Twenty one truck campers and one travel trailer showed up for the South County RI Balloon Festival held at the University of RI at Kingston RI. Did I say it was HOT?
We started setting up about Friday noon after driving down from Maine. We forget what real traffic is like, meaning Route 95 skirting Boston, Providence, etc. Just get in a lane, don't pay attention to the "gestures" as they whip by and know they don't have the fun ahead of them we do nor their houses with them.
By evening we were lined up in two facing rows, with tents for sun cover, tables for a pot luck, grills, coolers, etc. etc. As dusk arrived, the balloons started to go up. Beautiful colors on the silks and so surreal when the propane fires and the balloon lights up.
The weather was not misty. The camera had been in the camper where the generator was keeping the AC cranking away. The camera lenses was colder than outside and it took a long time for the fog to go away when it came out.
We had two campers new to the group show up. This camper built sturdy wooden stairs with a railing for his wife who is handicapped. The steps were the object of much awe.
The steps are jointed and come apart into individual boards for easy storage. Both couples were a lot of fun and we "old" campers hope they return.
Saturday was not as hot, only about 96F (ouch) and the evening cooled enough so we were able to open windows (and Heiki hatches) and sleep well. Pot luck was a blast with lots of tales told of camping adventures. After Sunday breakfast to rival a Denny's Grand Slam we all took off to go back to reality. We're so lucky in the North East to have TCers willing to keep attending our gatherings and new folks join us each time.
Cool as a Moose? Yeap - he's finally happy to be back in Maine where it is currently 64F. YES!
