Flying High

I believe I have mentioned once or twice, that I was poor as a VISTA volunteer.  I never felt poor as a VISTA.  I had a cute little house, great friends, and adventures to share with them.

Being 100 miles from the closest Wal Mart in Cortez Colorado, was a day trip.  Cortez is a one horse town, much like Blanding, but they had a Wal Mart.  Going to that Wal Mart though, was a road trip out of Blanding, which was always a good thing.  I hate Wal Marts, but besides that, Wal Marts have everything you always thought you needed but have made it this far without.  Blanding celebrated the grand opening of a downsized Wal Mart, really downsized, while I was there.  Now folks didn't have to drive 100 miles one way to pick up socks and dog food. 

As a volunteer, I heard about some very cool things to do.  The absolute best thing I've ever done was ride in a hot air balloon over Bluff Utah and Valley of the Gods in Monument Valley.  My friend Kelly and I volunteered to help crew a balloon.  Being a crew member meant we got to fly for free.  Fly. For. Free.

Being a crew member meant you had to work as well.  We arrived in Bluff at daybreak, when the pilots start to fill their balloons with COLD air fans and once they were filled, they fired off the gas and we were off.  I was on the open end of the balloon, holding onto one of the sides, while a huge fan blew air into the balloon.  We're in the desert.  It's February.  Believe it or not, it gets cold in February, before the sun rises.  I thought I was going to die of frostbite, standing near that fan.   Then we got to climb in.

Getting into the basket was not easy.  Those things are taller than they look at the end of a balloon in flight.  Gracefully climbing into that basket was out of the question.  It was more a get your ass up and over the damn ledge!  Actually, the pilot and his wife were very helpful and a whole lot of fun.  You have to be a bit crazy, with a lot of expendable income, to fly balloons as a hobby.

We're in the basket, and we start to fly.  I don't know how high we got, but I didn't care.  It was quiet when the gas wasn't being used.  I was surprized at how quiet and easy it seemed.  I wasn't thinking about air currents and updrafts or whether the pilot actually knew what he was doing.  I was digging the sensation of flying, quietly. 

I don't remember how long we flew, but we landed back in Bluff.  Getting out of a basket is a lot easier than getting into one.  The pilot and his wife explained that since we were "virgin" fliers, there's a little ceremony to celebrate your first flight.  There we were, in the parking lot of a restaurant, with a balloon close by, kneeling.   Champagne was popped and poured into paper cups.  We had to grab the cup with our teeth and drink the champagne.  We were now deflowered fliers!  And that was just the first day.

Thanks for reading!