the hot air balloons upturned, with the cables and metal connecting on the columns, and the trucks and vans and people and baskets and everything. There were at least 20-30 of this stuff, and we made up a big caravan of people. Back to Mark. He asked us, while getting clipboards from Jim, where we were from. There was a brown haired curly haired woman by the blonde pony tail one, and she said that she wasn't going with the other woman but would see her off and then stay with the ground crew or whatever. They were from Kentucky, and we would talk to them later about the Unbridled State. The other people were from the Northeast. Mark laughed with the lady about who would win March Madness, and that he was for the rival team. Maybe he would be a good and funny guy....

He told us that they were some of the last to launch, and the ground crew would get up the balloon. He told us also that they would get in, and some of the safety like there was no graceful way to get in, he would be in the middle, and everyone would fit, also to stay with him and enjoy it. After that we would come down, and he told us on the landing to protrude the knees and up against the basket, not facing the way you land even though you want to, and to hold on. After we landed at a location the van and the ground guys would follow us in (they would call it the "chase vehicle" we would drink champagne and orange juice (for the kids) set up a little picnic, and then finally go back to the airport after watching a beautiful desert sunset. He asked Dad where we were from after finishing off on the safety and what was to take place. He had also said that there was a slight wind but it should be okay. Dad told him, and Mark said that he had ballooned in Macon on a competition, and it was all forest with not much place to land. Dad related to him the story about that he had told me earlier, and that it was our first time on a hot air balloon (us, as in the kids) although two other times Mom and Dad had gone. Mark nodded and said we would enjoy it.

A couple of men took the material, colored and mostly yellow with purple and red too, out in front of the basket, flat and on the ground. Mom talked to the blonde woman, as Mark passed around the clipboards for people to sign, just something called a confidentiality agreement to be sure they got their money after the flight or something like that. Dad signed for us two "minors". The lady was a schoolteacher and said what we were doing was really good. That tan woman was from the Caribbean and I asked her what it was to be down in that area of the world. A balloon to our right and down a long way rose to the sky. Wow, look at that puppy rise. People from the bottom took pictures as people from the top did the same thing, and waved there hands off. That one was a rainbow, with all different colors, and was very circular, small in the bottom and then rising in width and fatness to the top like a bubble. Very beautiful and amazing, as it rose and rose, finding the wind to sway it's direction, totally at the mercy of air.... as it went left and then decreased to a little smudge as it reached the level of the sun.... wow.

Being bored, I walked toward the direction of the basket that we were going to go in, well the Kentucky women and a few others came too, and Rebecca. Mark was talking to Jim about something. I looked at the basket, the bottom of which looked like plywood, but I wasn't sure. On top was an African-American man,with a black cap turned around, and a black shirt and khaki shorts, with blue and black tennis shoes(zigtecks), kind of what I was wearing too. There was a fan to the right, portable. I didn't know why it was there. After the Kentucky lady had asked some questions, I made my way up to the crewman, who I thought to be Gene the football player. He hopped down, as I stood outside the balloon basket, which was weird to look at as the metal things were turned over and the standing places people stand in were also turned over, so they looked more like bunk beds than seating places. I asked, when I looked at this metal cylinder thing with metal poles connecting it on the top of the columns, orange linen all around it, with metal going around in circles around it and one on the bottom like a string for a hat, with one having holes for the air to escape out of. I asked the man about it.

"Is this where the heat comes out of?"

His voice was unexpected. It was high, smooth, and girly. This was weird. A football player who's name was Eugene and had a voice like that. I shook my head. As he educated me, I saw that a large man didn't have to be named Steve or something like that and have a deep voice and a dull head.

"Come on in here." I timidly went in and looked at some metal cylinders that were upturned, with circle metal caps that could spin. There was a little air room. Eugene told me that the propane gas was turned by the turners and then gone through the metal coils, into the metal things and then up into the balloon. He told me each ONE of the propane tanks was enough to heat EIGHT homes, so it was a lot of heat. I didn't want to be on the other end, I noted. He also mentioned that the fire makes the balloons air part become ten stories high, so dang what a height! I found myself saying wow at every moment. This guy was nice and full of info. Each of the four sections could fit four people, so sixteen or sometimes with little kids seventeen could fit in the balloon. Then the captain would be in the area with the tanks. After they spreaded the linen out and made enough air to fill with just regular air with the fan, they heave it up straight on as people get in and then the heat is filtered and powers the balloon. How does it do that? You will see in later blog posts. I asked him if he was the NFL player, and he said yes he was for the Seattle Mariners for a short time, after joking that no the player was Jim. Haha.

Gene told me when I asked that the first were in fact made out of paper linen, but that hot air balloons of today are in fact made out of heat resistant nylon, so they don't burn when the flames touch it in flight. I thanked him for all the info. Gene said to Rebecca and I if we wanted to see an experiment, how they test a small balloon to see where the wind is blowing. Gladly we walked over to the car. He got a white deflated balloon, opened up a car door, and we talked about him for some seconds before he threw it on the ground. It was popped. Asking a guy for another, he put that in. Emerging after hearing popping sounds, I moved to the right and saw him making the white balloon a lot fatter and larger. It was bigger than three heads together. I asked him how he had gotten the passion to the hot air balloons, and he said that he was driving home from work in Seattle and saw a guy crash down on the highway with a hot air balloon(I know you can't make these things up) and the guy hired him as a break man for his strength. He worked out and was payed to do it.

He gave the balloon to Rebecca, to my utter disappointment. Why must they always treat her better and give her the fun and cool opportunities? Because she's littler, I know. That is so stupid! I mean, come on! She is seen as a little cute girl who doesn't pinch her brother or yell or boss him around, why can't people see through the pretty smile and short stature? Okay, I'm done. I was just mad.

Mark and Jim told her to say Argh like a pirate, and she did as she let the thing go. I was amazed as it twisted around and how fast it went, like it was in a rocket ship, getting smaller and smaller as it went up, until only after about a minute it was reduced to a pee size. Smaller, smaller, and then we couldn't see it anymore as it mixed with the blue sky. Perhaps we would see it later on when we got to such a large height.

What was Mom and Dad doing during all of this? They were talking to the crew, Jim sitting on a cart with a black circle bag that had the heat resistant thing in it, as they took it out, with all the yarn and cables and the black tarp beneath it. A few rows down a balloon was taking shape, still on it's side, as that was the only way to air it up. Dad asked the lady about her school teaching job. She had done it for 21 years. It beat out Gene's claim of 31 years in the business. Wow. I asked Mark a few questions, among them about the history of hot air ballooning, and he said mid 1700's was the time, by an army man and another dude, in France. I asked if they did it Around the World in Eighty days, and he said yes they did in the movie, but they traveled by a lot more modes of transportation than the balloon. I would later read this book.

We were on the right side and chatted with Mom and some other people a bit. Dad was talking to a lady in a black long collared cotton shit, who had brown hair, down, and was short. She was owner of the company and was seeing if everything was going ship-shape. Dad talked to her about business and stuff. The crew joked about looking good in front of the boss. We talked as as we watched the balloon go up. It started on the ground, only a little bit of air in it,all the other parts flat and like a whole, but then that part came up and up. and I could see it had individual squares that made up the colors, with blue and black on the bottom and orange and a black stick farther up. From a distance, we watched the fans power the balloon, and for air to fill parts of the flat part out, fattening and widening it with the second. It was in fact very very tall, even on it's side. It was a very cool cartoon and very pretty, as we saws the trucks and the people trying to put it up. The adventure would get even better as we watched on. It was cool that even though we were some of the last to go on the hot air balloon, we still got to watch all of our predecessors fly up in the air and see them disappear up there. Then we would go.

Right on our right the next group prepared for their flight. It was flat the way out, the heat resistant nylon in yellow, green, and orange colors, plus purple. The fans circulated when they held up the sides of it, and a brown haired dude with his hat turned around, not Gene because he was white, ran to pull it back. The ends of it were the first to widen and for the air to fill magnificently, like bubbles, the air circulating through like people on the streets of New York, and the space filling up like a subway. In the distance, we saw the other balloon, which had a black cactus over a blue sky with a sunrise in the back, slightly to the left, and I wondered if it was supposed to do that or was about to tumble. Dad likes balloons a lot,and has pictures and magazines of them in his house, and I said to him that now I realized why he loved them so much, they were so beautiful and magnificent! We saw the fire from the basket light up and then stop, as the one right by us got larger and larger. I sang a tune I made up:

"Up, up and away!

Let's hope we survive to fly another day!

Up, up, up and away!

Today is the day!" or something like that.

Gene and Jim, although our brakeman, helped out the other group, which were mostly young people, and instructed them about the whole thing of getting in and being safe. Even our group drifted over there to where the fans were gushing loud air into it, and Gene was actually inside of the rising hot air balloon. His black sunglasses and white gloves with a silver cross on him made quite a figure there. He jumped out and said something to Jim. It was on it's side, with the form making shape, all of the wideness and the stitched together lines making the squares, the circle form taking place. Two old ladies were actually laying in the sections of that balloon like they were sleeping, on bunk beds, and Jim said something to them. Were they allowed or wanted to see the hot air balloon inside, with the heat rising and live the whole process? Or had Jim told them to get out and they weren't listening? There wasn't a way of knowing which it was. Gene held back a side with his muscular arms, and held it back with the thing. We looked at the other balloon, straight and erect, with all the passengers now in. It slowly rose to the sky, a huge being in the air, as it went up very quickly and we saw a truck cut a cable. The other people's also was getting larger, and I was shaking my head at the vastness of all these balloons, so much larger than any at my birthday parties. They were so much more complex, also, with a routine all of the crew did and metal screws, the best material to ensure no one dies on board, and steep sides with black holes for footholds.

And there was the hot air balloon, the fire gushing out and engulfing the air above the basket. It was orange and made all these contortions as the flames changed shapes and colors, pointed and very deadly looking. Men in purple, as we saw their smudge size forms from a while away, lifting the hot air balloon to the sky. It was now right side up, totally filled up, and we again heard the sound of the fire as it stopped, and then started up again, a system it did many times after. They cut the rope connected to the truck bar which held it down, and then it was up! How fast did it rise to the sky! Before we knew it the balloon with people in the basket was above the mountains, higher, higher! On one side was a blue sunrise with black cactus and red tints of the sun, very good drawing actually on the linen, and it reflected off on the blue, such a sight to see in the car! Wow, very large, beautiful, and a testament to man's genius coming from the advice and inspiration of God, what an impressing figure. Oy Vey! I could have fainted, but I did not want to do that in front of all these people. Taller than Goliath, wider than Fat Albert, more curved and bubbly than anything in the world, how pretty. Tears rushed down the cheeks of all those who were there. It was such a glorious sight!

Another one, to the right, with horizontal colored rainbow lines to the right and far away, that was being blown up also. The one close to us was about to start also. It was filling off and had that whole thing, and hot air was also being fired up into it. I looked in the vast whole with all the squares, and the blue stitches at the end. The fans circulated and as the fire sprayed orange on the outside and yellow in the middle, the guys moved the fans from the other sides as it got huge and dudes in purple and black actually righted it up again, with a white shirted captain in there. As his hands touched the nozzles that made the hot air go up, people blundered into the basket and stood there. The crewman told them they would tilt back, and to go against the side with the smaller person in front, and to bend their knees. I couldn't see Dad. How was he missing this awesome event? I video taped some more, amazed at how fast they had filled up and soared high into the air and what was about to happen. There was an eerie silence of the bystanders taking pics and whispering, as I thought about how scary it might be to have the basket tilt back and not be able to do anything. The bright flame was scary and made my eyes close. At every second I thought I had touched something hot, and I could feel the power of the heat.

It titled back as intervals between the soft gush of the fire, and the quietness and the creaking of the basket as an edge rested on the ground, one up, like a person walking, frozen in time with one leg up and one down. Rebecca and I went to the other side on the right, away from the close vantage point we had had before, to be by Mom, the schoolteacher, and Dad. It was all filled up now. More sound of fire roaring. Silence. Blow of breeze and people commenting. Roarrrrr for a long time. The balloon had a sunset of a green cactus and red and such, and yellow desert look. The outer white lines were held up by crew members. Fans were placed at either side of ours as they took out the material from the black circular bag. Jim stood back in his khaki and purple shirt, and took a picture with an iPhone. I just wondered what it would be like when I was in there, having the fire above me and only held up by a balloon, and up there seeing the ant sized people; I wondered what that was going to be like. It rested on three corners and then tilted back more.People tried to secure it. Ours was pulled back by Jim and Gene as the fans put in fresh air to our balloon on the tarp. Only a few minutes until our departure into the air!

The green abstract cactus was very funny to look at, a cactus on a circle with a basket in a sky. Haha.

More fire bursts. Silence. Comments. Picture snapping. All the people were now in there. Only a matter of minutes until their departure.

Mark said it was windy, but that we would go up anyway and see what would happen. Uh-oh. Well, they were the professionals, so everything would be okay. Wait, what was that, we observed on the left side of the truck, as we saw the men holding the ropes and the basket on the two sides. Was it actually gliding right above the desert rocks? It was really going up, one foot into the air and one edge dragging at times. Would they be okay? Was the wind gonna beat them. A ground crewman ran over to the other side. It drifted up, fairly off the ground now! Mark stood and and walked around, shaking his head. And then we saw it, as fast as lighting! They cut the rope and the people went up, up, high into the sky. We waved to the lucky balloonists now in high. It happened so fast. They screamed to us as they got littler and littler. I could still see their faces, small and even the basket was small, and the gush of fire there. We took pictures of the enormous figure in the sky. Wow. There's no other word to how I felt right then. It was just so unreal, so serene, and like nothing I had ever experienced before. It was just one of those moments. Was just one of those moments. Just one of those moments. One of those moments. Of those moments. Those moments. Moments.

To get another view we went to the left side of our soon to be hot air balloon. For some reason though, the fans weren't running and I couldn't see anyone. I wondered why.

Oh wait, it was going to be okay. Jim told us it was time to do the hot air balloon. We had stood there commenting and wondering with the young brown haired and blonde haired couple, and the teacher and the friend who wasn't going on the thing. The fans started back up and Mark positioned it himself, with the gloves on. He then came over, and said although it was windy that we were going to be in there when it was top sided, and lay down on the sides and up against with our backs, until it came up. That was the only way we were going to do it. What? I gulped, and thought this was now going to be scary. I had been rather nervous the whole way through, but now this? Mark instructed us as he left, and we took some videos and photos before we were going to ascend to the air. This was the time!!! The major part that you have waited for the entire blog post through!!!!

Then the unexpected happened as Dad snapped with his extra large camera. Mark signaled to turn off the vans, which Gene and Jim did, and then he took the gloves off. He came toward us and spoke in a contemporary and disappointed tone. I didn't see what he meant until the third sentence, and I had never even began to think about this possibility.

"I'm sorry folks. It's just too windy. I'm sorry that we didn't get to do the flight and that you can't have the experience. Nobody worry, your credit cards haven't been maxed yet, and we only run them across the computer after a successful flight and we get you back in your cars. I'm disappointed too and really looked forward to flying today. As I said, nobody has been charged. If your staying another day, we'd love for you guys to reschedule with us. If not, we have pilots in other locations. It doesn't matter anyhow, because you aren't charged anything. Thank you for your cooperation. Once again, sorry."

You will not even begin to know the disappointment and sinking of heart I felt. I so wanted to go!!! And now because it wasn't windy we weren't going to depart! Everybody else got to fly, except for one other team that was across the little dirt road. The crew put the material back up, and loaded the basket on the truck. We took the cameras and Rebecca and I sat in the very back while Mom and Dad sat together. I was really sad, and had been so excited all day to go into the hot air balloon and experience the high feeling of having all the small people under you, and being just drifted by the wind, like the people in "Around the World in Eighty Days." Jim expressed his disappointment and they talked in the front as we saw a little balloon off in the distance. They had gotten to go because they were daring enough to brave the wind, but we could see for Mark that safety came first and that he was more careful and older than the other ones. I video taped the balloon in the sky and sadly muttered:

"Up, up and awwway?

I guess we'll have to fly another day!"

It was deeply saddening.

I had wanted to be up there, video tape the wonderful ascent, and all the fun of being over the pretty desert. Mom and Dad had gone before but this was my first time. I felt bad for the Kentucky Woman and the Carribean, who's flights on the plane were leaving on the morrow. Rebecca didn't talk on the way back over potholes and desert dust. It was a sullen and somber ride back.

At the parking lot Dad said it was okay, that we didn't pay for it and maybe could try it later at a different place. Oh well, I guess. I hated saying that but I needed to just accept the truth.

We drove in the dark to the Phoenician, where Mom and I walked past the valet entrance of cars and a crystal clear water fountain. In the lobby with ottomans and chandiliers and plants, we asked a lady on a counter to the left for the video camera. She said it should be right there. We sat on ottomans as Mom did facebook and I also did things on my phone, not taking my book because I had thought it was going to be quick. It took a super long time. I sat down in the living room down a step on the cumfy leather couches. We asked the lady again, and she answered the same way as before, as if she hadn't seen us waiting there and this was the first time she had seen us in her life,

"Hello. How are you doing? May I offer my services in any way?" Her brilliantly white teeth sparkled as he bun hair glistened. We told her and she said, "That's right." She called Lost and Found and a few minutes later a guy, Latino and short and old, came to a male guy in a suit who asked if it was our camera. I walked over there and said it was mine. He didn't say anything, and hesitated, maybe this 12 year old boy in a blue hoodie and jeans was trying to steal. He asked to Mom if it was ours and then gave it to her. Why do some adults not trust boys my age? It is disgraceful and terrible!

We drove home by people mock laughing to settle the tensions of not getting to go. At home we went to bed.

I was glad I had had the fun time at the playground with the toys, and had met those people and seen the beautiful balloons fly into the sky, but I sooooooooo wish that we had flown up there and been up in the basket. Maybe sometime later....

Goodbye for now.

At least we got to see a hot air balloon launch?,

Andrew.