Lots of Ballooning, Not much Posting

Well, it's been a good summer for flying. In August, a colleague (Ira Reasons) was coming to town with his family. I was thinking about flying before work that morning, so I told Ira that if his family was in town, they should come out to see the balloon. They drove to town the night before, just to come out to watch me launch.

I was a bit short on crew, and since Ira and the kids were there, and there was almost no wind, we decided not to free fly, but to tether instead. Ira, his wife, and all the kids got to go up in the air with me. Mike McKenna was there, and he took a few trips up and down with me, getting a little time on the burner himself. This was lots of fun, and it gave me a new perspective on tethering: When there's no pressure to do it, when I tether for a group of friends, just for fun, and when the weather's perfect, it can be kind of fun!

The next week, Mike's dad was in town, so we got up on Saturday morning and went to fly. Jill and Mike crewed, and Mike's dad, Tom, flew with me. We launched from a church near our home, and flew northeast. It was a typical morning flight, with slow winds on the surface and faster winds a little higher. The low winds' direction was to the left of the winds aloft.

We flew near the Air Force Base, then over Jacksonville. It was still early in the flight, so I ignored some potential landing sites in Jacksonville. We were 45 minutes into the flight when we started over the Holland Bottoms Wildlife Management Area; a big wooded area. Tom looked at me, obviously a little nervous about our ability to land when all we could see were trees, and asked, "So, what's the plan? Where will we land?"

I did have a plan, and it worked perfectly. We ascended into the winds that were moving at 20 kts, we cleared all those trees, and landed nicely in a big field. The owners of the house next to the field gave us permission to pack up in their nice grass backyard.

It was a nice flight on a beautiful morning.

Then, over Labor Day weekend, my sister, and my niece, Rebekah came to visit. Rebekah had recently celebrated her 7th birthday, and we were going to have a party. I wanted to show her our balloon so we decided to have the party at the Y, which has a big field. Since we were having a party with a big balloon, we invited several friends with kids to come, too.

We took a cake, lots of hot dogs, chips, and the grill, and had a great time. Paul Henry and David Simpson helped with setup and packup of the balloon. It wasn't as calm as the tether for the Reasons a month earlier, but with a 3 point hookup, it worked great.

The kids enjoyed riding in the balloon and running around, and playing on the Y's play structure. The adults enjoyed riding in the balloon and visiting. Thanks to all who took part!