More balloon preparations...

We got up this morning and wired the van: UHF base unit, power inverter, antennas, and such. Fortunately, ours only had 130km on it when we picked it up, so things were very clean. The second picture is actually Al's van.


SEMBA members: We added a local touch to the vehicle decals:


Then we went grocery shopping (keep my previous posts about Mexican food in mind - more at a later date).


Then we went out and did a practice flight this evening. It actually ended up being more of a crew flight, as Sandy Raya flew with Paul. He landed after a bit, then Bonnie and Bruce Hahn hopped in.

Shawn Raya, Jeff Barlett, and Sandy Barlett found an extra balloon laying around, so they went for a hop too.


Cool story of the day: Maury and Jen Petrehn took Elle for her first flight in Johnny's balloon tonight.

For NOBPA members, here's Sandy's post-flight story-telling:


With regard to Internet: Right now it's 11:50pm and five of us are sitting in the van outside the briefing tent fighting for a "very low" wireless signal. It's about a 10km drive from where we're staying. It's pretty frustrating that this is our only reasonable way to call home and such, but I guess that's just how it is.

Tomorrow morning we'll do another practice flight then go through the official registration for the event. The rumor is that it requires a cash layout of about 600€ (roughly $1000). The weather so far has been great (about 80 degrees and very flyable), but the forecast has the weather taking a turn for the worse on Saturday, just in time for the Sunday AM start of the competition.

Funny photos of the day, found on the bathroom doors of a nearby hotel:

Starting to get ready

We spent the rest of today putting the balloon system together. Tomorrow we'll wire up the van and perhaps make a practice flight.




And by popular demand... Maury and Danielle ("Elle") Petrehn

Got it

We just picked up our balloon from air cargo in Vienna. The pallet weighed 800 pounds. No issues at all - everything got through customs without a hitch. I know for certain that Al Nels, Joe Zvada, Johnny Petrehn, Joe Heartsill, and Nick Donner have their equipment as well. Sandy and Jeff Barlett (helping Joe Zvada) just arrived too.

Our house

Today we're picking up the balloon from air cargo and sightseeing in Vienna. I'm posting this update from the airport, so we still haven't figured out how to get online down in Horkirchen. We'll come up with something, as calling home from the cell phones we have here is very expensive (as is calling them from the US).

Because I'm posting this in the morning, I don't have a lot of exciting photos yet. So here's some non-exciting ones of the cottage we're staying at. The big pink building has 3 separate units in it. That's Andrew and Ashley Nels in the window; they're staying in the 7-bed place right next to us. Maury and Jen Petrehn will be in the 4-bed unit on the other side. Johnny is about 100' away, to the right of us (you can see his van in one of the panoramic photos). Andy Baird, Derrick Jones, and John Gibbons will be here as well. The view out our back window includes a lake, which is where another balloon was flying this morning.

A Mountainous Tourist Day

Happy Birthday Andrew!
(My son turns 5 today!)

It was another 100% tourist day. We slept in a little later than planned, so we didn't get to visit our "culinary discovery" - a Mexican restaurant. However, we made a little progress on that front later (see below). So we loaded up the van and left Salzburg, driving west through the mountains. We found a number of lakeside towns before settling into Bad Ischle for lunch.

After eating and exploring, we decided to take a gondola ride up the mountain. Although the altitude isn't as high as some other places (about 5000 feet), the depth of the valley below made for spectacular views.

Leaving Bad Ischl at about 5:00pm, we arrived at our cottage in Buchberg at about 8:30pm. Although it was dark when we arrived, it looks like the view from our windows will be impressive. I'll post photos of the inside and out later. It's only a short drive from where we're staying to the competition center, so it should be a great location. Paul's brother John was already there, and had a housewarming gift of chips and salsa he found at the local grocery. We certainly plan to pick up some more, although we're still hopeful of finding "real" tacos. Al Nels will be in later tonight, and we've heard that a few others from the team are here as well.

Tomorrow we'll get up early and drive into Vienna. First we'll pick up the balloon from the airport, then spend the day sightseeing in the city. It will be out last "tourist day", although there will probably be time to take in some local sights throughout the week.

As I mentioned in a previous post, one thing that's going to be tricky is getting Internet access. The cottage has none, so hopefully we'll be able to find something that's more accessible. So the updates probably won't come as often, but I'll do my best. Supposedly the competition center has wireless, so maybe that will be the daily ritual.





Erica's new satellite office in Bad Ischl, Austria.

A Day in Salzburg

Today we spent the entire day being tourists in Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart and the setting for The Sound of Music. It's at the northern boundary of the Alps, on the Salzach river.


Erica was our very enthusistic The Sound of Music tour guide, posing for photos at the gnome garden and relentlessly seeking out the cleverly hidden glass gazebo:


As a bonus, she serenaded us with the films catchy songs the entire day. And right now, at midnight, she's watch the movie and joyfully reliving the day's experiences. "Look at that, we were right there!"

Click here for a large photo album from our day in Salzburg.

And on top of all that, we found a nice playground where the kids could burn off some energy:

If the high-definition video above is choppy or loads too slowly, a standard-definition version can be found here. And an even larger HD version is here.


If the high-definition video above is choppy or loads too slowly, a standard-definition version can be found here. And an even larger HD version is here.


If the high-definition video above is choppy or loads too slowly, a standard-definition version can be found here. And an even larger HD version is here.

Here's the story of the day: We're on top of Festung Hohensalzburg, which is the castle high on the hill over Salzburg that was built in 1077. We heard some people speaking very "American" English, so Paul asked where they were from. "Kansas" was the reply from one lady. Paul said "I grew up in Overland Park." She said "My daughter lives in Overland Park." Come to find she's about a mile from Paul's mom. They talked Kansas University basketball for a few minutes, then posed for a Rock Chalk, Jayhawk #1 photo.

Tomorrow we'll leave Salzburg around mid-day and start a scenic drive to Hofkirchen, the site of the event. AND we made a very exciting "culinary" discovery today that we plan to explore on our way out of town - it will come as no surprise to anyone who followed our travels to Japan.

For those who just want to read about ballooning, don't worry. There will be plenty of that in a few days.

Our first Austrian dinner

Gerald Stürzlinger, one of the Austrian pilots flying in the event, took us out for an authentic dinner. Most of us had Wiener Schnitzel and a delicious blueberry dessert, the name of which escapes me at this late hour. There was also plenty of the locally-produced malted adult beverage (most beers in Austria are local, very few "national" choices).










However Paul found something more to his liking outside.

Now, after 36 hours awake, it's finally time for bed. Tomorrow will be a full day of sightseeing - no balloons.