As the hot propane flame heats the air inside the balloon envelope (photo 1) one of Captain Mike's helpers, Alexander I think, is pulling hard to keep the envelope stretched to its' full extent (photo 2). (If you look closely at photo 1 you can see him in the distance to the right). We start heading toward the gondola when the balloon is fully inflated to climb aboard with Mike. The sturdy wicker gondola fits the four of us and Mike rather snugly - room enough to man our cameras but close enough to give us the feeling of a close-knit group. The two young men, Andrew and Alex, will drive the 'chase' van with the small trailer to follow our flight as best they can on the country roads while keeping in cell phone contact with Mike for updates on flight proceeding. The balloon is controllable as to altitude by judicious use of the propane flame heating the air but directional steering in the horizontal plane is determined by the direction of the wind. Wind speed at lift-off was about 10 mph (@ 16 kph). Flight go or no-go is determined strictly by the wind velocity - both at time of lift-off and by predicted wind speeds during the flight - but actual direction is somewhat capricious. We know where we are leaving from but where we are going to is somewhat of a mystery. The chase-van, to pick us up at the end of the flight, only has a general direction to start proceeding on the road, thus the air-to-ground cell phone contact.
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