Four Corners Unit

The Balloon Rally in Albuquerque was a HUGE success. We managed to get 21 Airstream trailers and motorhomes from Camping World outside of town to the Fiesta park – and didn’t loose anyone! It was an incredible sight to see all these trailers parade down Interstate 40 onto Interstate 25 and into the park – a long band of silver I would say. We had lead and caboose rigs and my wife in a vehicle (without anything attached) keep track of where everyone was and made sure we kept together – not to mention a lot of radio contact. It was really cool.

Once into the Fiesta grounds we all settled in quickly – we had a GREAT location and the balloons literally were landing all around us – some of us jumped in the help the balloonists get their balloons settled down. This is a great event and the only event in the world that I’m aware of where you have about 750+ balloons going up at once and you can walk right up to them as they are taking off – there were a number of “special shapes” balloons too – Bees, monsters, turtles, all kinds of bottles, cans, a big milk cow and even Smokey bear.

Click picture for larger view

Rallies are the essence of the FCU.

The unit was only formed in 2007 and already we have had six rallies ranging from “conventional” rallies at a group site in a state park to a major event rally and a boondocking rally high in the mountains with nothing but clean cool air and beautiful vistas.

Our major event was the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta reported to be the most photographed event in the world.

There are two more rallies scheduled this year. Now it is time to plan our rallies for 2008.

If you have a suggestion for a rally or better yet, if you are willing to organize a rally, please come forward.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta!! Oct. 5-9, 2007
VIP RV PARKING – Immediately adjacent to Fiesta Park (picture). Dry camp - No hook-ups. $65.00 per night. Price includes field entry for 4 adults. Fresh water truck & pump out service available.
http://www.balloonfiesta.com/Guests/Travel_Help/rv.php

Contact Ken J
johansen@frontier.net

Some useful new features on Google Maps; http://maps.google.com/

1. Driving directions with the ability to click on the default route produced by Google Maps and drag it to your choice of roads. The map will be redrawn showing your new route and the new driving time and miles will be displayed. This is an excellent tool for helping you make decisions between the fastest route via some other route.

2. My Maps. This feature lets you save your own custom map. For example, I created a map of the FCU 2007 Rally locations at; My.Map
While viewing this map, try adding gas prices by GasBuddy.com by checking the box on the left or view pictures of the area by clicking the box for Photos by Panoramio or find distances between points of interest by clicking the box for the Distance Measurement Tool to drag a line and display the mileage. You can also click the button at the top of the map to show traffic for metropolitan areas.

By the way, in addition to Map view, you can also click the buttons at the top to select Satellite or Hybrid views.

Google Maps has a lot to offer and best of all, it is still free!

Jerry aka Airstream25