Heading down I-25 from Santa Fe to Albuquerque we were conscious of how little we knew about the Balloon Fiesta we were headed to. We had camping reservations but no idea where the campground was, we had an offer of a driveway camping spot but no address, and we had a contact at the Fiesta itself but no arrangements for meeting. But luck and the internet came to our aid. Some directions from the Fiesta website got us onto the main entrance to the Fiesta grounds, which immediately turned into an entrance line for the RV parking area (a campground without facilities). We had only been in the line a few minutes when the SUV in front stopped and our contact Scott got out and strolled back to chat to us.

Initially we had sought the Fiesta entrance in order to get some information but the press of traffic pushed us forward and with Scott's guidance we were soon registering for a camping site a day earlier than we had planned. This turned out to be a good development. Traffic around the venue Friday afternoon was chaotic, but Saturday morning (when we would have otherwise been trying to arrive) was an order of magnitude worse.

After settling in we went out to explore the Fiesta venue. In particular we went looking for some Swiss overlanders in a big camper on a MAN truck; we did not find them but we did find Christian and Nicole overlanders traveling in a Landrover 110. They have traveled North from South America and plan to be in Russia next year at approximately the same time we will be there. Later in the evening Christian and Nicole dropped by our truck and we spent a pleasant couple of hours sharing a bottle of wine and travel stories.