larsrulz 0 #1 August 11, 2004 No shit, there I was...up at 5:30 am to be over at the balloon by 6. My group was in the second group (of three) to jump. So we follow the balloon while he launched the first group. The first bad sign was when the pilot said over the radio: "Wow, we just hit 46 knots." We were flying down county roads in their van at 70+ and hardly managing to catch up. We finally got in the basket and away we went. The jump was quite fun and my four way managed to find a nice little grassy triangular area to land it. So we hoped in the chase van to follow the third group and help load the balloon after the third group. We are still watching the balloon climb for that third load when we hit the Indiana border. We started seeing the jumpers released, but they are smack dab in the middle of big fields and trees, and we are already full, so I guess they are stuck hitch hiking back. We spend 45 mins trying to find a road to get us to the landed balloon. All we know is that he landed by a river. Unfortunately he was right next to a power plant, so we couldn't take the roads to get us there. We finally give up trying about 10. At that point we were 20 miles east of the border. Only an hour 20 mins to get back to Rantoul. $90, 5.5 hours, and a 10 second freefall....hot damn! I can't imagine the poor jumpers in the third group asking for a ride to Rantoul...talk about a bad spot! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jib 0 #2 August 14, 2004 I was in the other van in group 3 -- the one that never went up! Our balloon ended up 46 miles away as the crow flies and round trip of 142 miles. Get in the 1st group!! On Thursday, I was back at the airport in no time flat! -------------------------------------------------- the depth of his depravity sickens me. -- Jerry Falwell, People v. Larry Flynt Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
