Ok, this has nothing to do with RepRap. But read on.
I wake up to Laurie exclaiming “Wake up! Look outside the window!!!”. There, practically filling the entire sky, is a huge yellow hot air balloon!!!
The morning started with this picture. Can you see it?
I ran outside..
So then I ran back inside, grabbed my Segway keys, hopped on the Segway, and tore down the street.
It's got a bear on it! Thank you digital zoom.
I went around the corner (I’d now gone from Brookside Ct to Maple St, and now onto Hampstead), and could just barely see it disappear beyond the trees:
I figured it was completely gone, and that I’d made a mistake by not staying on Maple, but I continued up Hampstead St then took a left onto Howe. I rode for a while without seeing anything..
And then..
It landed!!
...
....
.....
......
It's down
The basket
Deflating
Of course, as always, I can’t say no to someone who’s curious about the Segway:
We started counting how many types of vehicles were within a fifty foot radius.. That included this wheelbarrow:
Putting the balloon in a big wheelbarrow
It was interesting to see what was involved in packing away a huge hot air balloon. My Segway has a bit less maintenance.. but then again, it can’t fly.
Lots of work packing up the basket..
I asked if they had a brochure and they handed me one:
That's the balloon, there on the brochure!
What they end up doing is lifting the basket on a lift and just tying it down lifted.
Ready to drive away
So here’s the summary video describing my crazy experience:
The balloon left from Walmart in Salem, NH and arrived on Shearson Drive in Methuen. Here’s a map to show some idea of the distance it traveled:
View Balloon trip – 2010/06/05 in a larger map
(or click here to see those three places in Google Earth).
It went at least 3.65 miles before reaching our house, and then another .92 miles after that.
Cool!
And sorry that this has almost nothing to do with RepRap. 🙂 It does deal with heat, and this is my vacation week, so maybe I’ll get an actual RepRap post out soon. 🙂
That is a fun report. Think of a way a reprap could make something that flies.
Nice reminder thank you, When I lived 240 miles south of here in Kent about 10 years or so ago there used to be Balloon Races / events between Heaver castle 51°11’12.90″N 0° 6’49.81″E and Penshurst place every weekend during the summer my Kids loved seeing the balloons coming over the garden especially as it grew dark the gas Burners really lit up the balloons. The other great even we used to have was Bi-plane flights over the house whenever there was a show at Biggin Hill air field. We had spitfires and Lancaster bombers too but the Bi-planes were nice and slow usually practicing dog fights for the show.
Since moving up to the North West of England nothing like that is seen now.. 51°19’37.22″N 0° 1’22.43″E Spitfire and Hurricane Replicas out side Biggin Hill (Google earth)
Sweet! I got to show my daughter the parts of a hot air balloon and, with a lot of trepidation for fear she would want one, a Seqway. Sweet. r.
And in just three short years, inspired by these events, Jeff will fly a balloon across the globe. Congrats in advance!
We sent Eleanor up in a hot air balloon for her 70th birthday.
Got to see the whole setup-fly-land-takedown stuff.
She had a wonderful time!
Waaaait a second… this whole thing sounds a bit crazy. A balloon whizes by your window in the early morning and lands in a suburban street a mile away! Granted, I don’t see any power lines but still this sounds awfully dangerous. Are you sure this was a legitimate balloon company… I mean, “ultimate high”, c’mon, tell me they weren’t transporting something in there….
… they know you got this all on video… I’d watch your back dude… 🙂
Ultimate High… roflmao.
Hello there! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could locate a captcha plugin for my comment form?
I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having problems finding one?
Thanks a lot!
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