Posted on 10/07/2022 11:14:49 AM PDT by CedarDave
They say lightning never strikes twice in the same place.
Don’t tell that to balloon pilot Michael Glen of Phoenix.
The pilot of Joelly, the popular “baby bee” balloon, awoke early Thursday to leave for Balloon Fiesta Park only to find that his truck and trailer, with “baby bee” and a standard balloon inside, had been stolen from the parking lot of the TownPlace Suites hotel near the airport.
Albuquerque social media was abuzz with the news and, to Glen, it was deja vu all over again.
In 2006, Glen came to Albuquerque to fly in his first Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. It was over before it started. He emerged from his Embassy Suites hotel on the Friday before the start of fiesta to participate in the Albuquerque Aloft program. He discovered that his trailer had been detached from his truck and was missing.
“I never did get it back,” he said.
He got a bit luckier on Thursday. Within hours, Albuquerque police reunited the pilot and his property.
“We recovered everything, although there was some damage to the truck from where they popped the lock, and they busted up the steering column so they could start the truck,” he said.
The baby bee is one-third of a trio of balloons that also includes a mother bee and a father bee. They often launch together as the Bee Family. And there is a real-life family connection. The father balloon, Joey, is piloted by Glen’s brother, Chris Glen, of Spokane, Washington. The mother bee, Lilly, is flown by Bob Romaneschi of Phoenix. On Thursday, Joey and Lilly launched without baby bee during the morning’s Special Shape Rodeo.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
Maybe people are going to have to start taking some integral part of the engine out every time they leave their car.
Off topic, but isn’t a “baby bee” just a maggot?
Or a hidden kill switch.
LOL, I think I remember the "NO RADIO" signs people would put on their dash.
Should have made that left turn.
We live in Rio Rancho where the crime of ABQ hasn’t quite reached. My son lives a couple of miles away in an apartment complex near the Cottonwood Mall.
He drives a 2006 Ford Ranger. It is a beat-mobile - mechanically sound but nothing to look at. In the 6 years he has lived in the apartments it has been broken into 6 times. Never stolen - incompetent thieves - but, they have broken the locks on both doors.
He now locks two “clubs” on his steering wheel and they don’t even try anymore.
I wonder if anybody’d think he’d flipped
If he went to L.A., via Omaha
The 2019 crime rate in Albuquerque, NM is 683 (City-Data.com crime index), which is 2.5 times higher than the U.S. average. It was higher than in 98.4% U.S. cities. The 2019 Albuquerque crime rate fell by 4% compared to 2018. The number of homicides stood at 84 - an increase of 15 compared to 2018.
for those who have never witnessed the balloon lift in Albuquerque you have truly missed one of America’s great events.
Mass confusion.
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