Southern Indiana Living JulyAug 2016

So what’s not to love about a trip
that began at Louisville’s Bowman
Field at glorious sunrise and ended
in a grassy feld managed by an
elephant trainer and his wife?
Been there, done that, right?
Oh yeah, the trip was in a hot air
balloon – one hour and 20 minutes of
being at one with the sky, foating with the
wind, dipping down just above a lake for
a moment of quiet refection, then rising
up to brush the nearby tree tops.
Sure, we saw lots of plants from up
there – and more on that later. But this story
is mostly about our Big Environmental
Picture, of taking in miles of green earth
as you slide past above it, a journey that
makes it ever more clear that we are all in
this together; animal, vegetable, mineral
and mankind.
Our Kosair Charities balloon was
piloted by Brian Beazly, 54, a New Albany
High School graduate with 3,000 certifed
hours in the air. He began fying at 14, and
has participated in balloon events all over
the world, including almost 30 Kentucky
Derby festivals – and winning a few of
them.
Working with the ground crew was
his father, Sam Beazly, 78, a retired pilot
who frst went up with his son 40 years
ago, and just can’t quite stop.
Litle wonder. Balloon rides are
magical – especially on a morning that is
clear, crisp and painted in broad horizontal
stripes of a gray, purple and pink sunrise.
The passenger basket was strapped
to the back of a van, our 200-pound
balloon stufed into a big bag inside the
vehicle. The bag – about four feet high and
wide – didn’t tell the story, it hid it.
The crew pulled the balloon from
that bag and stretched it out 70 feet across
the bright green grass – then unfurled
it 60 feet wide. Its vivid colors were a
kaleidoscope of red, green, blue and
orange rectangles – the words “JUST FOR
KIDS” spread across in giant leters meant
to be read from miles away.
When upright – the balloon will hold
105,000 cubic feet of propane heated air –
and would carry four men in the atached
basket high into the sky. It didn’t seem
possible: All of that lifting power tucked
into a four-foot bag.
The real fun began when about
20 other such balloons rose into the sky
around us, their propane burners roaring.
When all were infated we humans were
dwarfed by them, Lilliputians in a world
of giant, colorful, odd-shaped creatures
covered with names such as Harbor
House, Zaxby’s and Norton Health Care.
Like children, all we could do was stand
there and look up.
Pictured: (top) Brian Eazly, pilot of the Kosair Charities balloon. (bottom) Te view from the top, as the balloon passes over
The looking down came next. With water.
July/Aug 2016 • 11