Our Balloon Ride

It all started with Richard looking at his buddy's balloon pictures on FaceBook. He wondered aloud about arranging a ride for A. for her b-day, something we had actually talked about last year. I knew what he really wanted was a ride for himself, and since he is notoriously difficult to shop for, I jumped on the idea and started making arrangements behind his back. I told him on his b-day (5th) so he had some time to look forward to it, too.

We got a call Monday morning that the weather was looking good for that evening. We left home right after school and arrived at 5:30. Here the balloon is being inflated with a fan. Interesting process since we're never watched it before.

Hot air is added and the balloon goes upright. We boarded right after this pic.

We weren't sure until we got there how many of us would be able to go. In the end it was R, myself & A. Here's proof A. & I were not panicking at 2400'!! We both have a mild fear of heights. We were wondering about A., but in my excitement I forgot I might freak out, too. When the balloon first started going up I had some 2nd thoughts, but the higher we got the less scary it was. Go figure. We were hanging on pretty good at first, but later moved around in the basket like the men.

Since the boys couldn't go ballooning, we arranged for them to go up on a paraplane with another of R's friends. They believe they got the better end of the deal.

The white spot [over the green field] toward the center of this pic is the paraplane with JR on board. At that point we were quite a bit higher than them. He got to fly over a friends' house -a wish granted for him.



JS's turn on the paraplane. We were descending and they were flying higher as JS is more daring than JR. If you're not familiar with paraplanes, JS is sitting behind the pilot in front of a large fan.

We certainly didn't need a jacket, as we had been advised. The burner put out quite a bit of heat. There was very little wind. We never exceeded 5 mph; average might have been 2. Plenty of time to see the scenery- hay wagons that looked like toys... deer trails through fields... the city off in the distance... football games... A. didn't quite trust our pilot that he wouldn't do the "splash & dash" into one of the ponds we flew over. How many times have we watched a hot air balloon from afar? This time we were the ones up there seeing cars pull over to watch and the flash of cameras taking pictures.

We were not able to come down in the spot the ground crew had picked for us, making for some lively commentary. We went up & down some to try catch a breeze w/o success. Floating over fields [unsuitable for landing], creeping along at 1.5 mph you start to wish you could pedal or steer or something. Lends new meaning to "withersoever the wind listeth" or perhaps "the wind ceased". We also knew the boys were waiting back at the launch site; my phone was in the van but not turned on, so we couldn't call them to let them know what's happening. We got to see this gorgeous sunset, but we were running out of time (regulations & fuel).

At last we came to a narrow strip of grass next to a soybean field where our pilot decided to set down for better or for worse. Down with a gentle bump. But then the real fun began! How to get out of the fields into an area large enough to collapse the balloon. More interesting commentary as the crew first tried to walk us out- us skimming just above the soybeans, them stumbling through waist-high soybeans while trying to maintain a grip on the basket handles. You had to have been there!

Once it was determined that we were doing more than slight damage to the soybeans, they decided to pull us with the tow line, we went back up a bit higher so as not to damage any more crops. Too bad we couldn't get a picture or video of the adventure!

This picture was taken after we exited the balloon in a grassy area. By then it was totally dark and I couldn't get good pictures of collapsing & packing the balloon. We interrupted a ministers' meeting taking place at the farm where we landed; they came out to watch.

It was 9PM till we got back to the boys at the launch site. Since they had so much fun themselves, they weren't particularly bored. We were offered a post-flight toast, but as there was still homework to be done and a 2 hour drive home -on a school night, plus our hard-working ground crew was eager to get to the steakhouse before it closed, we were glad for the option to take the sparkling juice home with us instead. We all got flight pins, too.

We all agree this was one of the most fun things we ever did! Totally recommend it. Blessed to -for once- have connections in the right places. (It's our brother-in-law that has the corner on that market. ;) BTW, E., since we returned safe & sound you don't inherit our estate. LOL)