The Ballonist was in fact a true story....and the Merc story was supposed to
be true to... but who knows....
K
----- Original Message -----
From: "The Butters Family" <bbutters@dmi.net>
To: <land-speed@autox.team.net>
Cc: "Herbie" <herbferg@hotmail.com>
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2000 12:14 AM
Subject: up-up and away
> This story is so funny I had a terrible time trying to read it to my
> family, enjoy
> I suppose most people have dreams, but how many people actually turn
their
> dreams into reality? Larry Walters is among the few who have. His story is
> true, though you may find it hard to believe.
> Larry was a truck driver, but his life long dream was to fly. When he
> graduated from high school, he joined the air force in hopes of becoming
a
> pilot. Unfortunately, poor eyesight disqualified him. So when he finally
left
> the service, he had to satisfy himself with watching others fly the
fighter
> jets that crisscrossed the skies over his back yard. As he sat there in
his
> lawn chair, he dreamed about the magic of flying.
> Then one day, Larry Walters got an idea. He went down to the local
> Army-Navy store and bought a tank of Helium and forty-five weather
balloons.
> These are not your brightly colored party balloons, these were heavy duty
> spheres measuring four feet across when inflated.
> Back in his yard, Larry used straps to attach the balloons to his
lawn
> chair, the kind you might have in your back yard. He anchored the chair to
the
> bumper of his jeep and inflated the balloons with helium. Then he packed
some
> sandwiches and drinks and a loaded BB gun, figuring he could pop a few
> balloons when it was time to return to earth.
> His preparations complete, Larry Walters sat in the chair and cut
the
> anchoring cord. His plan was to float lazily down to terra firma. But
things
> didn't quite work out that way.
> When Larry cut the cord, he didn't float up lazily; he shot up as if
> fired from a cannon! Nor did he go up a couple hundred feet. He climbed
and
> climbed until he finally leveled off at eleven thousand feet! At that
height,
> he could hardly risk deflating any of the balloons, lest he unbalance the
> load and really experience flying! So he stayed up there, sailing around
for
> fourteen hours, totally at a loss as to how to get down.
> Eventually Larry drifted into the approach corridor for Los Angeles
> International Air Port. A Pan Am pilot radioed the tower about passing a
guy
> in a lawn chair at eleven thousand feet with a gun in his lap. (Now that
is a
> conversation I would have liked to have heard.)
> LAX is right on the ocean, and you may know that at night fall, the
> winds on the coast begin to change. So, as dusk fell, Larry began to drift
out
> to sea. At that point, the Navy dispatched a helicopter to rescue him. But
the
> rescue team had a hard time getting to him, because the draft from the
> propeller kept pushing the homemade contraption further and further away.
> Eventually they were able to hover over him and drop a rescue line with
which
> they gradually hauled him back to earth.
> As soon as Larry hit the ground he was arrested. But as he was
being
> led away in handcuffs, a television reporter yelled out, "Mr. Walters,
why'd
> you do it"? Larry stopped, eyed the man, then replied nonchalantly, " A
man
> can't just sit around"
> Howard Hendricks with Chip MacGegor from Standing Together
>
> Hard not to laugh at this guy but in a way we are all like this, much of
the
> world figures we are about as goofy at what we do. Actually I wonder if it
> wasn't this same guy who put the rockets in the back of his Merc. in
Arizona
> and touched them off. Is that story really true?
> Well Goodbye, I guess this Florida election thing is getting to
me,
> Kvach
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