Up, Up And Away!

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"I loved crewing and being part of such a nice team effort at the Albuquerque fiesta. And when you're up in that balloon, you feel like you're on top of the world," says Evelyn Gilstrap, 49, co-owner with her husband Dick, 73, of five Gilco Inc. convenience store-gas stations in Glenwood Springs, Colo. The Gilstraps have even rented a balloon as a promotional vehicle for their business, offering rides to local residents when Gilco opened new stores.

Some who have ventured to Albuquerque over the years have enjoyed the sport so much that they have become experienced pilots in their own right. But this is not an inexpensive pastime. Buying a used balloon to train on costs $6,000 to $8,000, and a new balloon averages about $25,000, says Carolyn Grantham, partner and vice president of finance for World Balloon, an Albuquerque ballooning company that also teaches the sport. Custom-designed, special-shaped balloons can run as high as $200,000. At Grantham's school, one of a handful in the nation that are certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), flight lessons cost from $180 an hour if you have your own balloon to $310 an hour if you don't. FAA requirements for a private pilot's license are 10 hours of flight instruction, 20 hours of classroom training and passing grades on written, oral and flight tests.

The costs didn't deter ordained minister and balloon pilot Stephen Blucher, 60, who opened his own ballooning company, Rocky Mountain Hot Air Lines, 18 years ago in Colorado Springs, Colo. "The freedom that you feel up in a balloon, the majesty of the scenery below and the camaraderie you get from crewing can't be found in any other sport that I can think of," says Blucher, who has even performed weddings on his balloons.

John Lennon, 58, a cyberoptics technician in Manchester, N.H., caught balloon fever eight years ago. "It was everything and more that I thought it would be, and I knew I would eventually go on to become a pilot," he says. Now he not only has his license but also recently bought his first new balloon, for $30,000.

Besides Albuquerque's annual balloon blowout, 300 smaller festivals are held nationwide, says Jones of the Balloon Federation of America. In most four-season climates, these events take place between the beginning of April and the end of October. They range from the Quick Check New Jersey Festival in Readington (July 26-28) to the National Balloon Classic in Indianola, Iowa (Aug. 2-10), to the Colorado Springs Balloon Classic (Aug. 31 to Sept. 2).

Betty and Corky Christman have been riding and crewing at an annual balloon festival in their hometown of Billings, Mont., for the past decade. Betty, 60, a retired office administrator, enjoys the fun of crewing with anywhere from three to 10 others. She and Corky, 62, a real estate broker, have made several good friends over the years through their 6:30 a.m. ballooning adventures. Most of all, there's that special feeling of being airborne. "When I'm up in a balloon, it feels like I have wings and everything is easy, calm and good," Betty says. "Ballooning is the closest thing to being in heaven on this earth."