October 12th - 14th - Final Days of Fiesta and Trip Home

Our pilot, Brian, wanted to go up Saturday morning but the wind conditions did not cooperate. He left Saturday afternoon after the Award Ceremony because he had to be back at work on Monday in Missouri. Crew members, Jane and Tom, who worked every day, did not get to go up. I hated that. They worked hard and were looking forward to it.

We decided to leave on Sunday morning rather than Monday as previously scheduled. Sunday morning was the last "Mass Assention" and it was great because the wind blew the balloons over our campground and the field behind us.  Here are some pictures.

 

One balloon was only about twenty feet over the top of Marge on its way to land in the field behind us. Here is a video of one landing.

We left the RV park about 8:30 a.m. headed for Amarillo. Bob had told us that we needed to see Palo Duro Canyon in Palo Duro Canyon State Park and camp there if we could. We got there about 4:00 p.m. but there were no campsites available due a bike race going on. We were directed to the Paul Duro Zipline place next door that had full hookups. They had a site so we hooked up and dumped our black and gray tanks, which needed it after twelve days of boondocking. The sites were level but the campground was pretty crappy. We then headed to the park for a drive through it. I had no idea anything like this existed in Texas. Here are a couple of pictures.

It was a 10% grade to drive down into the canyon. It was a beautiful day so we had a picnic lunch in the park. It is a large park and several places on the roads it indicated areas that flash flood. There were flood marker signs in feet posted nearby. It had obviously flooded not too long ago because in many places the mud was still on the road. Here is a picture of one such place and a pile of dirt pushed up off the road nearby.

We really enjoyed the stop even though we couldn't camp inside the park.

Our final stop on the way home was at the Quapaw Casino RV Park. We stopped there on the way out. Because we now had a "Players Card" for the casino we were able to stay one night for free. It was a nice evening so we sat out with a drink and watched the sunset. This Quapaw Casino is in Missouri. I did not know that there was any Indian Reservation property within Missouri. 

The trip across Missouri was an easy and uneventful one (the best kind). Traffic was moderate and we arrived home about 4:00 p.m. and got everything unloaded and the grass cut before eating supper.

The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta had been on my bucket list for a number of years. I am glad we took the opportunity to go this year. We met lots of nice Boomer Escapees at the RV park and I thoroughly enjoyed crewing even though our balloon only went up three times. It was a great experience.

The only RV issue is I discovered a gasoline leak on the generator fuel pump. It is a threaded fitting so I purchased some sealant. I will have to take it apart and fix it one of these next few days.

Nothing is scheduled now until we fly to California to spend Thanksgiving with the kids and grandkids. We are looking forward to seeing all of them.