Crazy, But Not Stupid. The Final Post.

Final post here, just to close up this adventure and invite you to join me on the next.

I got to Trail Angels extraordinaire The Dinsmore’s, also known as Hiker’s Heaven.  Weather at that elevation wasn’t so bad.  I called my wife from the car that did take a chance and picked up the rain drenched trail trash at Stevens Pass, and started to explain that I’ve decided to quit.  It was a tough decision, and even harder to verbalize.  Learned from her that my resupply package, a new phone and a GPS from Alex (remember Alex?) were waiting for me.  She had gone through a lot of trouble to make that happen, so I felt quite guilty about failing to meet expectations.  I was thinking maybe I could keep on going, at least for the next section.

When I got to the Dinsmore’s, the first thing I did was to eat, then eat, then eat some more.  I had used up my food ahead of schedule.  Even though I finished a half day early, I was out of food.  The cold just required more calories.  I polished off what was left over from dinner (maybe 1500 calories) and Andrea pulled out another big bowl of spaghetti and meatballs.  Probably enough for 6 normal people, and I ate 3/4’s of it.  There were 3 other hikers there, and they were impressed with how much I was shoveling into my face.  If you can impress a thru hiker, you know you’re eating a lot. I looked like a scarecrow with a hollow leg.  Andrea: Bless your heart and your freezer.

The other thing I got was a weather update.  Snow down to 3,000 feet, temperatures at night below freezing.  Non stop storm for 5 days, minimum.  One by one the risk factors were adding up.  123 miles with no cell phone service, 15 – 24″ of snow at the higher elevations, no easy exit routes etc.  If I was still with Alex and Dan I might have still considered it.  But even I, Mr. Eternal Optimism, Mr. Think Positive, I-Can-Do-It, had to face facts when they land on your head like a ton of bricks.  Jerry and Andrea Dinsmore were cool about it, but I know they were relieved when I pulled the plug for sure.  They did not want to see any of their temporarily adopted children go out in weather like this.

So the adventure ended with a ride to Everett, bus to Seattle, then train to Vancouver.  End of story.  In a relative blink of an eye, back to the real world.

This brings us to the beginning of the next story.

If you have ever done a long hike, or anything like this, you will recognize this:  You have plenty of time to think.  Your heart is pumping oxygen at about  100 beats per minute, but your brain is in neutral.  Plenty of time to wander and wonder.  Past could have been’s, should have been’s, future possibilities, etc.  Probably the most often theme was “..If I was President..”, or as my mother used to say  “..If I was Dictator..”.  After solving most of the world’s problems several times over, I kept gravitating back to an idea that captured my imagination 30 years ago.

In 1982, Larry Walters, later known as Lawn Chair Larry, decided he want to listen to a ball game in style.  He rigged 45 helium balloons to a lawn chair, took a 6-pack of beer and a radio and tied himself off on a 200 foot tether.   His idea was to just float over his back yard and listen to the game.  A good plan, until the tether broke, and he drifted into LAX airspace, into history and  into the imagination of a young engineer working his first job in Vancouver, WA,  yours truly.

I was totally captivated by the idea.  The next day I rushed to tell all my new engineering buddies what a great idea this was, how we could improve on it (engineers are like that), etc.  Almost universally they thought it was the dumbest idea ever.  I of course was not deterred.  I immediately dove in head and heart first.  Wrote the ballast equations, researched atmosphere (pressure and temperature versus altitude), etc.   All you really need to know is P*V=M*R’*T and go from there.  Any questions so far?  I even joined the Balloon Federation of America and the Lighter Than Air Society.  My idea at the time was that there really was no limit, (a common fallacy among the young and enthusiastic) and why not try for a around the globe flight?

Eventually good engineering did uncover a few flaws in that plan, but it never left my heart.  Perhaps I never should have seen the movie The Bucket List, but back on the trail this, plus a million other ideas resurfaced.  Only this one stuck.  The difference now is I know a lot more about control systems, have available computer science friends, and have a better feel for what is practical versus just what is possible.  I think I’ve solved the biggest technical hurdle -maintaining a constant altitude in an unstable buoyancy environment.  As any scuba diver knows, if you start to sink, you will only sink faster and faster.  If you start to rise, you will only rise faster and faster unless you can control buoyancy.  Air and Water are both fluids, so the basic equations, limitations and challenges are the same.  We can do this, and I’ll get to your part shortly.

One of the challenges is creating an ultra light mini environment in the cold.  The whole PCT thing is a good training ground for this.  The constraints are different, but the principles are the same.  1 gram of dead weight requires approx. 1 liter of helium.  Remember this fact; there will be a quiz later.

In short, here is the plan and schedule:

The ultimate objective is to set the world’s long distance record for lawn chair ballooning.  And yes, this is a real category of flight.  It is covered under FAA Regulations Part 103, the same regulations that cover ultra-lights and hang gliders.  All perfectly legal if you can keep under an 18,000 foot ceiling.

The “Lawn Chair” category is a throw back to Larry.  The general term for this subdivision of aviation is better described as “Cluster Ballooning”.  For those of you who might be initially skeptical, and not surprisingly my wife is currently in this category, I offer this challenge.  Spend just 20 minutes bouncing around the internet researching “Cluster Balloons”.  People have crossed the English Channel, gone as high as 20,000 feet, as far as 1,600 miles, one guy has flown in 46 out of 50 States, etc.  This is not just one crazy idiot; there are lots of enthusiasts and practitioners.  If after 20 minutes you come away with the impression that it is just is not practical, than OK, you’re off the team.  If however you think, “Well, it may not be for me, but I think it’s OK for someone else to try…”, then welcome aboard.  Just don’t let those occasional “ ..and then he drifted out to sea and was never heard from again..” stories deter you.  We can solve that.  We have technology and a Daisy Red Rider BB gun at our disposal.

January 2013      Team Development and specific engineering task assignments

February 2013    First tethered flight with a Dummy (go ahead, make the obvious Dummy reference).  Main objective is to prove some of the basic control parameters and provide a platform to generate interest.  Expectation is that we can use the internet to raise funds (helium is the only expensive component).  We need video.

March 19^th:  St. Joseph’s Day and the day I started the PCT – First free flight over rural Clark County.   Mostly low level: 1,200 – 3,000 feet AGL. Prove we can maintain constant altitude and the safety altitude limiters work.

June 21^st.  Summer Solstice – longest day of the year and my 60^th birthday.  Fly sun up to sun down.  Use completely automated flight controls, oxygen system, communication systems, etc.  All major technical components demonstrated.

Sometime later in 2013:  When the jet stream is most favorable, attempt the long distance flight.  Current thinking is 3 – 5 days duration.

It’s as simple as that.  You in?  I thought so.  Since this is my last post via this vehicle, the way to keep in touch is to send me your email address to:  barberaj@tds.net   I’ll set up a web page to capture progress (or lack thereof) as things develop.  I promise you, if nothing else, it will be entertaining.  In addition, it takes about 20 – 30 people for a ground crew for a major launch, plus a chase vehicle.  This is where you come in.

And if I don’t hear from you, Happy Trails.

Yeti.

Some Scenes on and off the trail

Last photo of me in hiker garb.  I’m not sure who I’ll be next, but I’ll never be exactly this guy again.

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Just two days later, back in the real world.  That’s me in the Gumby suit.   2nd from left is my favorite daughter.  Barely visible in the background is the pumpkin cannon that Quartermaster Russell and I built.

Better shot of our Pumpkin Cannon, named Furthur (an obscure literary reference).  For this we qualified for honorary degrees in Redneck Engineering.  Our motto:

Been There, Broke That.