Jonathan, my fourteen-year-old aeronautic genius, has been perfecting the
craft of model hot air balloon making for a few years now. I would venture
to say that he's finally mastered his technique.
How do I know this? Well, a few days ago, one of his balloons traveled 230
miles -- all the way to North Carolina.
Seriously!
Every couple of weeks, Jonathan releases a balloon tagged with his web site
information and a request to please email him with the date, time, and
location of the discovery of the balloon. Sometimes he never hears anything,
the balloon having found its untimely end in an empty field or high in the
branches of an ancient tree.
But sometimes he receives an email from an enthusiastic passerby who has
found a balloon at the ends of its travels.
It fascinates me. I mean, these are solar balloons, which means that, once
you inflate them, they are powered by the heat of the sun, which is easily
absorbed through their black surfaces. I've watched them sail quietly into
the stratosphere until they become tiny dots against the bright sky.
Then, they're gone.
Until somebody writes from 230 miles away and says, "We found your balloon."
Want to read more about it? Visit Jonathan's Balloon Web Site!
<http://www.solar-balloons.com/>
You can learn how to MAKE YOUR OWN BALLOON <http://www.solar-balloons.com/>
, or you can PURCHASE A PRE-MADE BALLOON
<http://www.solar-balloons.com/prebuild.html#info> .
Okay, so I'm a little proud of him.
I'm just glad that I'm raising a kid who's way cooler than I was at his age.
Take a minute -- visit his web site. And let me know what you think.
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