Kenetic: A Videoblog

Ballooning in the Shenandoah Valley

If you have read an earlier blog post, you know that this was originally planned for my birthday but was canceled due to wind. I started to get scared when I saw the wicker basket that we would be riding in. Actually I started to get scared when we had to sign the waiver releasing them from responsibility for all harm and death that could potentially occur but the basket made me more nervous. I was amazed at the process of inflating the balloon with two giant fans. When Donny, the pilot, fired up the gas burner the first time I was really scared. The flames were like six feet tall. At any rate, taking off was easy; I didn’t even really feel that we were lifting up. The flight was great we just followed the wind. Donny would adjust the altitude to get the winds blowing in the direction he wanted. We were really high for a while, then came down to touch some tree tops. All the animals (cows, dogs, turkeys, goats, rabbits) hated the balloon and we sent them scattering or caused them to make a lot of noise. We could hear them all really clearly in the air. For the landing we came in over a pond. I have photos of the reflection. We had to climb out of the basket but continue to hold on to it so it wouldn’t float away. Then we tipped the basket over with Donny still in it and helped with the deflation process. Awesome experience.

WMV Version

And check out the photos:

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