The next morning I woke up early in Socorro, New Mexico.
I had heard from the hotel lady about a hot air balloon rally at the edge of town, so I went to check it out.
They were setting up at the edge of town, and it was open to the public. Anybody could walk around as they put it all together.
It was cold. Probably around 10 degrees. I had no big jacket, just layers and layers of flannels.
Each team hauled their balloon out in a sack.
They spread it all out on the ground and layed it flat.
Then they put together their gondola.
They mounted the burner on top of the basket.
A good test fire - Wow!
Next they set up powerful fans, and blew cold air into their flattened balloons.
The balloons slowly started to inflate. But the air was cold, so they wouldn't float yet.
There were about 25 balloons doing this all at once.
When they'd put enough cold air into a balloon, they'd fire the burner a few times to heat it up.
Hot air rises. Hence the name "Hot Air Balloon."
One or two people could hold a balloon down. These two made sure the balloon stood up slowly.
Once the balloon was upright, the ground teams cleared out.
The gondola crews fired off the burners and heated the air in the balloon. The hot air balloons took off one by one.
Everybody waved to the teams as they took to the skies.
You can't steer a hot air balloon, and there's only minimal up and down control with the flames.
That's why they send a chase team after each balloon. Wherever they land, the team rushes in to collapse the balloon and clean up the mess.
They just floated out over town. Some would land in farmer's fields, some in people's back yards.
New Mexico is very popular among balloonists because of it's manageable winds and flat expanses.
Good conditions for takeoff and landing, and for safe recoveries.
There were all kinds of people launching balloons that morning. Families, professionals, kids and grandpas.
It was icy cold outside, but that didn't stop anybody.
Balloons came in all different designs.
And all different shapes.
Mister Potato Head was my favorite.
One was shaped like a chili rack.
There was a flying pig and an octopus. The flying pig seemed to be the local favorite.
I thought the octopus was the most creative.
There are few stranger sights than a giant Mister Potato Head floating off into the blue.
This guy had a big fan on his back. He fired it up and started running.
Ropes dragging behind him went taut, and a big parachute pulled up in the air.
And then he was flying. Paragliding. He just went up, up and away...
...And soared around the flying pig. Which I guess was kind of appropriate.
These folks had trouble taking off.
They just couldn't get enough lift.
You can see them flying low to the horizon.
Except that wasn't the horizon. That was a gas station.
An ambulance slipped away to help.
They came down about forty feet from some gas pumps and got caught on some power lines.
You can see they caught fire and the fire department had to put them out.
I never found out if anyone was hurt.