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Our quick weekend trip to historic Ybor City…and the Hampton Inn.

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Do YOU tip fast-food servers? Are you asked to? I was!

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That’s what the popular bumper sticker says. However, I propose a new sticker. Something that will reflect what they are… doing.

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Saturday, May 5th, 2007, we celebrated our 5th anniversary. After searching for unique things to do, something caught our eye. This date was also the 2nd day of the Cool Springs Ranch Balloon Classic in Dunnellon, Florida.

After a couple Emails and phone calls, we were booked. The reservation was made through Celebration Aviation. Our start time: 5:45 AM. On the map, Dunnellon is about 15-minutes away. In real-life, however, it was almost 2-hours away - especially when you miss a turn on US-41 and, instead of going to Dunnellon you end up in Crystal River…anyway! We were late. We were surprised to see the large group assembled inside Skeets Bar-B-Q restaurant, our meeting place. Breakfast was buffet-style and very good. We then met our pilot, Kenny Shumate of “Balloon Rides Over Orlando” - a funny character and very personable, but a serious pilot. He has been ballooning since 5:30 that morning…actually for over 23-years!

He explains our role in this venture and we meet our crew. Crew? You see, when you go in a balloon, there is a dedicated crew that helps setup the balloon until you’re in the air…then they chase you on the ground (uh, in a vehicle), maintains radio contact with the pilot, then is at the landing site to help stop you. They deflate and help pack everything up. It is really remarkable what all goes on. Here’s what happened next…

We piled into the van, which has a small trailer attached carrying several packed balloons, called envelopes, a basket, the fuel and everything. Checking a map of the terrain, we search for a take-off spot. A parking lot at a church? No, too close to the trees. A small farming field? A small helium balloon is set off. No, not a good site. So I had to ask - “There is no dedicated area to launch?” Nope, you pick a place away from power lines and trees and just go. Whu? Like a baseball field! Another helium balloon is launched. BINGO! The sun had risen by now and somewhere between 1st-base and the outfield, our balloon/envelope was stretched out and attached to the bucket. This part happened so fast… The crew scrambled. Everything was removed from the trailer and assembled. The “envelope” is stretched out and attached to the basket. We all took part in the launch. David (son) even fired up the heat to inflate the envelope. I held one of the powerful fans to force air in. Within minutes, the balloon lifted off the ground and we hopped in the basket. Another crew found our site and was setting up in the infield. Within a few seconds, we were hovering and catching the slight wind taking us westward… nearing the tree line in the outfield…the scoreboard.

What a view. You don’t need a jacket because, well, there is a fire up above you keeping the air inside the envelope warm. The short bursts were more than enough to warm the basket. You feel it. We slowly drifted with the wind across farm land, woods, and the highway (US-41). Other balloons dotted the sky, all drifting in the same direction. Little did we know, this was also a contest. As a clearing was seen in the distance, Kenny (pilot) made plans - to get close to the “X” on the ground and drop the bag. This was cool! A large crowd at the festival cheered us on. We could hear the announcer. Our bag was REAL close. The pilot who gets their bag closest to the center of the “X” gets something like $500! More heat as we now had to ascend to clear some more trees. Our trip continued. We flew over more small roads, farms and houses, an old cemetary.

Another clearing up ahead marked the perfect landing spot. Plenty of open space, surrounded by trees (now referred to as our “brakes”). Plus, other balloon pilots were landing there. Time to land. We start our descent and pilot Kenny describes what will happen now. “Bend your knees to absorb the impact” (the what?) “We’ll use the trees to brake” (break what?) “Our crew isn’t at the landing site yet” (they’re lost?)

It sounded worse than it was because we had a create pilot with a lot of experience. Then, we hit our first tree. A cypress tree. We skimmed the top edge of the trees until the last row, our “parking brake” trees. These had to slow us down enough to keep us from skating across the ground. It was exciting, puzzling, interesting and terrifying all at once. Even after the last row of trees, we’re still moving. “Lean back!” he shouts… the basket connects with the ground and we lunge forward - the balloon is still in the air, which is still moving. A final pull opens a hatch at the top of the envelope. As instructed, david takes a rope and runs away from us fast - the rope attached to the top of the envelope so when it deflates - as it is doing now - it won’t deflate on top of us! The basket settles down a short distance from where we initially contacted the ground (er, landed). We skidded a little. By this time, the crew arrived - the gate to this ranch was closed - an automatic gate you have to drive up to before it opens. Just behind us was another balloon clearing the last row of trees and coming down. We helped them land as well. Another balloon, which we spotted taking off from the festival grounds (”X”) was coming in for a landing as well. The Energizer Bunny - I’m surprised it didn’t keep going…and going. Everything was packed up, back in the trailer, and we headed back to Skeets. What a great experience.

The whole trip from the time we left Skeets to the return was about 3 1/2 hours. The actual flight was about 45-minutes. There is a lot of setup time, not to mention finding a place to take-off from. Then, there is the packing up time when you land. The cost, which is typical, was $175 per person. For the four of us to go on this flight, the cost was $749 (including tax). It isn’t cheap, if you compare the cost to other forms of air flight, but you can’t compare the experience. There is nothing like it.

You can catch Kenny and his crew at various events in the U.S. and Canada and he has even traveled overseas. Check out their website for event locations, to book a flight, information on their various balloons, and more. They also have a special champagne flight for 2. I took over 200 photos during this experience and a few of those are on the local gallery on chicodawg.com. Thanks for reading!