Go Around the Bend: It's Not All About the Balloons

After Sunday’s incredible mass ascension, we elected to take a more laid-back approach to the Fiesta for a few days. There were only morning sessions scheduled Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday so we decided to use our rooftop vantage point to enjoy the morning events. Monday’s session was pretty uneventful. Rog made French toast on the Traeger and we watched the balloons from our rig.

Even in the RV lot, it feels like we're part of the Festival.

Riley keeps an eye on the balloons overhead.

Later in the day we did a road trip along the Turquoise Trail (Hwy 14) to the tiny town of Madrid. One of the Fiesta volunteers had recommended the hatch green chile burgers at the Mine Shaft Tavern there. Madrid is one of those interesting places that nearly went bust when the mining industry waned but was revived by, as one local put it, “a bunch of old hippies and artists and women.” Lots of tiny shops (yep, they all seemed to be run by women) selling unique locally made arts and crafts.

Lots of fun shops run by local artists.

The Mine Shaft Tavern was established in 1899 and has been the set for several movies including Wild Hogs, Paul, and Beer for My Horses. (No, I have not seen any of them. Lol.) On the upside, not only were the hatch green chile burgers exceptional they also made a MadChile Margarita that was to die for. Best of all it was pup-friendly so we made it a family affair.

MadChile Margarita - best ever!

Although Riley isn’t allowed on the launch field, he hasn’t been totally neglected. In addition to multiple play sessions every day near the RV, we found a shady trail along the Rio Grande for walkies. After a dip in the river he rolled in the grass and did his crazy dog routine. Lol.

On the Bachechi Open Space trail.

Riley likes this way better than balloons.

In the evening Rog watched as the America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race got underway. The helium filled gas balloons are a whole different ballgame. The pilot and co-pilot live in the basket during the race. The winning team this year covered about 2,600 miles in less than 3 days and landed in Ontario, Canada – almost to Hudson Bay. We heard that the area they landed in was so remote that the balloon will have to be stored there over the winter until they can arrange to helicopter it out in the spring! I’ll stick with the Albuquerque Box. Lol.

Gas balloons prepare to launch at night for maximum lift.

The Tuesday (10/8) morning session got a bit more interesting. One of the morning events was a fly-in competition. Balloonists start from an off-site location that is at least a mile away from the field and then must navigate back to the launch field and toss a marker from their balloon at a target on the field. Now remember, the pilots have no steering mechanism. There are vents which they can open to rotate the balloon and they can use the propane burners to generate hot air to ascend/descend – other than that they have to judge the wind direction and speed. These guys were great, some of them dropping their markers right on the X.

Taking in the morning view from our rooftop.

LOTS of balloons coming in over our RV lot.

Look! Rog caught one! Lol.

You can see how many are coming in right on target.

Dropping the marker...

...over the X.

The balloonists were flying over our RV lot toward the field when a sudden shift in the wind totally messed up the pilot’s morning and had them landing IN our RV lot. Rog and I were up on the roof watching the competition when we noticed a few of the balloons were really low and close. I heard one of the pilots saying, "We have to put it down here. Put it down NOW!" He had about 30 feet between a fence and our row of RV’s! Rog hopped down from the roof and ran over to help. He got to do some impromptu crewing without even signing up. Lol. Before it was over about a dozen balloons had landed in our lot, three of them right next to our coach. Luckily, all without incident.

A little too close for comfort.

Rog scrambled down off the roof to lend a hand.

A little impromptu crewing.

Once the basket is stable, they move it to a better location to deflate the balloon.

Down it comes.

More land in our RV lot. Or maybe we're camping in their landing lot. Lol.

You can see how close they were to our rig!

New Mexico bills itself as the chile capital of the world and if you love hatch chiles (which we do!) this is your place. On Tuesday afternoon Rog dropped me off at the library so I could use the wifi and get the blog posted. He did some grocery shopping and then went to a local farm to buy fresh hatch green chiles and have them flame roasted. He looked a little sheepish when he picked me up and confessed that he may have gone a little overboard. He bought a TWENTY POUND bag of hatch chilies! In his defense, the alternative was a 40# bag, so I guess he showed great restraint. Lol. We went back to the RV and spent the next two hours skinning, seeding, and chopping. We ended up with nearly nine quarts and a car that smelled like roasted chilies for days. 😊 Since then we’ve had hatch chile stew, eggs and hatch chiles, hatch chile burgers, hatch chili dip…are you noticing a theme? Lol.

Twenty pounds of fire roasted hatch green chiles. YUM!

On Wednesday, we went back onto the field for the Mass Ascension of Nations, where the pilots ascend displaying their country’s flag. The Fiesta is truly an international event with balloons from Brazil, Belgium, Great Britain, Canada, Russia, Netherlands, Germany, Columbia, Switzerland, France, Kenya, Czech Republic, Spain, India, and Thailand. Wow. We saw a few flags, but mostly we just enjoyed the spectacle of so many gorgeous balloons.