“Diamond girl, You sure do shine, Glad I found you…”

It was a dewy morning and great day for lifting off in a hot air balloon. Pilot Bud had a great crew behind him as the basket was unloaded and the envelop filled with helium. My cousin was invited to fly and the chase was on. 

Diamond Girl floated gently across the sky for about an hour as I followed in my chase car. Before long Bud had put her down in an arroyo a tad off the beaten path. “You can’t get there from here” immediately came to mind. But before we knew it our lead chase car was being followed by the sheriff’s department! A local resident had called 911 thinking that a hot air ballon was in distress setting off a search by local sheriff plus fire and ambulance! Not true!  The pilot and lead chase car were in constant contact so we knew there was no problem other than finding the right dirt road to reach them. 

We finally arrived at the arroyo only to find three sheriffs curious about the situation. After educating them that a balloon does not have a steering wheel and that it lands wherever the winds blows, Diamond Girl was moved to a safe area where she was deflated and loaded into the trailer. I helped transport everyone back to our starting point where Pilot Bud came up with a unique distress code for the future – “We’re heading for Seattle!” 

Adventure is out there. Fly safe my friends.