The Raggle Taggle Tracks of a Bear through the ROF = Ring of Fire = the miscellaneous odyssey travels of a lifetime on the road as a Stand Up Bear. ALL Blog posts and photographs Copyright MCMLXIII ALL Rights Reserved
Tracks of the StoneBear ROF= Ring of Fire journey
Carolina Balloon Festival Friday October 18th, 2013 Statesville, NC 
A short run of a journey, heading up to Statesville, NC to see the Carolina Balloon Festival. Went to the Alabama Jubilee Hot-Air Ballon Classic in Decatur, Alabama in May and really liked being up close to the hot air balloon airships.
The pix were so good that best friend and college roommate, Dude, said let's go to the big balloon launch in Albuquerque. Well there were some scheduling conflicts and that didn't pan out. So we determined this short RT - Road Trip to be plan- B for the Ballons this Fall.
This RT is a Dos Hombres production; Dude and I have done road trips for a long time... somewhere between 20 to 40 years; since high school. The regular travel partner is out hustling business/ contracts/ closings to make a buck, I'm still working with her to teach her how to live in the moment. That's a really good skill to have when you travel. You have to roll and pitch with the dynamic changing situation. Leave the shoulds, the can'ts, and the have to's at home. When it's time to see and observe life at it's best, to get in there with it.... there are no excuses. The Marine mentality of improvise, adapt, and overcome is really required.
The 1st day travel was from BHM up I-59 to Cleveland, TN. Then Hwy 64east to see the begining Fall Leaves. Early in the season, hadn't had a frost/ freeze yet so there was more gold/ yellow leaves; some red, but not much.... we're early here. Driving through the East TN/ Western NC appalachian mountains is a real treat. The Ocoee River valley is good. The TVA dams are interesting... engineering wise and historical... and still operational. There's nothing better than the South with the Fall leaves turning.
There is a Low pressure front working it's way through the South.... running that 45* degree angle... New Orleans to DC..., moving east. We're on the back edge of it... so we're running in on and off showers/ drizzle all day up to Chattanooga, TN. Grey skies and we are following the blue edged sky all day.... all the way on hwy 64east... driving up the Ocoee river valley.
The Ocoee River valley is really good. The TVA dams are a stopping point for some good pix. I will write another post about this part of the journey; standby. We get to Murphy, NC and hold up for the night at a Holliday Inn Express; Dude is a platinum/ prefered guest member. GREAT room, HOT shower, WiFi... good travel! A good stop for the night. Day 2 starts out w/ a fantastic breakfast bar ; thank you H I express.
On up through hwy 129 to Tellico Plains... a really good museum. more great Fall leaves on hwy . Get onto the Blue Ridge Parkway for a while. It IS one of Americas most wonderful drives. Magnificent overlook views and the mountain chains ARE blue among the grey cloud layers with mountain peaks peaking up through .... ?did I say the South is a great place?
On past Asheville, NC. Now on I-40 a quick dash up to Statesvile, NC. We're late in the day/ afternoon... 4;30 and it's let's go check out where we'll form up tommorow morning for the Balloon Fest. Drive into the Statesville airport, around the circle, on around to the backside of the airport to the balloon HQ. Traffic jam ! We see a line of cars gridlocked still and do a quick side out and drive back out. Back around to the back road... Bethlehem road... the "T" road with the Pentecostal church at the corner.
Out that road a 1/4 mile. We can see some balloons starting to launch. Cars are lining up/parking on the side of the road and it looks like the end of the runway of the airport. We duck into a parking spot on the side of the road.... a county sheriff SUV is there, Sheriff then pulls out and goes on. We're good now.... parked ok.
We're on the edge of a harvested cornfield...brownish red dirt with dried cornstalks mowed down to 4 inches to a foot after the harvest. Dude jumps out and gets his camera tripod. I get out and begin snapping pixs of the balloons lifing up , launching from a half mile to mile away. ... 10... maybe 15 hot air balloons. I can't take pix fast enough.
The front has cleared and it's blue sky... and vivid color hot air balloons launching; absolutely magnificent! some balloons are lifting high, ... going up 1,000' feet. They are drifting our way. We are at the end of runway 10 .
the front winds all day have been going with the front going 045* degrees, ... And now on the launch,.. with the curl of the front winds... they are drifting/ flying at 330* degrees... coming right at us. ... Strange... balloons should be going away from us, with the front winds pushing away from us.
This has to be a back curling wind from the front moving through. We are in the exact right place.... by chance.... at the exact right time.... by breaking away from the schedule and scouting out ahead. Some balloons are going up to 1,000' feet and going over us.
Some only went up 400' and are descending. But then i realaize... several of these balloons are doing a short hop... and are going to land short. they are going to land right here in the cornfield. Call it dumb luck or what.... me and Dude are right here in the damn landing zone; LZ Hargus !
The winds drift most of the balloons up high,... and there are 3 or 4 coming into the cornfiled for landing. ... and me and Dude are here with cameras... talk about dumb luck... we are in the right place to see these balloons coming into the landing zone while we're snapping pix. As the southern boys say.... it just don't git no better.
Some balloons got much higher and went downrange. these came in right on top of us; LZ Hargus... and we got to see the real thing.
