I think there's something so magical
00:28
about hot-air balloons
00:29
I mean his kids he didn't love a balloon
00:31
who didn't love a balloon and let it go
00:34
and wonder where it was going to float
00:36
away to who cannot look up and not smile
00:40
when you see something that beautiful
00:41
floating in the air there is nothing
00:46
like seeing somebody see a hot-air
00:48
balloon for the first time I mean just
00:50
for me I've seen them since I was a
00:52
little girl I've been in this town and
00:53
they never get old but to watch somebody
00:55
see a hot-air balloon for the first time
00:57
is pretty pretty remarkable
01:07
the balloon classic is a gluon
01:09
competition is basically an air show
01:11
that's made up of only balloons Indian
01:13
oil is a small town there's like 14,000
01:15
people here so in order for this event
01:17
to happen that requires tons and tons of
01:20
volunteers doing everything it's
01:22
unimaginable how much they do here
01:24
the pilots here range from 35 hours of
01:27
flight time to thousands of hours of
01:29
flight time line of balloons I planned a
01:33
musical instrument you have the guys who
01:35
can play chopsticks and the other guys
01:37
who can play Mozart it takes years and
01:39
years to develop the touch you have to
01:41
outsmart the other people to win it's
01:43
like playing chess in the sky you have
01:45
to look and think and anticipate your
01:47
next move and let the person next use
01:49
next move is also and you also want to
01:51
be able to out move him so if you both
01:54
end up at the target at the same time
01:55
you're in the lower spot so you can get
01:57
thriller from five feet he has to draw
01:59
from above you money doesn't make you
02:01
win smarts making you outdo that smart
02:04
the guy and then in a car racing he with
02:06
the most money wins but in balloon
02:08
racing he who outsmarts the other guy
02:10
wins it's so still sometimes you can
02:12
actually hear their conversation
02:15
it's me have to tell keep clean if they
02:17
don't hit the target this is a
02:18
family-friendly event we are host to
02:21
anywhere from fifty to ninety thousand
02:23
guests and it just goes to show that
02:25
people are very excited about this event
02:27
it's the Midwest so it's worth the drive
02:30
and people come here and there's just a
02:33
sense of hospitality and you know we're
02:36
lucky right now we're having beautiful
02:37
weather over from Des Moines Iowa came
02:40
here watch the balloons and I haven't
02:42
ever been first time we try to make this
02:44
a yearly event every family member right
02:46
here is having fun it's great for the
02:48
kids it's great for the parents it's
02:49
amazing wonderful multipl it's like a
02:54
dream come true here while there's other
03:04
balloon events all over the country and
03:07
they're fantastic events often they're
03:08
smaller events weekend events we are
03:11
actually the only event that flies both
03:13
morning and evenings so obviously we're
03:16
first and foremost a hot air balloon
03:18
event and we will always be a hot air
03:20
balloon event but we know that we have
03:22
to have other things as well if the
03:24
weather isn't perfect or if they're on a
03:25
delay because people want to be
03:26
entertained a vibe and every single
03:29
night during our festival we have kids
03:31
land activities lots of food concessions
03:35
because everybody wants to eat so we
03:37
have every you know food trucks and fan
03:39
favorites and and that sort of thing we
03:41
love to do everything in the air of
03:43
course but we're we're grounded in other
03:46
things and if you get a scope of you
03:49
know our field and that's everything we
03:50
have a 150 acres of beautiful rolling
03:52
hills out here and so we often tell
03:55
families when they say well what can we
03:56
do while we're waiting
03:57
the balloon turn the Wi-Fi off and just
03:59
enjoy we also couldn't do what we do
04:02
without amazing landowners so we have to
04:06
have a very good relationship because
04:08
obviously when you put balloons up in
04:10
the air they're going to need a place to
04:11
land you can you can take off or you can
04:13
launch from our balloon field but they
04:15
have to fly somewhere in land we started
04:19
here in 1971 they had nine balloons if
04:24
what you see today but back then the
04:27
pilots were a little more brave in
04:29
making him at the wind was three mile an
04:31
hour twenty later two or three they take
04:33
off and they his land bounce like a
04:36
basketball I mean and nobody ever got
04:39
hurt I don't know why but it was almost
04:41
fun you know back seeing that crews that
04:44
are serious about winning this event as
04:46
the pilot is once there you go out and
04:48
the crew gets the balloon launched they
04:50
pack up all the launch equipment into
04:52
the truck to chase after the pilot and
04:54
to check and make sure how he does it
04:56
each target then after he finishes the
04:58
last target they will be where he lands
05:00
to catch him pack him back up and get
05:03
him back into the fuel line in time to
05:05
get everything they need to get
05:06
learning is a strong sport it continues
05:09
to have a lot of followers it's never
05:11
going to have the followers that auto
05:13
racing or football or anything like that
05:15
will have because it just doesn't
05:16
interest as many people but the people
05:18
that are interested in it truly love
05:20
this and they make this their lifestyle
05:21
and there are families we have do we
05:23
have three generations of people flying
05:25
here that their families can find for
05:27
that long you have to be here to
05:28
experience it you can look at hot air
05:30
balloons floating in the air from just
05:32
about any location if they're there but
05:34
you have to be here to feel that whoosh
05:36
of the burner and to feel the heat of
05:38
the burner during night glows and to
05:41
hear it even though hot air ballooning
05:43
is such a visual experience it's it's
05:45
something that's felt - and you cannot
05:47
feel that unless you're here I think the
05:50
great thing about ballooning is that it
05:53
is on so many people's bucket list we
05:55
compete here and it's all about the
05:57
competition but then we also will share
05:59
the rides with with other people and
06:01
they fly along there's not enough things
06:06
in life that are unpredictable there's
06:08
not enough surprises in life and I think
06:10
this is one of them
06:24
you
06:24
[Music]
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"You will touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn't flying 1,000 miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn't have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there." - "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" by Richard Bach, 1970. Experience 'Perfect Speed' at The National Balloon Classic, July 26-August 3, 2019 in Indianola, Iowa.
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