Balloon Ride

[cj610]

My wife got me a balloon ride as a birthday present. We went up the other evening. It was a perfect evening. Sky clear, light winds. The fall colors were near peak here in SE Michigan. It was neat just hovering along the ground at 10 kts, 500-1000 ft. It was different to not have any horizontal control. The Captain gave us a great ride and a very gentle and smooth landing. We landed in the middle of a subdivision on someones driveway. We quickly found out how many kids lived in that neighborhood. After my wife and I got out, he gave about 15 kids a little ride(5 at a time). He only took them up 7 ft then right back down for another load. Then he had the kids help pack up the balloon into his trailer. Smart eh? It was neat and memerable experience.

CJ 610

 

[GravityHater]

Wow that sounds like fun. What a terrrific guy to do that for the kids. Rare.
How about wires and such in the subdivision, I'da been worried. Thanks for posting the report.

 

[cj610]

Yes, there were wires but when your coming in at 5-10 kts, you can pick them out real easy. In matter of fact, we had to delay our landing by about 10 minutes because we were following right down a row of power lines. I felt very safe the whole time we were riding along. It was fun.

 

[BushwickBill]

The guy driving sounds like he knows some cool tricks. I've always wondered about balloons. They fly 'em real early out here over the wine orchards.

 

[WMUchickenhawk]

Did you depart from Howell? I've seen the ballons there alot. I think Ray also has one.

 

[V-STALL]

Got pics?

 

[cj610]

We took off from over by Kesington Park. Landed in South Lyon.