15.1°F Couldn’t Stop Cherie and Brandon From Celebrating!
December 24th, 2008 | 0 Comments | Uncategorized |
The chilly morning temperature of 15.1°F couldn’t stop Cherie and Brandon from celebrating their being together this Christmas. Brandon wanted to do something very special for his girlfriend, so he arranged with the Forest Winds hot air balloon team to fly one day just before Christmas. Cherie doesn’t live around Lynchburg, and she was only going to be in town for a few days. Since the winter weather hasn’t been all that great lately, it seemed likely that our window of opportunity wouldn’t be big enough. But as luck would have it, Tuesday morning (12/23/08) presented a perfect opportunity.
With a slight wind from the east, we elected to drive down Rt. 221 towards Lynchburg (with the plan to fly back along this same path). At about 8:30 AM, The Pride of Forest was hot and ready for takeoff. Cherie and Brandon climbed aboard and took a moment to pose for a quick photo with Brandon’s best friend Andrew (also Forest Winds’ Crew Chief).
 Andrew, Brandon, Cherie & Ken
The Pride of Forest slowly climbed skyward and Cherie and Brandon quickly became captivated by the busy landscape.
 Waving from up high!
As we continued to climb to altitude, it appeared at first that we would catch that easterly wind, but Mother Nature definitely had something else in mind. At about 2000′ MSL, our flight path turned to the north with a speed of about 12 knots. Since our desired flight path was to the west, we returned closer to the surface in order to catch the more favorable surface winds.
Looking west down Rt. 221
Using a combination of the winds aloft and the winds on the surface, we slowly zig-zagged westerly down Rt. 221.
Clear skies over Lynchburg
 Passing over Fire Station 7
After about an hour, it was time to land The Pride of Forest, but the terrain that presented below wasn’t exactly ideal (lots of obstacles). So we continued to drift slightly to the northwest, and after about ten minutes located a field just behind Boxley Concrete.
 Lake Vista (Forest, VA)
With a pull of the vent line, The Pride of Forest made its way to the field and after just two short skips, was safely down on the ground. Although the field was sufficient to deflate the balloon and lay it down, it was extremely difficult for our ground crew to get the chase vehicle close enough. So we made the decision to fly on to a more accessible landing spot. Cherie and Brandon climbed out of the basket before the 2nd takeoff and joined the rest of the chase crew. Ken (the pilot) lifted off from the field and continued to drift northwesterly for about another 20 minutes before he found the most perfect field off Cedar Creek Lane.
Once everything was all packed up, the entire team retreated back to the warmth and enjoyed a wonderful brunch complete with a sparkling cider toast!
Congratulations to Cherie and Brandon celebrating 6 months!
 Brandon & Cherie
For more pictures of Brandon & Cherie’s flight, go to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/forestwindsinc/BrandonAndCherieFlight122308#