Humpty recently visited the lovely city of Jackson Michigan on the weekend of July 18th,19th and 20th. Here is what pilot Papa Humpty wrote about the weekend.

Last weekend Humpty participated in one of the most fun events we attend. While the tasks require the usually flying technique, the results are fun. It is competition laugh style. Balloon meister John Piper never ceases to amaze the pilots and event staff as his artistic side always surfaces.

Friday night. Your typical fly in key grab, right? Well try keys and balloon attached to cranes raised from 75 to 100 feet in the air. Now add a target or two and out them out of line with the keys! Actually the winds changed enough Humpty was able to score on the target and just, ( he brushed it with his hand,) miss the big key. The key was actually a plastic key!

Saturday morning: A hound and hare with an assault on A Rock pronounce IROCK. The winds were light and variable so the ammo for the hound target was Frisbees, the ammo for the assault on A rock were paratrooper, but with some assembly required! The hound actually landed in the same field as the rock and paratrooper and Frisbee flew everywhere.

Now add more confusion to the event because you acquire addition points for various activities. One is a splash and dash. Just a 100 yards down wind was a small lake in the park. We did the splash, then climbed to 5280, for the mile high sponsor hug. As we began our decent we noticed a running track and fired off the baggie for the predetermined target. At this point we had flown over 13 miles and were in front of all the other balloons. I entertained the thought of points for the longest flight but was soon overtaken by someone who obviously had a lot more fuel left than I did. We landed in a freshly cut hay field owed by Bob Seeger. HE WAS OUT OF TOWN AT A CONCERT BUT AT LEAST I GOT TO PUT HIS NAME ON MY LANDOWNERS CARD! Hey I got more points for the cards too!

Saturday evening the winds were really light and variable. We launched from the other side of the airport and tried to drop pie plates filled with shaving cream at plastic strips stretched across the scoring area. Walking up and down the middle of the strip were the judges and scoring officials. The object was to cream an official and get a dead ringer score. I missed the strips to the right so I tried to cream Barry and the flag trailer, but missed both! We then followed the hare but the first group never had the steering to get there. we even tried 8,000 feet but that winds was almost calm. The chase crew took a short nap then assisted our landing an hour later. We did another good will tether for the neighborhood kids and added up a few more points.

Sunday morning the front was approaching and the winds aloft were a bit brisk. We launched from the launch field and threw on the target at the end of the runway. As an extension from the legs of the X were the young scorers laying down on the pavement. My throw was bad and they had to roll over to avoid getting hit by the baggie.

Later Sunday morning the brunch was at a skating rink, no skating in progress. The final standing were announced with the pilots choosing their own gift from the table. There was a gift for everyone, so along with a fun weekend everyone was a winner!

The sad part of the event was the passing of Chad and David Seekell's mum on Sunday morning. The Sunday morning flight was launched in her honor. Chad and David are event board members so we dedicate our prayers to their mom and wish them the best as they handle closing out the event and their personal loss.