| 
Spring Adventures
Soar to the Sky
.focus())
By Linda Ryberg
(ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: MARCH/APRIL 2005)
No such thing. Five of us, including our pilot, stand elbow-to-elbow, back-to-back in this fragile-looking 4-by-6-foot contraption. At first I have this feeling I'll topple out at any second, but my courage and fascination rise with every foot we ascend above a verdant Iowa landscape just outside of Des Moines. By the time we reach 250 feet, I'm the queen of the sky, people waving to me from the ground.
We watch deer dash across open farm fields and birds below us soar above the trees. We feel the heat from the propane-fueled burner, inflating the eight-story-tall balloon that carries us aloft.
Between blasts from the burner, the silence is sublime. We're close enough to the world below to see lots of detail-front porches, yards, kids and dogs -- but far enough away to drift noiselessly.
Between blasts from the burner, the silence is sublime. We're close enough to the world below to see lots of detail-front porches, yards, kids and dogs -- but far enough away to drift noiselessly.
"Now we're going to do some hedge-hopping," says Danny Campbell, owner of Z-Balloon Adventures in Des Moines. We've all put our trust in this longtime balloon man, but as we come closer to the trees, it looks like there's no way we'll miss them.
"You've all picked up leaves off the ground," he says. "Now you can pick one off the top of a tree." We do, skimming the highest branches.
Danny tells us the winds determine the adventure. On other rides, he may head north of the city and skim the water at Saylorville Lake.
Our descent begins. We've been up almost an hour, and I want to stay! But I've fulfilled a longtime desire to hot-air balloon. Danny brings us down smoothly.
