Having a few days with nothing to do, and perfect weather on the horizon, we packed up the camper and headed to the beach for a few days. Pensacola, FL has a great National Park campground on a small peninsula between the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and the bay, Fort Pickens Campground. We wandered around the old, well preserved fort amazed that it had been built by the Union forces to defend the bay during the Civil War.
There is a Navy base there also and is home to the famous Blue Angles. We also have some friends from way back when we lived in Ft. Myers that we used to ride motorcycles with, Tommy and Dawn. They had just recently moved to the area and we thought it would be fun to catch up. They came over to the camper one evening for a couple of beers and we chatted a bit about the old fun times and how we didn’t kill ourselves on those motorcycles. Those were the days, over 20 years ago, that I didn’t know ATGATT and was rode stupid. oh well. Hopefully you live and learn. They also have a great 26 foot Baja “go fast” boat which they invited us out on the next day. They picked us up on the beach and ‘jetted’ us to a favorite cove just across from the base where the jets do precision maneuvers directly overhead, fast and low. The team had been out for a show that past weekend and hadn’t returned yet, so we just enjoyed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico while consuming adult beverages. We enjoyed some dinner and live music that evening perfectly rounding out the getaway.
After getting back we saw the headline, “The 51st Annual Helen To The Atlantic Hot Air Balloon Race“, advertised in Helen, Georgia for the next day. Last year, when we were riding across Turkey, we went to Pamukkale where are we met up with best mates Ricardo and his wife, Sandra. They are famous for the travertine terraces with mineral – rich thermal waters flowing down into the pools. We had wanted to do a balloon ride in Cappadocia but the winds were unpredictable and it was very expensive. We ended up doing a balloon ride in Pamukkale, which I don’t know how it could have been any better.
Anyway, we saw this balloon festival pop up and it was the next day and supposedly very good. We looked at hotel prices, expecting very expensive, and found an inexpensive one right across from the field. We hopped on our new to us cruiser to take it for its first trip. It was a great day for riding and we took all back roads from our home in Southeastern Alabama to Helen Georgia, about 300 miles ( 500 kms ). The hotel had a pool but it was a bit chilly to swim in, so we walked down to a nearby Mexican restaurant and had a fantastic dinner complete in Margaritas and cerveza.
I guess this would have been a decent event if you had never been to a good balloon ascension. We were up at dawn and looking across to the field waiting for the balloons to inflate and all ascend together. In the brochure it was advertised there were 20 – 40 balloons flying in the race. The day was perfect with a light breeze and a bright blue sky. Watching through the trees we saw one, two, three, then four balloons inflate and all take off for the race to the Atlantic. We were sitting with a group of other hotel patrons here just for the event, drinking coffee, and finally realized, that was it. In about an hour several balloons inflated and would go up maybe 150 ft and then come straight back down, just giving rides. We all decided it was a little anti-climatic. After we went in the hotel and ate a dried bagel and had another cup of coffee which was the hotel provided breakfast. We had book two nights at the hotel so we hopped on the bike and did a nice loop in the North Georgia Western North Carolina Smokies.
We got back and took our own boat out to enjoy the lake. Snacks and beverages in tow, of course.
Cheers for now,
2WANDRRs
2WANDRRs 
Recent Comments