August 15, 2010 Passengers: Joe Hammer, Emily Weeks Today is a “Private” flight for the purpose of a proposal of marriage. Joe got in contact with me and wanted to keep the reason for the flight a secret so he is going to tell Emily that he “won the trip” at work. I call for our site in east Salem as the forecast calls for SSE-3 and this site should give us a good track. It is the parking lot and we have a little surface so the balloon goes up quickly. I call for Joe and Emily to get on board and we are off to the north at a nice pace. We spend a little time over North Salem then move into the rural area. It is at this point that Joe “pops” the question and Emily says YES! We are in the nursery area and will be in farm country for our landing this morning. I spot several LZ’s but have no luck hitting them. I notice a couple of balloons are heading toward us an interesting weather puzzle. How can we be traveling north at an average of 9 MPH and to the north of us they are traveling south? We must have a small rotating cell and we are on opposite sides of it. I’ve never seen this before but we don’t have other balloons in the area often. I spot the LZ and take a shot at the ponds at St. Louis and only get the birds mad. I have a shot over the trees at a grass field and take it while the gang looks for a way in. They finally get to us and we start the pack up. The passengers and gang get the sit done, we load up and head back to Salem for the picnic. I get the story started, the toast is done and the certificates are presented. PASSENGER COMMENTS: Joe & Emily: “ What a wonderful adventure! Thanks so much for a wonderful morning.” < A BIG thank you to today’s Crew (I can’t get in the air or back on the ground without’um) Jan, Tim, Cecil, Sean TRACK Average Speed: 8.0 MPH Distance Flown: 11.5 Miles Websystem hosting provided by WolfPk. | Site Map Copyright © 2003-2017 Balloon Flying Service of Oregon, Inc. Legal Information All Rights Reserved.