[frankthetank]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '2')35 miles in nine hours
Couch covered about 235 miles in about nine hours after lifting off at dawn from his gas station riding in a green lawn chair rigged with an array of more than 150 giant party balloons.

It began after Couch, clutching a big mug of coffee, kissed his wife and kids goodbye, then patted their shivering Chihuahua, Isabella, on the head.

After spilling off some cherry-flavored Kool-Aid that served as ballast, Couch got a push from the ground crew so he could clear light poles and soared over a coffee cart and across U.S. Highway 20 into a bright blue sky.

"If I had the time and money and people, I'd do this every weekend," Couch said before getting into the chair. "Things just look different from up there. You've moving so slowly. The best thing is the peace, the serenity.

"Originally, I wanted to do it because of boyhood dreams. I don't know about girls, but I think most guys look up in the sky and wish they could ride on a cloud."

Couch's wife, Susan, called him crazy: "It's never been a dull moment since I married him."

His third flight
This was Couch's third balloon flight. He realized it would be possible after watching a TV show about the 1982 lawn chair flight over Los Angeles of truck driver Larry Walters, who gained folk hero fame but was fined $1,500 for violating air traffic rules.

In 2006, Couch had to parachute out after popping too many balloons. And last year he flew 193 miles to the sagebrush of northeastern Oregon, short of his goal.

"I'm not stopping till I get out of state," he said.

To that end, he ordered more balloons. Dozens of volunteers wearing fluorescent green T-shirts that said "Dream Big" filled latex balloons 5 feet in diameter, attached them to strings and tied clusters of six balloons each to a tiny carabiner clip.

Each balloon gives four pounds of lift. The chair was about 400 pounds, and Couch and his parachute 200 more.

"I'd go to 30,000 feet if I didn't shoot a balloon down periodically," Couch said.

For that job, he carried a Red Ryder BB gun and a blow gun equipped with steel darts. He also had a pole with a hook for pulling in balloons, a parachute in case anything went wrong, a handheld Global Positioning System device with altimeter, a satellite phone, and two GPS tracking devices. One was one for him, the other for the chair, which got away in the wind as he landed last year.

For food he carried some boiled eggs, jerky and chocolate.

Couch flew hang gliders and skydived before taking up lawn-chair flights. He estimated the rig cost about $6,000, mostly for helium. Costs were defrayed by corporate sponsors.

[Kingcoal]

You'd want to stay at around 300' because it gets really cold up there and the air gets thin if you go really high. Also, the winds can really whip you around up there. The guy did a great job, 9 hours is very impressive. I don't think this contraption could have gone much longer. Helium slowly leaks out of any balloon material as any kid knows.

[BigTex]

If there are any Howard Stern fans out there you may remember Howard was trying desperately to get Eric the Midget to ride a contraption like this one a while back.

I don't know if he succeeded or not.

[metalflake]

$6,000 to be world famous is pretty good deal.

[kcorder79]

$6000 for 15 minutes of fame? Doesn't seem worth it. I don't think you'd ever see me up there. Not in a lawn chair with balloons tied to it. Kudos for his bravery!

[Specop_007]

$6,000 bucks??

Why not just buy an ultralite and go flying almost every evening??

[RonMN]

Pilot to ground control...I just got some old fart in a flying lawn chair sucked into the intake manifold & we have one engine down.

[kcorder79]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RonMN', 'P')ilot to ground control...I just got some old fart in a flying lawn chair sucked into the intake manifold & we have one engine down.

[mos6507]

Key line:

"The estimated the rig cost about $6,000, mostly for helium."

Got peak helium?