Mary and I made a second trip to Branson and this time without the kids. We called ahead and reserved a ride on a hot air balloon because it is something she has always wanted to try. We located a nice man in Branson named Rodney who penciled us in for a flight on September 10th. This is an event that is entirely dependent on a perfect day being present for a ride. Well we got one! Rodney and his ground crew are complete professionals and he delivered us very safely after about an hour in the air. I would totally do this again and I recorded about 2 hours of video which I will attach below (along with a few photos).
A little about the video…It was taken with a GoPro Max in 360 mode. It looks good in your Oculus if you have one handy but works well in a browser or on your phone too. The video covers arrival at the hardware store all the way up to getting back into the van at the destination. If you ever wanted to see what it takes to get a balloon ready, this might be interesting. I decided not to edit the video too much but in the future (perhaps over the winter), I might edit it down to a short video. You’ll also be happy to know, I learned a lot about my camera during this episode and what not to do. You’ll see a lot of video of the cross bar in the basket but you can turn around (just drag the video around or turn your phone etc.) and look the other way too.
Enjoy!
Up, Up and away! Sorry...couldn't resist.
I clearly wasn't paying attention when this photo was taken...or maybe it was a pose. Ya that's it!
We had a great view of the sun rise although we missed it officially.
Coming in for a landing. You can see the shadow in the video if you take the time to watch it.
There's a lot of inflation in balloons. It looks like we have a flat!
Eclipse? It could be...kinda.
Half Sun Today!
HWY 65 like you've never seen it before.
Listen in the video to what he says when Mary asks about her hair.
Safely on the ground again with a very long selfie stick.
Here is our route courtesy of the 360 app. Our driver hit every one of these marks too!
Safely on the ground and all looking the wrong direction.
We landed right by the fire hydrant just like he said we would (in the video).
In case you missed one of the other shots...here is another one.
Waiting for the ground crew...who were off wandering around taking photos or something.
Please note: 360 videos may not be supported on phone browsers unless you’re in the app. Go to my YouTube page (niasnebraska) in the YouTube app to experience this proper.