Up, Up in Away in My Beautiful Balloon!!!

On October 30, 2010, My husband and I took a hot air balloon ride!  I had been wanting to do it for some time.  We drove 65 mile trip to Charlottesville, Virginia before the dawn to arrive at our designated launch site. We arrived at the Pepsi Distribution Center and were the first to arrive.  Soon three heavy duty pickup trucks arrived carry the heavy baskets and a jumbo bags to hold the balloons as well as giant fans to aide in the inflation of the balloon.  It was exciting and scary at the same time.  We were allowed to participate in the setup or inflation of our balloon.  After what seemed to be an eternity our balloon was fully inflated and was beginning to stand tall on the horizon.  One by one we climbed in the balloon, first the pilot and then us and two other riders.  Soon after the ground crew released the mooring ropes and we were off!  We slowly rose several feet off the ground and I was thinking I am still close to the ground if anything happens.  Then we climbed higher and higher.  Our pilot continuously kept the propane tanks firing as well climbed above the town.  We are right a tree top level for most of the trip.  Our pilot allowed the wind to carry us to where ever it would take us.  We drifted over a farm in the crisp mist of an early Fall morning.  It was so peaceful, it's just you and the wind to carry you where every the balloon wanted to take you.  As we drifted over the farm we crossed a river and were awestruck by the tranquillity of the surroundings.  The end of our voyage was coming to and end.  Now our pilot had to look for a safe place to land this balloon.  While looking for a safe place to land, a landing site was found in a subdivision but as we got closer to the site it was determined that there was a tree in the way and drifted on to another well suited site. Towards the back of the subdivision was a large section of trees and on the other side of the trees was an elementary school that was closed for the weekend.  As we made our approach through the trees we actually had to part some off the tops of trees for the balloon to land.  We landed on a thin strip of asphalt between a guard rail and a hill.  This would have been no easy feat for a novice pilot.  We were instructed to squat as we hovered  ground.  Our basket hit the ground with a gentle thud and then the basket skipped along the asphalt to a final stop.  The previous launch crew had been in radio contact with our pilot and were there waiting for us to land.  We all climbed out of the basket and assisted in pushing the air from the balloon and packing it back into the jumbo bag.  We all piled in the king cub of the truck and headed back to the original launch site and toasted with sparkling apple cider.  It truly was a fascinating day! It is an experience that I have to say one should experience at least once in their life.

This picture was taken by slightly leaning over the side of the basket!

Crossing the foggy river bed