A quick hot air balloon flight over Bowman on Thursday led a British pilot closer to achieving a Guinness World Record. See a video of take-off in the post.
By BRYCE MARTIN
Pioneer Editor | [email protected]
Roughly 15 minutes after Andrew Holly fired the burners and experienced lift off in his hot air balloon, he safely landed about two miles away, just east of the city of Bowman.
That seemingly short jaunt put him one step closer on Thursday to achieving the Guinness World Record for lifting off in a balloon from one location in as many of the 50 states as possible in one calendar month.
Bowman gained the distinction as the sole North Dakota city that would help Holly achieve that goal after he took off from a patch of land north of the former Bowman airport in the early morning, just after sunrise. His two stipulations, per Guinness, were to reach an altitude of at least 500 feet and be in air for at least 15 minutes.
He succeeded at both despite a very light wind.
Holly, a British pilot with Exclusive Ballooning, a leading aerial marketing specialist in the world, and his team’s challenge began Feb. 6 in Louisville, Ken, Their route since has sent them through the southern states, up through the west coast, over to Idaho, Montana and finally to North Dakota.
Thursday was a twofer as Holly and his team quickly packed up the balloon, hopped into their van and headed south to Ludlow, S.D., where they would mark a second Dakota state off their list in the same day, taking off from a ranch in the Harding County city.
Their next destination, according to Johnny Hodge, who is part of Holly’s team that follows his adventure, is a nine-hour drive to Boulder, Colo. The wind would serve as their guide for what state they’d visit after that.
“We hope to visit all our ballooning friends across the country and invite them to come and fly with us in their home state and we are also looking forward to seeing all of the weird and wonderful sites America has to offer along the route,” the team stated.
