I am looking at my May 2001 issue of Carousel (now called Carnival) magazine when the La Grande wheel debuted at the Houston Livestock Show.
Here is what the article says: The ride is the largest portable ride in the western hemisphere, requires seventeen 18-wheel trucks for transport, takes a week to set up, requires a 60-ton crane to assemble, packs into 22 containers. It rises 15 stories high and expands 50 meter across. 36 gondolas can carry 288 riders per cycle, the ride features over 50,000 lights. Six employees are necessary to operate the ride and a crew of at least a dozen are needed for tear down which takes 4-5 days.
Surely someone on this board works for RCS, and has some photos.