Well, this weekend turned out to be pretty nice. I got to finish off the last of my individual AT with some good people from the 244th Engineering Battalion in their recruiting mission at the Rocky Mountain Balloon Festival at Chatfield Reservoir.
Friday we met at Martinez Reserve Center to pick up our supplies, basically just the shwag and a Humvee. After getting everything arranged, we drove down to the reservoir, set up our area, and set up a plan for the following morning. It was an easy day, but I made up for it Saturday.
On Saturday morning I woke up at 4:15 in order to get down to Littleton by 5:15. It was a cold morning, but I didn't think it would stay that way the entire day. We set up our table, and people started showing up. Lots of people. And if there's one thing people like at fairs, its free shwag. We couldn't keep the table stocked! Barely an hour later we had run out of most of our big items, and decided to try and save a little for the next day, so we kept the stickers and the hat pins out. All this time, we watched the balloon pilots line their trailers up, all 10 feet apart from their neighbor. I was looking forward to seeing the balloons go up, but then came the rain. The weather wasn't going to give us a break for the morning launch. Instead of killing ourselves, my fellow soldiers and I warmed up in the Humvee and took turns going out for the crowds of kids.
By 10:00, we were released by Sergeant Major to grab lunch and wait out the weather until 2:00. I decided to just stay in the park. Where else was I going to go? And wouldn't you know it, that was the best weather we had all day, was over the lunch break. I didn't set up the table again, but I did give the few patrons that showed up Humvee tours. Ashley and Jackie randomly arrived, but I didn't get a chance to really chat them to death. Eventually we formed back up, and the weather came back with the rest of the group. We had some really delicious smoked turkey legs, served by the wife of a former Airman. Excellent! After a couple hours, the weather decided to give us a break, just in time for the illumination planned for the evening. SPC Nye and SPC Ragulsky had a small bet going on which balloons would tip first. It ended up being a really nice evening. It was a long day, I'll say that.
This morning was the same wake up call, but it was a bit easier getting down to the park. We set up our table with a new batch of freebies, and decided that the higher-value items should only come with an actual referral, so they didn't disappear. The morning's launch went off without a hitch, and for an hour the sky was filled with balloon after colorful balloon! It was truly a sight to see. Something else I won't forget were the powered paraglider pilots. Those guys are nuts! Zooming around on a little chair and a big fan attached to a parachute? That would be a kick, but even I would have to think twice before deciding that was safe. At our booth, I spent most of the day letting the little kids get in the Humvee and climb around. It's a blast to see those kids' eyes light up when they get in the driver's seat. It was really fun to be an idol for a day. I even had one little kid ask me for my autograph. How could I refuse? There were no activities for the evening, so around noon we packed up, and Sergeant Major let me off for the day. And I'm officially caught up on my Annual Training days, so I've earned my "Good Year" of reserve service. Now I just need to keep up this drill stuff and pass the PT test. Too easy, right? Maybe.
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