A Front Porch in the SkyA rare breed of flyers float above Nebraska: The Nebraska Balloon Club. Story and photographs by Mike Whye |
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"ARE YOU RIDING WITH ANYONE?"
Jim Gunhus asks me. Behind him, a five-story-tall, yellow hot air balloon bobs
lightly – a thick rope tethers its wicker basket to the trailer behind
Jim’s pickup truck.
I reply, “No,” and he
motions me toward his balloon, Yellow Bird.
Already, another balloon, Steve and
Elane LaCroix’s Propane Addiction, is rising – its propane
burners flaring brightly as hot air fills its giant envelope.
Nearby, three more balloons ripple
with the breath of hot air like gentle free-form elephants arising sleepily
from a field near the high school in Gretna.
A moment after Jim climbs into Yellow
Bird’s basket, I enter into what’s both the pilot’s cockpit
and passenger compartment. Kent Dinkelman, who often helps on Jim’s ground
crew, joins us. We have standing room only.
Jim swivels his head to see where
the other balloons are . . . to read the air temperature sent by a monitor high
up in the balloon’s envelope . . . to check who is on the ground . . .
and most importantly, to monitor the searing flames blasting from the burners
inches above our heads.
Everything’s rushing now.
Jim’s burners roar, adding more
heat, more lift to the balloon this Saturday evening. The envelope’s nylon
panels are taut; their wrinkles have disappeared. The basket moves slightly,
tightening the tether. Members of the ground crew hang onto the basket. The
balloon wants to fly, but a slender and strong metal pin binds us to a clasp
attached to the rope and the trailer below. Once satisfied that all is right,
Jim announces we’re going . . . and he pulls the pin.
The ground crew lets go and without
even the slightest jolt we rise into the air . . . more gently than any ride
in the most posh hotel elevator.
It’s another outing for some
members of the Nebraska Balloon Club, the largest organization of hot air balloon
enthusiasts in the Cornhusker state. About a quarter of its 100 or so members
are pilots with their own balloons. Many others like Kent enjoy hanging out
and helping launch and recover the balloons.
When good weather comes, they gather
on late afternoons for a round of flying and speculating on the weather. We
had gathered earlier near Lake Zorinsky, a favorite launching spot in west Omaha.
The pilots talked about wanting to stay over west Omaha. So, to see what the
winds were doing above, one of the pilots filled a small vinyl party balloon
with helium, tied it shut and let it go.
“That’s our high-tech
way of checking the winds up there,” quipped pilot Jeff Reid as we watched
the little balloon fly first to the north and then wander to the east. Not liking
what they saw, the pilots were soon in their vans, pickups and sport utility
vehicles, towing their balloon trailers southwest to Gretna where we launched
a short time later.