After you are in the ballooning community for a while you hear strange quotes. One of which is "Your first ride is free the next one will cost about $30,000". Well that is approximately what happened to me. In 1996 I crewed for Graham Bell a British Pilot at the White Sands Balloon Invitational. We had a great time together and he came back in 1997 and requested I crew for him again. Following the rally he invited me to spend the week with him and the "Clutch Crew" in Albuquerque, NM during Fiesta. I jumped at the chance and the whole crew was very welcoming. By this time I had flown once at White Sands and once in Albuquerque. During the flight he asked if I would like to take the controls. I had to try it. Well, now I'm thinking 1. I'm retiring at the end of the year, 2. My wife wants me to have a hobby to keep me busy, and 3. I wanted a challenge for my retirement. We both kept our eyes peeled for used balloon systems and by early 1998 he decided to sell one of his balloons which was one that I had flown in at the White Sands Rally in 1997. I went to Eloy, AZ to pick it up in April of 1998, stopped off at the Elephant Butte Balloon Rally on my way home and crewed for a balloon there and was introduced to Steve Early a commercial pilot who had recently retired and was looking for a student. A few months later I had my private certificate and was on my way.
Some ballooning web sites explain being prepared for the weather as spectator or crew member. They may include topics such as how the balloon works and other facts of interest. I have such links on my site but didn't want to invent the wheel all over again so I stuck strictly to pictures of the balloon rallies that I attend each year. A few of the rallies I have the "Clutch Crew" and one of the famed things about the "Clutch Crew" is the vast array of pictures we get from various personnel on the crew. Carlos Quintana builds a great web site with the crew adventures on them complete with video clips so I don't reinvent those rallies and duplicate effort.
Feel free to browse around and enjoy my sport/hobby. If you see a picture of yourself and want a high resolution copy let me know and I'll see if I can locate it.
When following a link off site just select the appropriate page you wish to view. Don't stay too long, that would make me jealous. To return just hit your browser back button as needed. When going to a Clutch Crew site pay attention to the size of the crew and take notice of the number of kids on the crew. One of our long time crew members said it in a nutshell: "Those are not kids they are future replacements".
Send me your comments.