Future Travels

May 21, 2024

Temecula Balloon & Wine Festival ~ Day 2

 


The weather in Temecula always seems to start out overcast and foggy/misty in the mornings when we are there for this event. No worries though, balloons can still fly! Glenn opted to stay below the fog, thank goodness. We still got beautiful views!

The morning I got to fly, we saw a coyote. But the day Tony flew - the next day (Saturday) - he got to see owls! At least 5 of them! I was so shocked and a bit jealous, not gonna lie, when I heard the news.


Cosmic Crisp apple inflating their balloon.



The passengers are getting instructions from Glenn before they fly away



Goodbye guys, have a nice flight!





And have a nice flight they did! I think on Friday, Glenn flew for about 30 minutes. On Saturday, he flew for an hour and a half! Us chase crew did follow them for quite awhile until they were able to land in a field. Full of waist high weeds and higher! So many prickles. We had to walk them out to a gravel lot on someone's property from the field. It was a bit challenging. 






See what I mean about the weeds?




Tony's shoes looked like chia pets by the time we got the balloon packed up and put away.

Sadly during takedown, the balloon fabric got caught on the edge of a shed on the property we were on when a gust of wind blew through and made it so we got a small tear in the balloon. No good! Luckily Glenn was able to be put in touch with balloon repair people in Temecula so after breakfast, we all went over there to have the fabric patched.


But first ~ breakfast

Tony & I got this cinnamon roll french toast with hashbrowns to share. It was pretty amazing. There as a Denny's next door to this restaurant we ate at called Penfold's and I am so glad we ate here instead of Denny's. I love trying new places to eat!

Other crew shared their breakfast nachos and Monte Cristo. So fun to try other people's orders and it was all SO GOOD! Would definitely recommend and for sure go back to eat here again.



At the repair place it was a bit tricky to find the right spot to park but we finally got it right - on narrow roads - with a trailer! The owner, Alister, came over with his forklift to get the balloon into the shop, easy peasy.

Next, we needed to pull the balloon fabric out of the bag until we got to the spot with the tear. It was on a panel with yellow. Glenn knew how to find it again which was helpful.



We were all curious how this was going to be fixed

The sewing machines are on wheels so Angie (the sewing lady) wheeled a machine closer to where she was going to start working.



There is the tear.

Now, I did not see exactly how she set things up to fix this but she got a piece of balloon fabric that matched and cut it to size and got to work!




It took a little time but really not a ton of time and soon we were on our way again. Tony & I got dropped back off at our car and we did a few errands - including Savers! - 



I found this cute hot air balloon dress but opted not to get it, although I did bring it all they way up to checkout! I just dont know how or when I would wear it or style it. It was kind of shapeless. I do kinda regret not getting it though...



The potluck was awesome back at the campsite where pilots and crew were staying. 
Kim had made tri-tip and everyone brought sides. We brought some BBQ bourbon chips that ended up being pretty tasty and key lime Oreo knock off cookies that were devoured. SO good and I must find more. Aldi's is apparently where they are at.




Then Tony & I got some traditional pictures by the lake



And jumped in a vehicle from the campsite that was headed to the balloon glow where we crewed for the Wonderbread balloon. So fun, the pilot was really nice and fun to talk to. He's from Kansas City.


Some photos of the glow. I didn't get the chance to walk around but maybe could have asked if I could. Towards the end the wind was picking up a little so it was a bit of a struggle to keep the balloon stable.


Overall it was a nice glow, a nice evening and Lynard Skynyrd was performing that night along with opening bands Tyler Rich and Lauren Alaina.


Awesome day 2 of the balloon & wine festival with 1 more day left!

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