Balloon Ride
Happened yesterday evening! Picture time!
Lift off.
Our reflection in the water below.
Maximum altitude 3600 ft.
Maximum air speed 17 mph.
Minimum flying altitude less than 3 ft.
Total duration of the flight 44 minutes and 22 seconds.
Yes, the pilot keeps THAT kind of meticulous records for his log.
Our landing site, a gravel pit.
Of the 3 possible landings our pilot described
1. the boring "YAWN" touchdown
2. the "BEACH BALL BOUNCE" (how many bounces can differ with each landing) and finally,
3. the "YEEHAW!" landing, so sure to thrill and chill,
I want to say ours was a combo of 2 and 3. We did two beach-ball-bounces before being captured by a GREAT ground crew who literally threw themselves onto the basket to weigh it down. But before the bounces, we tree tipped twice. "Tree tipping" is a method used to slow the balloon down by using the treetops. Definitely a thrill when the tree coming at you crashes into the basket you're riding in! I guess that actually happens the other way around. Whatever. But not only that, we also added a bump into a parked dump truck sitting near the gravel pit we finally landed in. The truck hooked us, and tipped us sideways for a heart-pounding "Are we're going over!?" moment. But, it finally let us go before actually dumping us out of the basket, and we continued on our merry 'Beach Ball Bounce' way to a successful landing. It was definitely a thrilling way to end a thrilling ride.
Would I do it again?
In a heartbeat!
