10/08/16, Saturday: Albuquerque, NM

This morning was (potentially) scheduled to be the ‘Mass Ascension’ of over 500 balloons. We decided to set the alarm for 7:00 today instead of 6:30, since they hadn’t really started up that early the day before. Chris got up to check out the weather, and reported that it was cloudy & breezy, and thought that perhaps the event was cancelled, so I stayed in bed and went back to sleep for another hour or so. We drank our coffee in the cockpit of the coach, looking out the windshield for signs of a launch. We could see that lots of the balloons on the field were inflated, and around 9:00 they began launching, so we scrambled up to the roof with our camp chairs. Perhaps 50 balloons launched, but then the launches suddenly stopped. In the distance to the south, we could see rain falling, and it steadily moved closer. The balloons still on the ground started deflating, so we moved back inside. When the rain arrived, it turned into a thunderstorm, with the loudest and deepest thunder we have ever heard (and felt). Chris has experienced a lot more 'weather' than I have, but we both felt it was the loudest storm we had ever experienced!

With the on-again/off-again rain, we decided to just stay inside and play games, and do some research on our next few days, because the weather forecast called for more rain tomorrow. And based on the weather forecast, we decided to skip the scenic drive through El Malpais National Monument (planned for our departure tomorrow), and instead take the direct Interstate 25 route to Datil.

Our coach batteries' voltage level got down to 11.9V (40%) this evening, which is about as low as we want to allow. And since the furnace would be running tonight (lows in the mid-40s tonight) which uses electricity for the fan, we ran the generator for 30 minutes, which got the voltage up to 12.2 (60%). On the plus side, our fresh water tank is still at 2/3, and our gray tank is only up to 1/3, so we're doing great with our water usage. We've never been able to do more than 3 days of wild camping, due to water issues, but it appears we could go another day or two now. However, with the cloudy day, our solar panel isn't producing, and our batteries are the limiting factor (unless we're willing to run the generator).