Nothing like a cold brisk morning to make you feel alive! Judy, Jennifer, Doug and Linda braved a 23° F morning to celebrate the fall season in style. The Pride of Forest took off from the Heritage United Methodist Church off Leesville Road and floated gently northwesterly across the skies of Forest and Lynchburg. Reaching a maximum altitude of 2000 feet MSL, the balloon crisscrossed over Wyndhurst and then over Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest home and ultimately landed just off Fox Ridge Road about one hour after take off. There was still a little color on the trees, but you can definitely tell that winter is just around the corner.
David (a.k.a. the birthday boy) and Jackie enjoyed the serenity and peacefulness of a cool morning flight aboard The Pride of Forest on November 11th. The balloon took off from the New London Academy and floated gently to the northeast at a speed of about 4-6 mph and climbed to a maximum altitude of 2820 feet MSL. Early in the flight you could really appreciate how mother nature had blanketed the Virginia countryside with a thin layer of mist. As the morning matured however, the mist was slowly heated away by the sun’s warmth and the passengers got to partake in a little balloon shadow tag. Pretty cool. After about an hour, The Pride of Forest set its sights for the fields near Poplar Forest golf course, but as the surface winds began to pick up a little, touching down at the original target wasn’t becoming apparent…but as luck would have it, and with a little wind shift, the field was made! Thanks go out to both David and Jackie for lending a helping hand with the balloon pack up. They made a great addition to the Forest Winds hot air balloon team!
