{"id":16044,"date":"2025-10-18T01:05:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T01:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/husband-and-wife-team-take-to-sky-at-animas-valley-hot-air-balloon-rally\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:53:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:53:29","slug":"husband-and-wife-team-take-to-sky-at-animas-valley-hot-air-balloon-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/husband-and-wife-team-take-to-sky-at-animas-valley-hot-air-balloon-rally\/","title":{"rendered":"Husband and wife team take to sky at Animas Valley Hot Air Balloon Rally"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Hot
Hot air balloons filled the sky Friday at the Animas Valley Balloon Rally. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Peter and Colleen Procopio of Gallup, N.M., love each other as much as they love flying hot air balloons \u2013 which is saying a lot.<\/p>\n

The pair, who have been flying together since 1993 and met through their passion for hot air balloons, launched the Koshare Gallup \u2013 the balloon piloted by Peter \u2013 at the Animas Valley Balloon Rally on Friday. The sky was filled with dozens of balloons, including one piloted by Colleen\u2019s daughter Marissa Myers and son-in-law Cody Myers.<\/p>\n

\"Hot
Hot air balloon pilot Peter Procopio guided the Koshare Gallup balloon through Durango skies Friday morning at the Animas Valley Balloon Rally. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Koshare Gallup, built in 2003 with help from the city of Gallup and the Red Rock Balloon Rally Association, was fashioned to look like a Koshare \u2013 a sacred ceremonial clown of Native American Pueblo and Hopi origin.<\/p>\n

Colleen and Peter store all the pieces of the Koshare \u2013 the basket, the poles, the burner system and the balloon itself, called the envelope \u2013 separately in a small trailer, then put the pieces together at each flying location.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Koshare Gallup, piloted by Peter Procopio, flew Friday at the Animas Valley Balloon Rally. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The process of assembling and disassembling the Koshare Gallup for each flight could be compared to the process of putting together and breaking down a tent \u2013 if the tent was 105,000 cubic feet, weighed roughly 275 pounds, and the poles were being attached to a fire-breathing propane burner system and a basket strong enough to carry several people thousands of feet into the air.<\/p>\n

Once all the pieces are assembled, the basket is laid on its side, and the envelope is attached to the basket and inflated. This step takes an industrial fan, some muscle and propane power, and a little patience.<\/p>\n

\"Hot
Hot air balloons filled the sky Friday at the Animas Valley Balloon Rally. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Though Colleen is also a pilot and the director of flight operations for the Koshare balloon, she \u2013 along with two other crew members \u2013 acted as ground crew for Peter during the Koshare\u2019s first flight at the rally. The ground crew is responsible for following the balloon in a car while staying connected via walkie-talkies during the flight, so the balloon and its passengers can be collected after landing.<\/p>\n

Colleen made sure a kiss from Peter was on the preflight checklist before he took to the sky.<\/p>\n

To control the balloon\u2019s rate of ascent, Peter lets out heat by using a line connected to the parachute valve at the top of the envelope. To control its rate of descent, Peter does the opposite \u2013 lets heat in by releasing propane from the burners.<\/p>\n

\"Hot
Hot air balloon pilot and Director of Flight Operations for the Koshare Gallup balloon Colleen Procopio acted as ground crew for husband Peter Procopio Friday at the Animas Valley Balloon Rally. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The burner system in the Koshare Gallup is used by pilot Peter Procopio to control the balloon's rate of ascent and descent Friday at the Animas Valley Balloon Rally. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Though Peter is trained in how to control the balloon, he isn\u2019t doing any of the steering, he said \u2013 that\u2019s all up to the wind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a balance \u2013 a feel that you develop,\u201d Peter said.<\/p>\n

A hot-air balloon pilot\u2019s most important instruments \u2013 along with a practiced handle on the envelope line and the propane release \u2013 are good focus and a well-oiled spit-ometer (Peter\u2019s nickname for when a balloon pilot spits off the side of the basket to test wind direction and flow).<\/p>\n

\"Hot
Hot air balloon pilots and enthusiasts gathered Friday morning for the kickoff of the Animas Valley Balloon Rally. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colleen wears yet another hat: the Diplomat. She\u2019s the one who appeals to property owners when the wind causes the balloon to land in unintended locations \u2013 like it did on the first day of the rally.<\/p>\n

After being moved in several different directions by the wind and descending peacefully just over the tops of the trees, Peter brought the Koshare down in a smooth and controlled landing on private land east of U.S. Highway 550. Luckily, the homeowner was in good spirits about his property being used as a hot-air balloon landing pad.<\/p>\n

Colleen and the crew met back up with Peter and the Koshare Gallup to help break the balloon back down until it is assembled once again to fly on days 2 and 3 of the rally.<\/p>\n

\"Hot
Hot air balloon pilots and enthusiasts gathered Friday morning for the kickoff of the Animas Valley Balloon Rally. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Peter said his favorite part about flying hot air balloons is the connections that naturally arise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe meet new people at almost every rally we go to,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve made lifelong friends from all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Colleen and Peter, their lifelong friendship was one of those made in the sky.<\/p>\n

epond@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Balloon Rally info<\/h4>\n

Balloons will be flying at the rally through Sunday, with Glow Night events set for Friday and Saturday evening.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Hot
Hot air balloon pilots and enthusiasts gathered Friday morning for the kickoff of the Animas Valley Balloon Rally. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Pilot
Pilot Peter Pocoprio tests the propane valve on the Koshare Gallup hot air balloon Friday at the Animas Valley Hot Air Balloon Rally. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

through Sunday, with dozens of pilots taking part<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1920,510,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-animas-valley","tag-festive-event-including-carnival","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16044"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19985,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16044\/revisions\/19985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16044"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}