FLYING SUZY BLUE PART 4 - 1982 Events

This will be my fourth post on our hot air balloon, Suzy Blue. If you haven't read the other post I first introduced Suzy Blue here on Show & Tell. You can find the other three posts about her here, here, and here.

Our first event in 1982 was in Glenpool for the dedication of their new Community/Senior Citizen Center. This event took place on March 4th. We participated in this event along with several other Tulsa Balloons. Glenpool is a small town just south of Tulsa and is one of the first places where oil was discovered in this area. The top picture is the newspaper article about the event and Suzy Blue is the balloon to the left .

The second 1982 event took place on May 14th. Suzy Blue was tethered in downtown Tulsa's William Center Green for the national Rideshare promotion for the Tulsa area. A drawing was held for two free rides in Suzy Blue, one for a current ride sharer and one for a new ride sharer who signed up prior to May 10th. The second picture is of the newspaper article and picture of Suzy Blue.

This picture was in the Tulsa World on Friday, April 10th and was the kind of article we hated to see. It was about our good friend and fellow balloonist who blew into the power lines across from Faith United Methodist Church the evening before around 6:30 p.m. The article did not name either the pilot or the passenger. No one was hurt!!!

June 5th & 6th found us in Jonesboro, Arkansas for a balloon rally. These balloon rally's were always a lot of fun for us and our crew.

This is our crew that traveled to Jonesboro for the rally. Left to right upper row: Jean Ford (her husband Ed is taking the picture), Mickey's brother Doug and sister-in-law Helen who joined us from Memphis, Jacque, Susan. Lower row: Marc & Mickey

This is a picture of Suzy Blue with a KING banner which we flew for Mr. King who was running for State Representative. This was one of the ways Mr. King choose to get his name before the public during the campaign.

July 10th & 11th we participate in the Haskell Fly-in & Rally. Haskell is another small town near Tulsa. 7 balloons and balloonists participated in this rally. This is a picture that one of the other balloonists took of Suzy Blue flying over a field in this area.

Here is another picture taken of Suzy Blue over the Arkansas River during the Haskell event. Mickey had just done a "Splash & Dash" just before this shot was taken. A "Splash & Dash" is where the balloonist goes down toward the water just enough to touch the basket in the water and then apply the hot air to the balloon and fly back up. It is quite an accomplishment that the balloonist take great pride in accomplishing. Mickey was very good at this.

This is just a picture of a happy passanger and the Suzy Blue crew. Susan, Ed, Jean , & Mickey

Mickey was hired to do promotional flights for a resort, The Coves at Bird Island on Grand Lake. We traveled there for these flights on July 3, July 24 and September 5. It was always a fund time for us. Here we are doing the Champagne Toast after a flight with these passengers.

August 28 & 29 found us at the Cloud Bustin '82 Hot Air Balloon Rally in Kansas City, Missouri. This is the front of the program.

This is a shot back to the balloons still on the grounds at the Kansas Rally taken as Suzy Blue is flying away. You can see several ballons ready to ascend, one just laying out on the field, and several in the process of inflation.

This shot is taken from Suzy Blue as she is heading for the "X" in the field. This is called a "Hound and Hare Race". A lead balloon (the hound) takes off first and lands and marks a large "X" on the field. The other balloons (the hares) fly toward the "X" and the balloon that gets their bean bag closest to the "x" wins the race.

Thanks for sharing in these happy events and memories with me. The next post I do on Suzy Blue will be about some VERY special events that we were part of during the year of 1982. Please stay tuned!!!