Balloon Festival – II

After we walked through the carnival area of the festival (close to the bridge back from Auburn) we thought we would look for something to eat and come back when the balloons were getting ready to take off. Oops! They were going to start getting set up in another fifteen minutes, so we went back to our car and brought back the little portable seats we had got at Reny’s but never used yet, found places along the edge of the field, and waited.

We were in plenty of time. A few balloonists’ vans pulled up on the field, but not much was happening. Eventually a couple of balloons started inflating —

How about that! We had seen the RE/Max logos with the balloon — heck, we got the place in Casco through a RE/Max agent — but we didn’t know they really were into balloons.A couple of other balloons floated past a little to the north lotof the park. Evidently there was another field where people were setting up a couple of miles away.

A big cheer went up when the first balloon went up from the park.

About that time it became obvious that we didn’t have to stay in our seats — we could walk around the field and get a closer look at what was going on.

The guy in the red shirt said, “This is the hardest part of ballooning — you have to keep smiling for all the people taking pictures.” We stopped and had a long chat with him. He didn’t think he would take off that evening. It was a little windier than he liked. I asked, “And how about landing sites? There’s lots of woodland around here.” He said that there were pleyty of fields in a couple of towns to the east and northeast, but you didn’t want to go north from Lewiston — there was a big lake to the north and a little west, and then miles and miles of woods. But conditions had been wonderful that morning and around forty balloons went up.

The RE/Max balloon got up —

— and the prettiest balloon of all started inflating.

— and so did this one —

Oh, yes. You know these are hot air balloons. Were you wondering how the air gets hot and stays hot? There was a hint in the picture with the guy leaning on his basket — that sign, “no smoking, propane.” The answer: monster propane burners.

The one we thought was prettiest got airborne —

— and went almost directly over us. This is a view I don’t think you get except at a balloon festival.