My greatest ballooning experience was during the 2005 Canton Hall of Fame Balloon Race. I was the designated “hare” balloon on Friday night. My daughter Elizabeth’s boyfriend, Phil, proposed to Elizabeth in the basket during the flight. Luckily she said yes otherwise I would have had to drop Phil out of the balloon over Canton. Bob Zanella was the only one to come close to me that night.
I became a Pilot in 1985. When we purchased the house where we live, the neighbor was crewing for the local balloonist (Dave Schaublin). The next year I my wife and I started crewing for Dave. Three years later Dave asked me if I wanted to learn how to fly a balloon and the rest is history.