High But Dry

Another beautiful day was shared with good friends, Glenn and Mary Ann....  First was the stage stop where Vic and I had been the previous week.  This was a good place to share the history of the area and see the old west as it once was.

Our next stop was to show them petroglyphs. Mary Ann spotted this ocotillo blossom lying on the ground.  Two days later I read that the entire blossom is edible.  Wouldn't it have been nice it I had learned that 2 days before????? 

The final stop of the day was in Eloy, AZ at the jump school.  Here one can jump inside this building with the help of an instructor or.......

 What a thrill to watch these folks land after jumping from a perfectly good airplane. For me to jump, the plane would need to be on fire and the flames licking at my posterior.  Even then, I'm not sure. It's a choice I'm not likely to ever have to make. Thank Heaven!  This day, it was pure pleasure to be an observer.

After a time a truck appeared with a hot air balloon and basket.  Seems it was going to take up some jumpers too.  Airplanes aren't the only thing from which to jump. 

It's a busy place,  The flags represent the countries of jump school participants.

This is the building where the jumpers pack their chutes.  We pray they learned their lessons well.

The balloon is being inflated.  An announcement was made that six peoplewho had reservations were 'no shows'.  The balloonist was offering a really good deal for the first six volunteers.  Glenn had never had this experience, so he wasn't difficult to coerce.  Mary Ann was a different story.  She was just too nervous even at the thought but encouraged everyone else to go.  Vic decided to go and, after a few minnutes, I decided I couldn't let him go without me.

I had given Vic a balloon ride for a birthday gift 20+ years ago and, of course, went with him.  Then we gave Monica a ride for her 16th birthday.  Again, I got to go.  It's just such a thrill, well, I couldn't pass up this 3rd opportunity.

Here we are, ready to float away.  Although I was feeling badly that Mary Ann would  miss our fun, it was nice to have her as our photographer on the ground.

Up, up and away!  Mary Ann had my camera and, of all times, this is when my battery died - argh!  Oh well, we had Glenn's camera with us to take airborne photos.  And she got this last really good one.

Neat picture!  Our shadow - I love it!

On your typical balloon ride the balloonist takes you to 500 to 1,000 ft.   As this flight was taking jumpers we went to 5,000 ft.  We were higher than the tops of the nearly mountains!

The basket was a 12-man and, to begin, we had 12.  We were pretty well crammed in.  Then the four jumpers went out one at a time.

This fellow was #4.  They reached terminal velocity of 120 mph in only 10 seconds.

The first three jumped face forward.  This one went backwards.  Maybe if I couldn't see where I was going........nah, still NOT going to happen!

Just imagine.......

And, of all times, Glenn's camera battery quit!

Our balloonist, "Burner Man" was a hoot, continually entertaining us.  His final comment upon landing, "Ah, cheated death once again"!