When The Call Comes You Must Go

Years ago I was visiting some friends in New York State, and while we were talking the phone rang and we were off on an adventure. My friends had a friend that worked as a stunt actor and his specialty was doing stunts in hot air balloons, so of course he had one. The day was right for a flight so he called and invited us.

Balloons are pretty and exciting and all but they are are a real pain in the ass because they take forever to set up and then you have to have a chase crew to fetch you when the ride is over.

As it turned out he had his crew in place and we arrived to the launch field where the basket sat along side of probably sixty-feet of colorful nylon dragged out flat on the field. A gas powered fan was blowing air bringing the balloon slightly to life. When there was enough air to make it look like a colorful cavern hot air was added to lift it off the ground.

This was carefully done as not to singe the cloth. Eventually the balloon was upright and full. We climbed into the basket and we were ready to take off. The tethers were released and we were off. We were not five feet off the ground when a gust of wind came up and pushed the windward side of the balloon in pushing a gust of warm wind down the neck into the basket where we stood.

The balloonist pulled the rope venting the air through the top and we came back to Earth. It was disappointing for us all, but as he told us, "I'd rather be on the ground wishing we were in the air than be in the air wishing we were on the ground."