BALLOONING

Well i finally got to go ballooning.

I wanted to do this in South Africa but the weather didn't work in my favor for the time i had.

I got my name in for this when i found out it was available here close to Dubai.  I got canceled twice due to weather (wind) or once poor visibility.

5:00 am

Just about ready

We started on the green grass.  This area is for skydiving.

Things are startin to look small down there.

Balloonist Prayer:

May the wind welcome you with softness,

May the sun bless you with his warm hand,

May you fly so high as so well,

God joins you in laughter, and may He set you gently back again,

into the loving arms of Mother Earth.

 The above prayer is on my Flight Certificate.

Maybe i was meant to navigate balloons, less hair on top is a good thing here.

The am sun rise.

So quite up here when the captain isn't charging the balloon with hot air.

Even the captain (Michael Schaefer) has an iPad.

Just about down.

There were 17 of us with the captain.  He said that this balloon is about the largest made.  It has 4 burners on it and it would go up pretty fast.

Soft landing close to a small village, right next to a gravel road.

Letting the hot air out.