A lot of people have wondered about the trip. Why? is the biggest question I get. I really never told anyone, but they had to notice. I seemed to be loosing a lot of hair. I felt practically bald. Some people in the states made a lot of suggestions. Some very helpful. But the best hope I had was a rare native cure from Central America that Dave Edminston told me about. Didn’t know much about it, but I came here to find out for myself. I was able to talk to the Chief of the Nidnuma tribe. The Chief told me that the formula they once used to cure boldness was lost when their last witch doctor died. He said it wouldn’t work for me anyway as they shrank the head to fit the hair. Well, at least it looked good on paper.
I had actually been in Costa Rica about two weeks before I got to talk to Tucker Comstock. She invited me to come see the area where her balloon flights take place in the next day. (I’m near San Jose and it blows like a hurricane every day here.) Tucker’s Serendipity Adventures is about ten miles to the north. Amazing what ten miles can do to wind. (I saw a great ten minute story on local TV about the balloon flights at Tucker’s.) Our car was in the shop, so she picked me up at 4:30 a.m. Sunrise comes shortly after 6:00 a.m. I’m only going to be an extra ground crew. Most people may not know, but I am top notch in that position. Turns out the balloon is an AX-9 and most of her helpers (Tucker’s operation offers white-water rafting, rain forest tours, etc., and it was a slow day) who were going along for the ride decided to sleep in. Steve Davis was the pilot and Christina the passenger. More weight was needed, so I ended up in the basket. It had been a month since I’d seen a balloon. The longest stretch since I started ballooning 25 years ago. We lifted off from a soccer field in the town of Naranjo. Winds of three knots in predictable directions up to 700 feet. We landed after about ten minutes in a field of coffee and picked up another person. Tucker was still the only chase person. The flying area reminded me of Birmingham, [Alabama], rolling hills, trees, houses and powerlines. Open landing spots were at a premium. Steve allowed me to handle the controls. I did a great job of missing every open spot. After twenty minutes of frustration I gave the controls back to Steve. He put us down in a 15 foot wide driveway. Bruce Comstock even showed up to help us slip the envelope down between buildings and a barbed wire fence. Piece of cake.
Later, thinking back, I thought how great the wide open west side of Houston is for flying-especially landing.
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