Two weekends ago, we went to the Raptor Roundup! The local Ford dealerships in town were having this event out in desert where the public could drive 2012 Ford Raptors on a special track. For those who don't know, Raptors are made for off road driving while still being luxurious. These trucks not only have a backwards camera but a front camera too and they practically drive themselves. All I heard from Neal since we got here is how much he misses riding dirt bikes, so when I heard this event on the radio I had to sign him up! Saturday morning we headed to the desert to drive some trucks! We watched as all these trucks were climbing all over this track, I could tell Neal couldn't wait! After taking a short safety class it was our turn. Neal drove and I sat in the back and held on!!
This past Friday we finally got to do what we have been dying to do since we got here!! We went on our hot air balloon ride!! Albuquerque is known for it's hot air ballooning. It's really common to see a couple balloons flying over the city. But finally, we got a chance to do it!! I gotta say, it was really really amazing! If you ever get the chance to experience it, DO IT!
We began Friday morning morning by getting up at 4:30am so we could get to the other side of ABQ by 6am. This part was not fun! We made it to our meeting place, a dirt lot in the middle of the city, kind of surprising. We all gathered around as the crew began setting up the balloons. In our lot, there were 3 being flown. There was another company setting their balloons up in the lot next to us. To set up the balloons, the crew unfolded them and rolled them out. Then, they had a fan blow air into the balloon to open them up. After they were opened up, they started blowing the hot air into them which caused the balloons to rise. That was time for all of us to climb in the basket, and then off we went!
Turkey!
Landing was the interesting part. Because our pilot's flight plan got off course from the start, we couldn't find anywhere to land. The flight was only supposed to last anywhere from 30 min. to an hour but ours ended up lasting about an hour and a half. We finally found an open area to land North of ABQ, unfortunately it was on an Indian Reservation and also in the Pueblo of Sandia Village. If you should know anything about reservations its that they are VERY strict. At this point we really had no other option, so we all got in our landing positions of ducking into the basket, and got ready to land! The wind got a lot stronger as we got closer to the ground and we came in a little faster than ideal. Our basket skid a pretty long way before toppling over on it's side to a stop. It was pretty exciting! We were met there by the "chase team" who packed up the balloon and gave us a ride back to the take off site. Unfortunately, pictures are not allowed on the reservation but it was a funny sight seeing us all topple out of the basket!
You may have heard, or even witnessed, the solar eclipse that took place Sunday evening. Fortunately, Albuquerque was one of the best places to see the eclipse and we took full advantage of it! Because the eclipse happened so late in the day, beginning at 6:30pm MT and in full effect by 7:30, most of the US probably couldn't even see it. We spent most of the day just trying to find eclipse glasses or a way to see the eclipse, since you aren't supposed to look at it. Everywhere that had the glasses in town were sold out way before so we were kind of at a loss. It was getting really close to 7:30 and with still no way to see the eclipse we decided to start heading home. The whole way home we saw people in groups everywhere looking up, it was pretty crazy. I was pretty disappointed we weren't going to get to see it and then Neal saved the day! He had an idea! He saw a huge group of people on a walking bridge that ran across the main road by our house. We parked and ran up to the bridge. Luckily, everyone was very nice and passing around the couple pair of glasses they had. We got to see the eclipse just as the moon moved in front of the sun! Satisfied, we headed home. The next eclipse wont happen again in the US until 2023!
As for right now, we are getting REALLY excited to get out of here soon! ONE MONTH LEFT!! (We hope anyway!) Can you believe it? We have already been here three months!! Neal hits the flight line this week and, if everyone thing goes as planned, should be done in just a few weeks!! We are so excited to get to Georgia it's unreal! We are having such a great time traveling but we are so excited to finally make a HOME. Not to mention unpack for the first time in over a year. We have a lot to do in our short time left here. Not only the things we still want to do here, but we still have to find a house in Georgia! So far, no luck. But hopefully, we find something soon....we'll keep you updated!
