Reporter stares fear in the face at Lisle's Eyes to the Skies
Want me to jump on that great new roller coaster? I'm in.
An 11-hour flight over the ocean to Maui? Been there, done that.
You want me to get a ladder to clean the second story gutters or hang Christmas lights? Now we've got a problem.
Thankfully my wife handles that with ease and grace.
Typically, I'm OK with heights as long as I'm in something that's enclosed or attached to something solid. But put me out where I'm exposed to the elements and my knees become jelly.
And that, my friends, is why I jumped at the chance to fly in a hot-air balloon about 1,000 feet over Lisle on Thursday while standing in a small basket with photographer Tanit Jarusan and our pilot, Bill Baker, of Crystal Lake, who was perfectly OK not having a steering wheel.
I also quickly noticed that the three-person basket barely holds three people when it's also carrying three propane tanks. There wasn't much room to move, but that was probably for the best.
The day didn't start very promising. It was too windy at 5 a.m. to launch from Lisle's Eyes to the Skies festival site in Community Park near Route 53 and Short Street, so we drove around a bit before finding the perfect launch zone and wind speeds at Naperville's Brush Hill Park, 203 N. Whispering Hills Road. Baker said ideal winds are between 2 and 4 mph.
"It's not perfect today," Baker said of the double-digit breezes. "It's far from being dangerous or anything like that or else we wouldn't even be getting in the van and going out here to try."
On the ride over to Brush Hill, Baker tried to calm my fears.
"I used to have a big long spiel planned for people with fears like you," he told me. "Now I just say fly and watch. You'll be fine. Stay close to me. I've got other things planned for today. You don't know what you're getting into, but I do."
The RE/Max "Sale Away" balloon is 75 feet tall and 55 feet wide. Baker said most people, before their first flight, prepare for "a roller-coaster ride with a pair of goggles, a silk scarf bouncing all around with the wind in your face."
Our 45-minute ride to the outer edge of the Bolingbrook Golf Club was quite the opposite. Traveling at an average 9 mph at a height of 1,000 feet, made for the smoothest, most enjoyable ride you could ask for.
As it turns out, the only time the balloon is stable is when it's in the air because it's going with the wind and not through it.
"The rules are real simple. Stay in the basket. Let the basket do the work," Baker said. "It's really not that complicated. Add heat, go up; don't add heat, come down. Stay out of the power lines and that about covers it."
It was a great morning and I can't wait to fly with Baker again. But I still don't think I'll be making my way up to those second-story gutters.
If you go
Balloons are scheduled to fly as part of Lisle's Eyes to the Skies festival both today and Saturday from Community Park, Route 53 and Short Street. General flights - which are weather dependent - are scheduled for 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. both days. Balloon Glows, in which the balloons are lit from within, are at 8:30 p.m. each day.
"Serena's Song," the nation's first wheelchair accessible balloon, will be giving tethered rides to children and adults with disabilities from 6 to 7:30 a.m. and from 6 p.m. until dusk today and Saturday. To reserve a flight, contact www.seaspar.org.