The Great Reno Balloon Race and me.

I talked my husband into going to Reno, Nv, with me on Saturday. This was a supreme sacrifice for him because he works hard all week and values his rest on the weekend.

The alarm went off at 2:00 a.m. and we dragged ourselves out of bed, showered, loaded up the camera gear and were out the door by 3:00. We were staying at Tahoe, so Reno was only about 1 1/2 hour drive. We arrived at the event about 4:30, drove around looking for a parking place and finally settled at a free spot at the University of Reno. Then we hiked about 1 mile to the park where the event took place. There were already thousands of people there. Many of them were in their pajamas, pulling little pajama-clad children in wagons, hauling sleeping bags and lawn chairs. We were obviously ill-prepared as we only brought my camera, my camera bag and a tripod, none of which is very comfortable to sit on.

The pre-dawn glow show was interesting, but not much of a photography event. There was some excitement when one of the “Dawn Patrol” balloons collapsed on itself and the operator shot the flame right through the balloon. Luckily those things don’t catch fire but it was ruined, nevertheless. This is not a very good photo, but you can see the collapsing balloon and the flame shooting through it.  Emergency crews were at the ready and arrived post haste to make sure nothing bad happened.

One of the best things that happened was the fly-over of 5 jets as a tribute to 9/11/09. I was sitting on the field facing 2 balloons that were ready to launch. The announcer was giving a great tribute to 9/11 and the first balloon went up with the US flag hanging from the basket. Then, all of a sudden the jets just appeared out of the sunrise and behind the remaining balloon. I was situated perfectly to capture the amazing event. I pointed my camera toward the balloon and let it rip, catching about 6 shots of the jets. This is  my best shot.

My husband and I wandered around the field watching the balloon operators setting up one balloon after another. I followed one operator (photographically…not like a stalker…heh) pilot from layout of his balloon on the field to take off. He told me he was an airline pilot by trade. He was taking a woman up with him who was writing some sort of article on the event. She had never been up in a balloon before and her comment to me was, “The things I do for an article”.

My husband and I left around 9:00am tired, but happy. We got back to our place at Tahoe and promptly collapsed. What a great day.