Up, Up, and Away

Today, my dad and I got to go for a hot air balloon ride. It was really nice. It all started at about 4:35ish in the morning with a shower and a couple pieces of toast. We left the house around 5:00 and got there a half an hour later. Its pretty cool the way they get these things off the ground. They start ‘em out on their sides, and with these really high-powered fans, fill the balloon full of air. Once it’s pretty full, they ignite the propane torches to heat it all up. Then, we hop in and get going.

It was a little after 6:00 by the time the 10 of us lifted off. (My dad and I, 7 other people and the pilot) We flew for a hair over an hour, and an amazing hour it was. Standing underneath those burners, you could really feel the heat on the back of your neck. But it was really nice. The air was cool and calm, and when the burners weren’t on, and people weren’t talking, it was completely silent. At about 1,000 feet, you could hear the cows mooing, and the dogs barking (at us).

When it came time to land, we were about to set down in a field, but our chaise car (they fallow the balloon while its in flight to pick it up when it lands) couldn’t get to the home owners to ask if it was ok, so we flew up over a hill to the next house (never getting much more than 20 ft. off the ground) and ended up circling it. As we came around, inside the large glass windows, the homeowner could be seen looking out in his underwear. I wonder what was going through his mind as he was standing there watching a hot air balloon with 10 people staring at him fly 10 feet off his front lawn…

Anyway, as it turns out, we had the best pilot there, and he was able to, going down hill, set the balloon down on a driveway no more than 10 feet wide, coming at it perpendicularly. Thankfully, they guy in his underwear had a good sense of humor and was really nice about all this.