Arrr, Arrr, Arrr – Join my crew matey!

Nearby Little League Warmup
Nearby Little League Warmup

Overhead, the woosh of gas burners greets me as I step from the RV to begin my daily stroll – it is gonna be a great day!  This Saturday morning, the whole area surrounding the park is buzzing with activity.  Early rising Little League baseball players are already warming up on the numerous fields surrounding the balloon park. Volunteers are busy all over the site stringing flags, setting out trash cans, painting rails, pulling weeds and making the balloon fiesta park a magnificent setting for the hundreds of balloons soon to be displayed here.

As I mentioned in my previous video, we plan to return to the National Nuclear Science and History Museum today and we already have our free “Museum Day” tickets printed.  After I run a few morning errands while Storm assists the other volunteers with some banner repairs, I return to the RV to pick he and Monte up for the ride to the museum and possibly one more run over the musical road.

Storm holds on for dear life
Storm holds on to top line for dear life

Pulling into park, I am greeted by a few fellow volunteers soaking in the sun who inform me that a balloon repair shop responsible for repairing the Pirate Ship special shape balloon (click here for picture) has requested volunteers to help them inspect and repair the balloon.  Our plans for the museum are immediately discarded as Storm, Monte and I pile into the Prius for a short trip down to the balloon field.

I created the following time lapse video of our experience with the balloon repair.  My GoPro camera operating in its normally unpredictable way decided to add vertical lines to the pictures halfway through the film.  Please ignore those if possible as I could not delete those pics without compromising the story.  Hopefully I can figure out that camera’s problem before my next recording session!

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Helping to get air in the balloon
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Holy Cow – this thing is BIG!
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Too windy to inflate more than this
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Balloon onsite repair shop
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Storm can’t believe he spent all those years upside down in airplanes when he could have had this job – repairing balloon envelopes with a sewing machine!
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Sunny and Storm get all the latest ballooning news from one of the crew
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Storm helping while the balloon is inflated with heat
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We were afraid this young man was going to wind up packed in the balloon!

About Sunny Weathers

Pilot, motorcyclist and full time RVer. Follow me as I travel all over the US in my Country Coach RV volunteering, making new friends and pursuing a constant outdoor temperature between 70F and 80F. I'll share the fun and the tribulations and any great survival tricks I learn!

4 Replies to “Arrr, Arrr, Arrr – Join my crew matey!”

  1. Gorgeous music. Where do you find your soundtracks?

    1. I agree, I love that music. I found it on youtube at this address: https://youtu.be/hVBgKCYrI-c
      I contacted the owner Ross Bugden and he okayed my use royalty free. Nice guy and very talented!

  2. WOW, what a hoot, been to a lot of these in the RDU area but never saw them inspect before, and folks think a PREFLIGHT is something. Thanks for sharing, this is wonderful, keep up the good work. GOD BLESS

    JD/SD
    Jim & Sandy

    1. Thank you – It was great fun! Can’t wait to see this balloon and other special shapes like it fully inflated.

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