KAYSVILLE -- "G'day," Ian Roy yelled to children waving to him from below the hot-air balloon Friday morning as it floated across west Kaysville. Roy, 60, of Gold Coast, Australia, was part of the kickoff for the Antelope Island Stampede Festival, which began Friday night at the island.
The kickoff was at Kaysville Pond with four balloons launching across Interstate 15 and one tethered at the park as the sun came up and commuters headed for work and school.
Roy arrived in Utah just a week ago for a monthlong vacation with his brother, Neil Roy, 57, of Kamas.
Neil asked Ian on Thursday if he would like to ride in a hot-air balloon with his friend, Kimberly Whiteman, a hot-air balloon pilot from California.
"I said, 'No worries, I'll go,' " Ian Roy said.
Whiteman enlisted the help of the Roy brothers, along with Davis County Commissioner John Petroff and Chris Dallin, a festival committee member, to help inflate the 105,000-cubic-foot, 80-foot-tall red, white and blue ripstop nylon balloon.
"There is something incredibly calm and magical about watching fabric inflate and become a flying machine," Dallin said while he clasped the end of a rope holding the balloon to the ground as it inflated with hot air.
Three passengers fit in the balloon's wicker basket with Whiteman and her stuffed toy shark, "Sharkie."
"He has flown with me for four years and he brings me good luck," said Whiteman, 32, who has piloted hot-air balloons for six years.
Children shouted "hello" to the balloonists as they passed over school bus stops. Ian Roy and passengers in the other three balloons shouted back greetings.
Whiteman and the other pilots picked areas with no trees or powerlines to land their balloons.
Whiteman landed her balloon near Kays Creek Drive. Another balloon landed near a school. At both spots, children and parents ran up, snapping photographs of the balloons and asking questions.
Ian Roy's wife, Marlene, arrived with the balloon's chase crew.
Giving a thumbs up to his wife, Ian said, "That was tops."
Comments