Interesting Morning

This morning started slow with a 45 minute weather hold. The second meeting started at 6:45 and a two part task was called. We had a great launch spot, but we were slow getting in the air and at the back of the pack. The pilots had trouble getting into the second target because there was no more left at the surface. I know Brad only got one baggie on the ground (at the first target) but wasn't able to make it to the second. I am not sure on how the other Iowa pilots flew. After the second target the pilots had to start looking for landing spots, which was another task in itself.

In the meeting, the pilots were told to land before crossing the river because once you got down in the bottoms it was going to take a while to get out. Well, guess where Brad was headed... After the second target before the river there were a few fields that Brad was going to try to get into, but there were power lines EVERYWHERE! There was no way he could just dump it in a field, so he had to cross the river. After that we lost sight of him, so he gave us some coordinates to get us going in the right direction. That was a bad idea because the roads were dirt roads with trees everywhere and potholes way bigger than what we are used to. Finally we ended up turning around and going back to where we came from. The field that Brad was in was so big that the gps took us to the closest road that was on the back side of the field. However there was not an entrance for us to take. We had to backtrack and work our way back into the field. I won't go through all the details, but it was quite an adventure.

We got him packed up and out safely, and we were the last ones to propane. Madi and I went to the Maude Cobb where all the meetings are held and I overheard some of the rural relations talking about trying to call Brad. I went over and started talking to them, and they said it was a good thing we didn't go all the way to the river bottoms. They said that while they were also looking for Brad they saw a black dog with a big spiked collar being chased by a wild hog. We were very lucky that we didn't encounter any wild animals while we were driving and while we were packing up.

As for the scores I will post the link to the BFA website that will show the results.

Nationals Results

Great Texas Balloon Race Facebook Page

This was the big sign that was outside of the roads that we had to take to get back to Brad. 

This is the field where Brad had landed. You can't really tell but there were a lot of holes, logs, and scrape metal scattered around the field. 

This is a chunk of metal that was right next to the basket.