This year Forest Winds, Inc. celebrated the 4th of July holiday in Lexington, Virginia, by participating in the 13th Annual Rotary BB&T Fourth of July Ballloon Rally. For the most part, weather was pretty good throughout Friday and Saturday, but rain from the west pushed in early Sunday morning and kept all balloons grounded. This balloon rally was especially meaningful for Ken and Lisa because each launch was conducted from the Virginia Military Institute parade field. Their son Andrew is currently attending VMI and will graduate in 2010. It was a similar balloon rally back in 2003 that got Ken interested in flying balloons. Who would have thought we would have been back six years later flying our own balloon?
We’d like to thank the following folks who flew with us Friday evening, Saturday morning and Saturday evening:
Friday Evening
Laura D. (Brentwood, TN)
Eric D. (Brentwood, TN)
Virginia R. (Staunton, VA)
Sidney S. (Staunton, VA)
Saturday Morning
Michele F. (Rockbridge Baths, VA)
Andrew W. (Stuarts Draft, VA)
Karen W. (Stuarts Draft, VA)
Robert M. Jr. (Chesapeake, VA)
Saturday Evening
Jackie K. (Springfield, MO)
Kristall K. (Springfield, MO)
Phyllis B. (Lexington, VA)
David T. (Lexington, VA)
VMI
Jackie & Kristall
Special thanks also go out to Ed (a.k.a. Ned Chase) and our son Nicholas for providing incredibly awesome ground crew support!
For more pictures of the balloon rally, go to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/forestwindsinc/13thAnnualBalloonRallyInLexingtonVirginia#
Today (June 28, 2009) was Mark’s birthday, and Karen (Mark’s wife) wanted to give him a really cool gift to celebrate. So Karen contacted Forest Winds and arranged to schedule an early morning hot air balloon ride for this Sunday morning. Mark had done a lot of other cool things over the years, but a hot air balloon ride hadn’t been one of them. Hopefully this would be something Mark would definitely remember for a long long time. At 6:00 AM, the couple joined the Forest Winds hot air balloon team to get the adventure underway. After a quick wind assessment, we drove up to the Boonsboro Ruritans Club off Coffee Road. Upon arrival, we noted that our primary field for takeoff was already taken by some dog training equipment. We therefore had to resort to plan “B” and takeoff from a nearby secondary field. The grass was still moist from the early morning dew and some of the dog owners were out walking their dogs.
It didn’t take long before The Pride of Forest was up and hot.
Warming up!
Surface winds were calm, the temperature was 61°F, and visibility at the airport was reported at 10 miles. Conditions were absolutely perfect for the morning flight, and Karen and Mark were ready to go.
Ready for takeoff!
At a little after 7:00 AM, we were on our way….drifting slowly to the south.
See ya later!
As we climbed a little bit, we definitely picked up some stronger winds, but as we climbed even higher, The Pride of Forest seemed to come almost to a stop. So there we were, almost 3000′ MSL, and going nowhere fast. The view however was nothing less than spectacular. To the north you could see House Mountain near Lexington, Virginia.
Karen & Mark
To get things moving again, we brought The Pride of Forest down closer the treetops and began to pick up speed. We were definitely on the move again and continued to fly back towards Forest (Forest Lake).
Forest Lake
As we slowly approached Rt. 221 in Forest, it was time to set back on the ground, so we began to look for a suitable spot to land. Directly in front of us was the nice green lawn of Sterling Blower located on Vista Centre Dr. The final approach was perfect, and the landing too!
Beautiful!
After we got the balloon deflated, it was time to celebrate! With glasses held high, we toasted to a beautiful flight and to Mark’s 50th birthday!
To soft landings!
What a great way to celebrate a birthday, and for Mark, it was just the beginning!
For more pictures of Karen & Mark’s flight, go to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/forestwindsinc/Mark_and_Karen_Flight_62809#,