Up, Up, and Away

We loaded up the wagon

and headed west!

Well, NOT really!

We took the truck, but,

We did have to stop for donuts at Wall Drug

and while we were there

get our picture taken on the 

old covered wagon!

Monday morning Sall had some 

business to do in Custer, so I called up our 

friend, Steve Bauer with Black Hills Balloons,

to see if his balloon was

going up today...

Sure enough, the weather was perfect

and I even got to fill an empty spot

in the basket in exchange for

a little free advertising!

"If  you  are not doing anything

come along 

on a hot air balloon adventure!"

AND

after this post,

I promise, you will

be clicking over to our 

sponsor's website (Black Hills Balloons)

to make a reservation

for the REAL ride of your life!!!!!!!!

They took us to a beautiful meadow

where they could spread out 

this magnificent balloon.

It started to erupt like a huge 

monster at first....

Then one by one,

the beautiful colors...

The crew holds 

on to the ropes

and keeps the fabric

from falling inward...

Two huge fans start inflating....

Then 195 MILLION BTU's of

heat start to warm it up...

Our Pilot and 7 passengers

jumped aboard the 8 passenger basket...

(yep, that's me looking at the camera

smiling like an excited little kid)

More fire... 

(which I thought was

 going to burn the curls right off my head)

I definitely recommend

wearing a hat on your ride!

and suddenly our feet were 

rising off the ground!

good bye land...

good bye chase crew...

see you soon, hopefully!

Higher and Higher...

we bopped up and down

anywhere between 60 to 1500 feet

It was so quiet you could 

hear a pine needle drop!

Our shadow followed us

over the beautiful Black Hills forest...

The wildlife would see us 

and scurry to shelter...

(Lower left - Notice our shadow and how small it's getting?)

1500 feet high plus the altitude at 

Custer, South Dakota is 5,300 feet

That puts me at 6,800 feet

with nothing but hot air

and wicker!

No wonder I was speechless!

Stunning vistas of the Black Hills of South Dakota,

we could see for miles!

We saw unbelievable 

rock formations!

You can't see this from your car!

Can you see Crazy Horse Mountain?

that's 15 miles away

Our pilot took us way up high (a little breezy up there)

then we would just drift and come down to forest level again

and literally grab a pine cone off the top of a 60 foot pine tree!

"Be quick here comes one now!"

We covered 5 miles in the fastest

hour of my life.

The whole time I was in awe of 

the whole adventure,

and did not want it to ever end.

I had to snap myself out of it,

(as we descended from the sky)

and met up with our land crew once again.

Suddenly the whole safety issue was

far from my mind and all I was thinking 

about was the peaceful moments

spent up high looking down on the forest.

I braced myself for whatever kind of

bumpy landing we will have...

and even that was perfect!

Walter, our pilot, set us back

on the earth so gently it made 

me want to give him a hug...

Because that was the flight of a lifetime,

one of those experiences that 

makes you feel great to be alive!

Our shadow landed with us...

in the middle of somebody's tractor cemetery.

Seriously, I thought I died and woke up

in tractor Heaven!

(but, that's another post)

Our crew grabbed the basket and the lines

and we got to deplane (as the flight attendant would say)

and watch our

aerostatic (that's a fancy name for hot air balloon) vessel

 deflate

It was memorable!!

95 foot tall 77 feet across!

Walter pulls the Red line and down she goes!

I hate folding laundry - how'd you like to fold this baby up?

To celebrate our great adventure

Walter serves us champagne...

turns out, it's a 200 year old French tradition!

(I always did like the French)

Walter told the intriguing story of 

how ballooning all began in France and 

how they celebrated surviving the 

first balloon flight some 200 years ago!

Just hearing about the whole

legend from Walter was like 

listening to Will Rogers tell a story!

What a glorious adventure and fun morning

this has been!

Seriously, this was right up there with 

climbing Mt. Everest!

(I have yet to do that, but I would compare the two, I'm sure)

a truly magical experience 

everyone should do once in their lifetime!

I highly recommend Black Hills Balloons ~

their pilots are some of the best in the world

and flying over the Black Hills in South Dakota

is an experience like none other in the world!

A HUGE Thank you to Steve Bauer...

I hope this post brings him 

some future adventurists!

Have a beautiful day, my blogging friends!

Linking this post to a fun new

linky party...

Goodies for Man and Cat...

AND

click on over and enjoy!