Up, up and away!
Last September, my husband celebrated a big birthday and said what he’d like more than anything would be to take a balloon ride. I certainly couldn’t let him do something like that by himself, so he received the trip as a gift and I added a ticket for myself.
Balloon rides are highly dependent on weather, of course, so we didn’t get to take advantage of the gift in September… or October… or November or December. As a matter of fact, we had been home from our January trip to Panama City Beach about 15 minutes when we received the call that the next day was going to be a perfect day for a hot air balloon ride.
The day dawned clear and with a mild breeze. In the afternoon we met the pilot and 4 other excited participants in west Oklahoma City. From there we were transported to a field further north. The pilot’s wife and daughter were with him to help get the equipment set up and to follow us once we were aloft to pick us up and return us to the meeting point.
The whole process of unloading the basket, the balloon, a fan on a generator, the heaters – that in itself was interesting. As we watched and participated, the balloon was connected to the basket, filled with air from the fan, and inflated; then we all climbed aboard the basket.
The pilot, Keith Mills of Free Spirit Balloons, used the heaters (there were two) to launch the balloon and away we went! As we slowly lifted and began to move in a southeast path, we had the opportunity to see the countryside from treetop height. We continued to rise as far as 3,000 feet and drifted along, catching airflow where possible. As Keith put it, the hot air balloon can rise and lower with the force of the heated air, but only God can determine the horizontal direction.
-
- Preparing the ballon
-
- Ready to go!
-
- Lift-off!
-
- Balloon reflection in Deer Creek
-
- We’re way up high.
-
- A burst of hot air inside the ballon
-
- Looking at Lake Arcadia
-
- Another balloon up here!
-
- What a view!
All of the participants declared the afternoon an unqualified success. The trip had been a surprise 40th birthday gift for one lady, and she and the giver of the gift were among the riders. It had originally been planned as a venue for a proposal for a young couple, but work and weather circumstances had prevented that from happening in a timely manner, so they finally took the ride as an “old married couple” of two years. And of course, my husband and I were celebrating his birthday a few months late.
A hot air balloon ride is a wonderful way to celebrate a special occasion, making it even more memorable. But it would also be a great way to just spend a beautiful morning or afternoon!
Thank you for joining our conversation on Travel Along. We encourage your discussion but ask that you stay within the bounds of our commenting and posting policy.
Comments
Thanks for sharing this delightful story! On occasion I have seen a balloon up in the sky and wondered about who was riding in them. Hot air balloons are a treat even if you just see one from the ground. Sounds like we have an excellent pilot in Keith Mills – right here in our OKC area!
Nice story. Our honeymoon trip was in a hot air balloon and was filmed from the ground and in the air, and was also written up – in The San Diego Union. We flew from just North of Del Mar, California.
Neil Morgan, their senior columnist at that time, made much of the fact that we were going to film our honeymoon and show the film to our friends.
Un-related to the honeymoon, I can see in my still shots that we flew over the place where, much later, the Heaven’s Gate event took place. That particular house was demolished years ago.