I attended the Great Texas Balloon Race in Longview last weekend – or, more specifically, saw the “balloon glow” put on for the public. It’s a light show consisting of balloonists firing up their balloons together so the beauty of their balloons can be appreciated as art. It is a show of beauty and fun, as each balloon has character and personality. The character balloons like Yoda, Darth Vader, the crab, and the seahorse you’ll see below, can cost many tens of thousands of dollars. There were “glows” where all the balloonists lit up at the same time, special glows such as the “all balloonists from Texas,” and then there were “twinkle glows,” where the jets were turned off and on quickly.
The evening started with a growing crowd that eventually filled the airport grounds, and the balloons laying flat on the ground, looking like colorful roadkill. The basket containing the gas tanks and two burners at the top of the frame would be positioned laying down with the burners pointed towards the balloon opening. The inflation process started with big fans blowing air into the balloon as it was held open by a crew that would later struggle to keep the basket both down on the ground and the balloon vertical. When enough air was blown in, tank valves would be opened and the balloonist and his crew had the challenge of both heating the air inside the balloon, while managing to keep the burners in perfect alignment by rotating the basket upward as the balloon rose to its upright position. Quite a challenge.
I was near the seahorse and was able to video the entire inflation procedure, which took about ten minutes in total. Then there was a moment where attention lapsed and some of us in the crowd wondered if we’d find ourselves to be seahorse food as it seemed to be looming and falling downward. A few pulls on the burner jets brought it back to full glory.
I wish the pictures did it justice, but I feel they fail miserably in demonstrating just how pretty it all was.
Notes: We saw four or five balloons taking off as we arrived, and I remember exclaiming about how quickly they were moving. They were actually engaging in a race, dropping markers at specified points about town. FYI- THOSE THINGS CAN *MOVE*!!
Everyone in the crowd stood for the national anthem. No NFL copycats in the crowd that I could see.
There were international balloonists in the race. I heard of Belgium and Lithuania. There may have been another.
Nine of the top 100 balloonists worldwide participated in the GTBR of 2018.
Here is the inflation video:
Fifty!!!
#pUTINdIDiT
#PuTinDidIT
#putinDIDit
#35 – You mean the McDonald’s lotto was rigged. Say it ain’t so. BTW, are you aware of any lotto of any kind located any where that is not rigged? BTW, professional wrestling is rigged, the NFL is rigged, gorilla golf is rigged, the Texas (and other) lottos are rigged, and so on. The Price is Right is rigged, and… Read more »
He said Rodeo Queen, not Buckle Bunny.
#21 – Whew. I thought at first something had happened to Linda Grahamnesty.
I just had visions of RBG hooping it up. It was really hilarious.
41 Shannon
Great find.
Had a nice thunderstorm in Lafayette today. Hope things move west tomorrow.
About ninety minutes ago I was in the throes of a hypoglycemic event and HAD to get something in my body quickly. Unfortunately- I thought – McDonalds was it. Let me tell you, folks, this ain’t yo Grandma’s Quarter Pounder anymore. The meat was almost too hot to eat. Greasy. Juicy. Grill marks. Very good, in a pinch. I ain’t… Read more »
Balling on the highest court in the land.
http://amp.si.com/nba/2018/07/25/supreme-court-building-basketball-court?__twitter_impression=true
I couldn’t believe it was raining anywhere until I looked at the Harris Co doppler radar. There are a few small red and orange cells scattered around. Wow! There is still water on our planet.
LOL
Bro Squawk says:
#pUTINdIDiT
#PuTinDidIT
#putinDIDit
89 degrees
It is raining here in my little piece of heaven and the temp has dropped to a freezing 90 degrees.
It’s a pretty amazing story.
How an Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game and Stole Millions
https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-an-ex-cop-rigged-mcdonalds-monopoly-game-and-stole-millions
Look fast. That may be a cameo appearance by Max.
https://youtu.be/80LevbAldic
Heh Seeing all thise town names reminds me how I became the worlds greatest trucker. Being the penny pinching curmudgeon that I am I knew to able to see those places someone else was gonna have to pay my way. One night in a drunkin stupor watchin Midnight Special, Eddie came on. And as they say…. the rest is greedy… Read more »
Utopia abuts right up to the back of Shannon’s World.
I would have called it “Who’d’a thunk it?”
I also found Utopia.
I wonder if I can find that near Shannon’s house, too?
Just found “Vega” and “Venus”.
Should I include celestials?
Tedtam
From your list: Burleigh?
There isn’t anything to see. I can’t remember if there is even a sign.
About two miles from my house, you might as well stop by.
🙂
When in New Ulm the running story was the Germans had to breed with the Czechs in the neighboring communities so they could distinguish one from another. Not sure I got the joke or didn’t.
I wonder if one or both are transplants from Flariduh.
The city/county is not going to let the fence stand as it is an eyesore and public health nuisance.
HEADLINE: MSNBC legal expert: Cohen flipping puts Trump ‘one witness away’ from catastrophe The “expert” in this case is Jonathan Turdley. I think he is correct about as frequently as The Krugtron. Interestingly enough,”collusion” is not a crime, therefore: 1) There is nothing on which the Special Council could base any charges 2) There is no crime with which to… Read more »
Bruni, Texas in Webb County near Laredo.
Bronte, Texas was named after the English novelist Charlotte Bronte. Biegel was named after Joseph Biegel, a German immigrant who received a land grant from the Mexican government and founded the town near Fayetteville in Fayette County. Interesting note on Fayette County: February 23, 1861 saw Texas and Fayette County voting on whether to secede from the Union. Fayette County… Read more »
I was looking for info on where Death of a Nation would be showing, and discovered that The Equalizer #2 is showing now at Tinseltown 290. Bought 2 matinee tickets for tomorrow, after asking Hubs if he wanted to go. I was a bit surprised when he said yes.
I just came across the news that Congress has lost its Rodeo Queen, Rep. Kristi Noem of South Dakota.
” rel=”nofollow ugc”>Not only whip smart, but a real cutie.
And here.
Noem is running for governor of South Dakota and is considered a slam dunk for the office. Sad loss for the House.
Blevins
Breckenridge
Brenham
As far as I can know, these towns are not named after foreign cities.
I have questions about others, but I’m out of time right now.
We went to a funeral in New Ulm Saturday, BIL’s father. He was 78. It is a tiny little town, named after a town in Germany where the original settlers were from. I believe the whole town was there, it was a yuge funeral. There used to be a school on the church grounds there, deceased attended school there. His… Read more »
HEADLINE: California College Stops Student from Handing Out U.S. Constitution on Campus, Gets Sued It’s about wissin time. Hit the bullies back, hard, repeatedly until it stops. The grievous crime was handing out copies of the US Constitution written in Spanish. The article states that one has to apply for permission to use the “free speech zone” in order to… Read more »
I may have to go to “Guy Town”.
You know, just to check things out.
It may be a neverending journey…. I like EG’s idea – and that’s kinda how I roll (or would like to). I just thought a “foreign city” tour would be a fun way of pointing my car’s nose out there. My neighbor is dying to get out and go somewhere. We really get along well and when their gate is… Read more »
#13 TT
With that list, you’ll have to hire a couple extra OH#’s to fill in for you while you’re out driving around Texas.
Here’s a thought. Rather than picking a specific destination, why not just head out in a certain direction, then loop back a little further out on a different return route. You never know what you might come across. Stay off the major interstates though. A trip down 35 from Galveston to Corpus Christi is a great trip. Then on to… Read more »
Thinking about doing a “foreign cities of Texas” tour with a friend and mebbe a sister. Of course, the “tour” will be a series of smaller trips. I’m making a list. Don’t be nitpicky – I know some of these refer to ancient areas, full countries, or land regions. Question marks mean I haven’t checked to see if there’s a… Read more »
Bad news if you are a movie theater buff. Apparently something called Movie Pass wanted to be the Netflix of the movie theater world, charging a monthly flat fee for virtually unlimited visits to the theater for new movies or whatever. Anyway, it doesn’t seem to be working out, and their stock price is now selling below $1 and theaters… Read more »
A sleepy good morning to all you Hamsters. Still nothing in the weather forecasts to get muh hopes up for rain. I am fearing for trees that don’t get watered, as in parks, and my neighbor whose huge elm tree sorta leans over my house. The other side of the crown fell off in Hurricane Ike. Broke off and landed… Read more »
I have held this position for quite some time, but without the legal distinction. My view is that one or one’s progeny are simply not allowed to profit/benefit from an illegal act. In this case we are discussing the children born on US soil to ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADER “immigrants.” HEADLINE: Former Trump Adviser Michael Anton: Constitution Does Not Require Birthright… Read more »
I had heard that in order to permit those balloons to descend, they store all that hot air up and ship it to DC. Is there any truth to that claim? BTW, I know that you have all been anxiously awaiting my post of today’s weather forecast, so without further delay, here it is: Hot and dry. My brother reminded… Read more »
They were glowing, however.
I’m sure the crabs were plenty happy, their meals – not so much.
We didn’t have any cheerful crabs at Fort Sill.
Far from it.
I’m shocked! Shocked I tell you, that anyone would think that the media is biased.
We’re DOOMED!!!!
On yesterday’s discussion about the Wankle engines you have to remember that in the 70’s when it was introduced, the internal combustion engine had been around for almost a hundred years and in constant use for 70 years, so many improvements were made over the years. The Wankle had only been around since the 50’s and not used much at… Read more »
New York Times publisher and Trump clash over president’s threats against journalism.
Mornin’ Gang