5.10 am ! Yes, that it was the meeting time for a balloon flight. OK, I did wake up for that. I must say that I am glad our flight succeeded at the first attempt. Some other people were trying to lift off for the fourth time...
Our group moved to an open field next to a church. Is that a good sign?
The three balloons were quickly unwrapped and hot air was blown into them. Soon they started to become alive. Then it was time to ignite the propane - there was a big flame, almost welcomed in the chilly morning. Soon, we would get to have enough of that flame, as it would burn the top of our head... especially to those without/with few hair.
And then, it was time for the twelve of us to jump into the balloon. Notice, that there was no check-in, no security control, no taking your shoes off, ... Take off!! Smooth and slow.
The balloon's shade would follow us, at the gentle speed of 15 kilometers/hour.
The balloon flew at a decent height of around 500 meters above ground.
This gave ample opportunity to enjoy the rural scenery above the Shenandoah valley. Nice fields. At some stages, we flew over chicken farms, disturbed cow herds, made horses gallop, rabbits run, and dogs bark. The best was flying over this deer, which observed our object and in two, three jumps disappeared in the bush.
After one hour, it was time to land. Approaching the ground, the wind slowly pulled the balloon towards a tree. Branches were approaching. Leaves were approaching. The bang with the tree was avoided, but not the one with the ground. It was a gentle bang, though. Nice landing. And it would have been a shame to damage a flying object worth 90.000 dollars.
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