Hot Air!!!
The unexpected text: had I gotten the message? (“No,” I replied.) We can go tomorrow! Can you go? I checked. Tomorrow, Sunday, September 27, 2026: my calendar was wide open. (“Sure!,” I texted. “Let’s do this!”) After an eight year wait for the right moment (for her) and a couple of years (for me), the various intersecting pieces aligned: weather, wind, calendars, waiting list invitation. We were gonna ride in a hot air balloon! As we had long-since learned, this is a spur of the moment thing.
Western Michigan had enjoyed an outrageous run of gorgeous early-autumn weather, and September 27 was the same. That clear, calm, sunny afternoon, we drove to Kalamazoo and, in a big field south of town, met Brock Sperry and his wife, Lea, owners of Michigan Balloon Corporation. In the afternoon light, he and his flight team were hauling gear from their trailer and stringing it across the grass with the assurance of people engaged in a well-established routine. Their assurance was our reassurance for this activity so alien to us.
Soon we clambered awkwardly along with the other passengers into the wicker basket (aka gondola). There is no elegant way to do this. It was a congenial group: a guy celebrating his 50th birthday and a mom and her two daughters. Soon, we rose almost imperceptibly into the sky. Then we were at treetop height, and beyond. Like magic, we drifted southeasterly toward the village of Schoolcraft. The only sounds were our exclamations of wonder and Brock’s occasional pull on the burner mechanism to ignite liquid propane, sending hot flames through the mouth of the envelope (that’s the name for the pretty part that contains the heated air). We rose to 3,500 feet above the “deck” (ground). The day was so clear that we could see Lake Michigan shimmering about 50 miles to the west.
JUST before the “splash & dash”!
Brock was oh-so-capable, but also fun and full of stories. He was only two weeks old when his dad caught the bug, so hot air ballooning has been a lifelong passion for him, and it shows. Surrounded by family and friends, they deliver a fun, safe experience for novices like us. Those left earth-bound scurried below in the chase van, trying to anticipate where we might end up.
There is a real sense of peace and beauty to be safely at the whim of forces bigger than you. I thought, I am no different than a milkweed seed, drifting across the air on its silky white threads. Both the milkweed and I were destined to go wherever the breath of the wind carried us.
Pilot Brock radios the ground crew
Brock also has a great sense of humor. As we approached some lakes, I realized we were losing elevation (by design: Brock was quietly tugging a rope connected to the crown, the top center of the envelope), where he could adjust open a fabric panel to release the heat inside. That’s how to descend. Suddenly, sploosh!!! He surprised us by kissing the water with the bottom of the basket (a maneuver called a “splash and dash”). Then we rose, clearing the surrounding trees (not by much) and on up again. The shadows of horses below stretched long, and the contours of the harvested fields were delightful designs visible only from above.
Oh, what wonder and joy!
Prepping for the champagne celebration
After 45 minutes, Brock started looking ahead for possible landing sites. Two false efforts later, aborted in a most exciting manner (including brushing through standing corn), we landed on a mowed field. After a somewhat hard jolt, our chase crew heroically helped us back to earth and managed to keep us from being dragged into the nearby unharvested field.
Soon, we were joined by the startled but impressed landowner (two weeks shy of his 97th birthday!) and his daughter. This was when we learned that champagne is served at the conclusion of a ride to celebrate. A long-standing and important ritual, it also evolved largely to appease landowners, since you never know where the balloon will land. Bestowed with certificates and pins, we toasted the whole event during a wonderful conclusion to a very fun afternoon!
[For more info, see Michigan Balloon Corporation: https://michiganballoon.com & on Instagram at @miballooncorp]
