This years Raven Halloween weekend was a huge success in spite of the fact that accommodations are getting scarce in the area due to the recent heightened oil patch activity. The weather was absolutely stellar with all three flights getting off in ideal flying conditions.

This year we had six balloons in attendance including Connie and Andy Schulthess (Double Diamond), Jack and Shelagh Bailey (Captain Hook and Mr. Smee), Walt and Linda Then (Big Toy), Ralph Dowson (Happiness Is), Richard and Heather Clark (Our Treat) and Rosanne and I with the Calgary Balloon Club balloon (Blue Ice). Oscar Caron was once again the host of hosts and graciously offered us the use of his Round House and his "class A" launch facility. Thanks again Oscar!

The weekend started as usual with the Friday evening dinner at the Tivoli. We pretty much took the place over and had a great time getting reacquainted over ribs and pie. This years attendees ended up staying everywhere from Innisfail to Caroline to camping at Oscars place so after dinner everyone headed in different directions with the agreement that we would all meet at Oscars place at 8AM in the morning.

Morning came and the crews slowly started arriving at the Round House around 8AM for coffee and muffins. Once everyone had a coffee it was time for the weather briefing and a pibal. Light winds from the west, south west where the order of the day. I had two paying customers for the club that Catherine had organized. Duane and Mary Ann from the Red Deer area would be my passengers on this flight while Bert drove chase. Once airborne I realized that I was at the same level as Connie in Double Diamond and that I was making ground on her. The opportunity arose to steal a kiss (my first BTW) off Double Diamond so in I came and the two balloons came into contact for a brief moment. A short time later we had a stand-up landing in a pasture field owned by the Wolf’s. As we were very close to the refueling location we took the opportunity to top up the tanks and then headed to Oscars for breakfast.

We barely had time to eat and shower and it was time to do it all again. This time the wind would be out of the same direction as the morning flight but extremely light. We all took off and just sort of hung around the launch field slowly drifting north and east. For this flight I had Heather with me who finally had a chance to evaluate Richards flying from the air. She jumped in after both Bert and I canvassed around for a passenger on the launch field. A few leap frogs and it was time to come down and look for a landing location. The winds just above the trees would take us to the south west and we eventually landed in Oscars’ neighbours hay field. He was tickled to have the balloons land in his field having just taken his first balloon ride that morning.

The evening dinner was another awesome fried Turkey and Potatoes feast. After the meal there was costumes, cakes, pumpkin carving and a whole lot of good times being had by all. As usual the conversation would once again turn to "new time vs. old time" as this weekend always seems to land on the weekend the clocks are rolled back and once again Walt would try to sneak another hour of shut-eye in on us all. Even Linda was confused this time!

The morning dawned and this time the sky’s looked like we would finally get a cancelled flight. Some even reported high winds and snow in Innisfail. The clouds stayed to the east and by the time we were ready to take to the sky’s it was a perfect clear blue sky. I was the first to get airborne on this morning so I hoped the Raven River and landed in the field to the north of Oscars waiting for the others. It was during this brief wait that I decided I would make the most of the conditions and take Bert and I up to 10,000 feet for a view of the countryside. Once we had climbed out to about 5,000 feet we had a good 10-15 knot drift straight east towards Spruceview. Little changed from 5,000 to 10,000 feet and in fact we may have even slowed down a bit. The view was spectacular with the Rockies to the west, Glennifer Lake to the south east and Sylvan Lake to the north east. After a short stop at 10,000 we descended back down to 5,000 and had a good drift to the east towards Spruceview. Knowing that the winds on the surface would take me north I waited as long as possible before coming down to find a landing location. I came down and eventually landed in a pasture with easy access.

Back to Oscars for breakfast and goodbyes!

An awesome 3 for 3 weekend!

Thanks Rodger and Bert for driving chase.

Thanks Oscar for letting us into your home.

Thanks Walt and Linda for a great weekend we know it’s a lot of work and we really do appreciate it!

Looking forward to next year!

Steve

photos courtesy of Ralph Dowson