by Kevin Burton
From out of the blue, (and from the Associated Press) I get a super idea for a fun adventure. And my wife is shooting it down.
But wait. I say this is a developing story. We have almost a whole year to talk things over.
Stay tuned dear readers, stay tuned.
You’ve probably heard by now, the story of a couple in Temecula, California that was quite surprised to find that a hot air balloon with 13 people aboard had crash landed in their back yard.
I say you’ve probably heard because I went to tell Jeannette about it and she had already heard the story.
“A balloon landed in a Southern California backyard — a balloon with 13 people,” wrote reporter Ed White of the Associated Press.
“The enormous hot air balloon, with a pilot and passengers in the basket, descended perfectly Saturday on a small plot of grass at a home in Temecula.”
“Hunter Perrin said he had no idea that he had visitors until a neighbor alerted him.”
“I was watching TV and my wife was doing yoga,” Perrin said. “There was a man standing in front of my door saying, ‘They just landed.’ What? I was very confused.”
“But there they were, a group of anxious people suddenly relieved to be on solid ground. Perrin’s grassy backyard patch is only about 10 feet (3 meters) wide.”
“It was unbelievable, like something out of a Disney fairy tale,” Jenna Perrin said. “The balloon didn’t hit our house or our trees. It was kissing the fence.”
“I can say it’s cute because nobody got hurt,” was Jeannette’s reaction to the incident. “It’s one of those feel-good stories because it could have been so much worse.”
That’s true as far as it goes. It’s a cool story. But Jeannette wasn’t catching my drift, the part I picked up on from the AP story. See if you can pick it out from the following paragraph:
“Brianna Avalos and her husband were riding in the balloon to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. She said the pilot informed passengers that he needed to make an emergency landing because of low fuel and a shift in winds,” White wrote.
Did you get it? I wasn’t focused on the crash landing. It was the 10th wedding anniversary part that made little bells go off in my head!
We just came home last week from our 14th anniversary celebration, an enjoyable but much more pedestrian trip to nearby Newton, Kansas. (“Our Getaway In Beautiful Downtown Newton,” April 22).
Imagine, for our 15th, a hot air balloon ride! We’d be above it all, relaxing care-free, high in the air, life’s squalor and pettiness left behind.
Cue the 5th Dimension, “Up, up and away in my beautiful, my beautiful ba-lloooooooon.”
So maybe the balloon takes us to a train station, the train takes us to Memphis, one desired travel destination we haven’t gotten to yet. Maybe then a boat ride on the mighty Mississippi.
But honestly, I’d be satisfied with the balloon ride. And with a whole year to plan, who knows what we can come up with!
“Well if you want to do it, you go right ahead,” was Jeannette’s earthbound response. “I’ll cheer you on from the ground.”
“I got news for you Babe. There’s no need for a whole year (of discussion),” Jeannette said. My answer will never change.”
“No!”
Though Jeannette’s initial response was less than encouraging, I am still psyched, although the whole emergency crash landing part may have cut into what were already slim prospects for my convincing her.
But as the AP reported, everything worked out fine.
“At first I was like, ‘Oh my God! We’re in a backyard! This is crazy!’” Avalos told KABC-TV.”
“The blue balloon with gold stars and a crescent moon image was a spectacle as it came to rest in the backyard, towering over Perrin’s home.,” White wrote. “The pilot disembarked the passengers, returned aloft and then landed the balloon nearby in the street, where it was dismantled.”
“He was an amazing pilot,” Avalos said.
“Denni Barrett, the owner of Magical Adventure, which provides the balloon rides, declined to identify the pilot but said he had ‘exercised great judgment’ and ‘done the right thing.’”
I just hope Jeannette will also do the right thing, change her mind and give thumbs up to our 15th anniversary balloon ride.
And you know, there aren’t too many other balloons up there to crash into. I’m thinking maybe this legally blind husband can even drive the balloon.
This is sounding better all the time!
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