Kent Couch is a gas station owner in Oregon, and just travelled to Idaho. In his lawn chair. With just over 150 party balloons attached.
This is the third flight for Kent Couch, and the first in which he was able to make it out of the state. The vehicle was a green lawn chair suspended with 150 or so large helium filled party balloons.
Couch also carried with him two GPS devices, a satellite phone, some boiled eggs, chocolate, and a large mug of coffee and of course the altitude adjustment equipment: a Red Ryder BB gun. Did I mention the parachute? It's ideal for that 'just in case moment'.
On a previous ride in 2006, Couch popped too many balloons and had to use the parachute to reach earth safely. This time though, it all went without a hitch; on a nine hour flight Couch travelled just a bit more than 235 miles and landed in the little town of Cambridge, Idaho.
"My wife works at the City Market," Mark Hetz said. "She called and said, 'The balloon guy in the lawn chair just flew by the market.'
Kent Couch had this to say about why he took the odd trip:
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.
The photos
here show the "flight vehicle"
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Interstate Lawn Chair Flight for Oregon man
