Friday 16th September
Ring - ring…ring – ring…. ring – ring…once I realised that I wasn’t dreaming I glanced over at the clock which cheerfully signalled that it was now 05:00. For a moment I thought, “Who the hell is phoning us at this time in the morning!” but then I realised that I was supposed to telephone the balloon company last night to confirm our booking and yes you guessed it, I forgot. So no prizes for guessing who it was on the other end of the phone.
My wife answered and told the gentleman on the other end that yes we were still coming for the balloon ride today. One by one we struggled out of our beds at this unearthly hour and finally we were ready to leave at 05:30. I could not believe the amount of traffic that was on the road at this time of the morning as we made our way up highway 27 and then onto the 192 to the Best Western Lakeside hotel where we were to meet.
As we entered the restaurant area of the hotel I was happy to see that we were not the only mugs going up in a balloon today as there were quite a few people sitting waiting. We had three balloon pilots this morning and each one could have been a stand up comic in their spare time. The three of them cracked joke after joke and were actually quite funny. This really helped us to relax and I was even starting to enjoy it, so much so that I did not even flinch when asked to sign the disclaimer which basically stated that they could drop me and my family from a great height and there was not a thing I would be able to do about it. Hey ho!!![msneek]
After letting off a couple of helium filled balloons in the car park to get a sense of the wind direction and speed the crew bundled us into a couple of people carriers and we were off to the launch site!
We made our way north on highway 27 for a while and then pulled into a lovely orange grove. This is definitely a hands on excursion and we all got involved in setting up the balloon and the basket for inflation. There were three balloons in total going up this morning and ours was the biggest with a total of twelve people in the basket, now that was cosy![msnwink]
Once the balloon was rolled out on the ground the crew set up two massive petrol driven fans which blew cold air into the balloon and started to inflate it. When it was full enough the pilot then started with the burners to heat the air and the massive balloon slowly but surely started to right itself and stand up straight. This was an awesome sight to see especially once all three balloons were lined up and ready to go.
The pilot gave us the signal and we all started to board the basket. The first thing that struck me was how hot your head gets when he uses the burners, I don’t have much hair up there so I was glad when one of the ground crew started to hand out rather fetching wicker hats for us to wear. Oh what a plonker I looked but at least what was left of my hair was not in danger of being singed away!
Finally after another couple of blasts with the burner we gently lifted off and started to soar into the sky. This was the most breathtaking experience ever, it was a beautiful morning and the sun was just starting to rise and except for the occasional roar of the burners it was very quiet.
The wind took us South in line with highway 27 and it was not long before the villas below us were nothing but tiny specs. I cannot describe the feeling of being 1300 feet up in the air and being able to look over the edge. I would not consider myself as being scared of heights but I defy anyone to look over the edge of the basket at that height and not feel at least a little twinge in the belly!
The pilot then started to bring us back down and at one stage I was sure we were going to land on someone’s roof. It really was an amazing feeling, trucks on the highway would blast their air horns at us and the occasional car would even stop and folks would get out for a close
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