It seems like every time I turn on the TV now a days I get some new Extreme Sports show. It’s gotten to where skiing down a mountain at 100 mph is common place. Now it’s three guys wrestling a 20 foot crocodile or some one jumping out of a plane with no more than a bed sheet to take them down. Twin size at that.
It’s time we balloonists entered the fray. How about the Extreme Balloonists Club? Only a few pilots have ever done a Bag Over (Tom Gabel and I did one in a thermal at high noon in August at Robstown, Texas one time) and lived to tell about it. But we could do simpler things. Do a “Splash and Dash” in each of the five Great Lakes for starters. Let’s add the Great Salt Lake for sport. Or do a “Splash and Dash” in the Dead Sea and grab a handful of snow from Mt. Everest. (Two different flights.) Maybe be the first pilot to fly on each of the seven continents? Bill Arras did that.
Have you thought about flying in all 50 states? I’ve less than 20 to go and I’ll bet some of the commercial pilots are almost there. Maybe Loren Schwartz, David Justice or Bruce Bussey? How about flying across state lines. You can’t fly from California to Georgia and count a dozen. You must land or at least do a touch and go in each state to make it official. Texas to Louisiana, Missouri to Illinois or Tennessee to Arkansas. I’ve done these. Who can do the most? There have to be hundreds of ways to do this. Ohio to Pennsylvania and visa-versa. Pennsylvania to West Virginia and the other way around. Pennsylvania to New Jersey and on and on.
Back to the “Splash and Dash.” How about do one in five of the great rivers of the world? No, the Rio Grande doesn’t count, we’ve all done that. Now all we need is a person to keep an accounting of the records. Maybe we need a Chairman to handle the finances. Yes, there must be a charge for getting your name into the Record Book of the Extreme Balloonists Club. Just spell my name correctly on your check.
Each year we see the results of a contest to decide who is the Best and Worst Boss in the U.S. I want Balloon Life to run a contest on the Best and Worst pilot to crew for. We have all crewed for an Adolf Hitler at one time or another and I am sure you have all crewed for a Prince of Pilots like myself. (I will omit myself from the Best Pilot contest, so some one else might win.) So Crew Persons, get those letters in the mail to Balloon Life now. I am sure Tom Hamilton will omit the names of the Worst Pilots and I am sure that some of his advertisers will come up with some prizes for your efforts.