It only took perfect weather and the guts to do it. The weather was the iffy part, because I didn’t think I had much to worry about when riding a hot air balloon.

But then there I was, signing a waiver. Signing a paper that said I understood that by voluntarily participating in this activity I may be seriously injured or killed, the words “seriously injured” and “killed” in capital letters. I was definitely in for an adventure!

Ron Frusher, the veteran pilot who would be taking me up, was looking at a map, as I hesitated to sign the release form.

“This is my playground,” the owner of Balloon Waco! said as he was mapping out our route. “The black area is downtown. We don’t want to fly there. There’s no place to land. We might fly over Lake Waco.”

I must admit, that sentence freaked me out. I’m not scared of heights, but bodies of water, I do fear. The last thing I wanted was to fall from a hot air balloon into Lake Waco.

Thankfully, the winds weren’t strong enough for us to go over Lake Waco. And so I signed the waiver.

As we drove to our take off location, my mind cleared and adrenaline began to fill my veins. We arrived at a park near the Baylor Marina and I realized that I hadn’t seen the actual balloon, just the basket that sat on a carrier in the back of the pick up truck. Where was the balloon?

Then, in what seemed fast forward mode, the other ballon’s pilot, Curves International CEO Gary Heavin and his crew were rolling out a purple and white synthetic fabric away from their basket.

A fan blew into it and the large cloth began to take the form of a balloon. I looked over at Frusher and he was attaching the burner to the basket, as his crew rolled out the rainbow colored fabric. Before I knew it, I was beginning to feel lightheaded from the fumes of the propane. Frusher, who wore heat resistant gloves, was connecting the pipes from the propane fuel tanks to the burner. I could feel the heat from the sun beaming down on me, but for a couple of seconds it went away as if a cloud had covered the sun. I looked up and a huge purple balloon was about a foot above my head! Frozen, I just stared at the enormous balloon floating inches above me, hoping it wouldn’t knock me down. It didn’t. Heavins’ crew was putting their weight on the basket to pull the balloon back up in the air.

I moved to the other side of Frusher’s balloon, a safer side, so I believed. As soon as Frusher turned on the burner I could immediately feel the flame’s heat on me. I was standing behind the basket but it felt like I was right beside the burner. If just standing several feet away from the basket I felt lightheaded from the smell, my skin felt as if it was about to melt from the heat and the size of the balloon was overwhelming I couldn’t imagine how I would feel once I was inside the basket thousands of feet up in the air. With sudden fear and nausea coming over me, I saw the hot air balloon quickly assembled and ready for take off.

“Star, climb in...Star, climb in,” Frusher was saying to me for I don’t know how long.

With a notepad, pen, camera and cell phone in my hands, I stepped into the basket. For a short girl like me, it was like sinking into a hole.

Once I was in, the rise was smooth. All fear vansihed, and a serene, very peaceful, aura surrounded me as I breathed in the fresh air and looked down at the green and blue surface below me. Waco is very green; it seemed to me that about 75% of the ground is covered in trees. And from as far as Highway 77 near Robinson, I could see Lake Waco, its size seemed to take up the rest of the west side of Texas. It looked scary to me.

My time up in the sky went by too fast. Before I knew it, Frusher was looking for a spot to land. He considered several possible landing spots, but would quickly find a better spot. And as crazy as it might seem, I kept hoping we would not find a landing spot anytime soon.

* * *

If a hot air balloon ride is on any Wacoan’s bucket list, the experience is available right here in Waco!

Ron Frusher is owner and pilot of Balloon Waco!, a family owned and operated company, and the only commercial balloon ride operation in the area. Frusher, a 25-year hot air balloon pilot, instructor, and safety officer has spent 1,700 hours up in the air. Frusher is also the manager and chief pilot of the Curves Hot Air Balloon Program & Tour, a job that takes him to balloon events all over the world, where he represents Curves International and flies for local independently-owned franchisees.

In 1983, Frusher’s brother-in-law introduced him to the sport. He became immediately interested in ballooning and soon became a hot air  balloon pilot. From 1983 to 1995, Frusher and his wife, Becky, owned and operated a large commercial balloon ride business in southern California. Between then and now, he has flown exclusive contracts with major resort balloons, including The Ritz Carlton, the Westin Mission Hills Resort, and the Marriott Rancho Las Palmas. He’s also made balloon appearances in TV shows, movies and commercials.

In 2007, Frusher was ranked the No. 1 balloon pilot in the country by the Balloon Federation of America, BFA. That same year, he was one out of a handful of pilots worldwide chosen to fly in the first balloon event in Israel in more than 20 years. Frusher has an Oklahoma State Championship under his wing and has placed as high as eighth at what’s considered the biggest ballooning competition, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

Frusher says that when he’s up in the sky flying a balloon, he feels “absolutely wonderful.”

“When I am floating along in the air, life seems so much more simple and stress free,” he said.

So does Frusher ever go up by himself to just relax, meditate?

“Not anymore,” he said. “I fly so much that I just love seeing other people be amazed at how man first started flying. I still love talking to people about the sport and want to share my experiences with them.”

For Frusher, ballooning is dear to his heart and it’s important for him to help keep hot air ballooning alive.

“I want everyone to see the beauty in seeing the beautiful colored balloon fly. All the pilots that fly balloons have wonderful stories to tell.”

Waco is short on hot air balloon pilots, but Frusher hopes to change that. He’s written a book to help teach anyone — even with no aviation knowledge to — the basics of ballooning and is hoping to start teaching this fascinating sport at the local colleges beginning this fall.

Frusher’s book will be the very first balloon pilot training book and will be published next month - it will be accepted and used by the BFA.

A person can get a hot air balloon pilot’s license in two to three weeks, he said

“You can go to a school or you can find a local pilot that has an instructor’s rating to teach,” he said. “All you need is a minimum of ten hours of training in flying a balloon. However, every person has different abilities and understanding on the dynamics of flying, so everyone trains at their own pace.”

Once the instructor thinks you are ready to go up on your own, Frusher said, a pilot has been born.

His best advice for mapping a route: Be considerate of the people you fly over and always try to navigate to an area that has lot of landing spots.

Frusher said he would love to see the sport take off in Central Texas. He’d love to develop a whole, colorful community of hot air balloon enthusiasts.

“This sport has been very good to me and I want to give back in anyway I can,” Frusher said, adding that Waco is a beautiful area with excellent balloon-flying weather.

* * *

Getting off the balloon was pretty gut-wrenching. When we were about to land I couldn’t remember what my pilot had said I was supposed to do! Bend my knees, jump off, hold on tight ... I couldn’t remember. I closed my eyes and held on tight.

“OK Star get off! Star, climb out!”

I got off and got as far away from the balloon as I could. Once everyone was touching ground and the balloon was once again just a basket and a large synthetic cloth, the ceremony began. Yes, there is a ballooning tradition of champagne after one has landed. It’s a special ceremony. I won’t give away too much. It’s something you must experience for yourself.

Frusher told me that celebrating with champagne after every flight is a 200-year-old tradition. It is done because back in 1783 in the Lorire Valley of France, the balloons were filled up with smoke and would seep out of the envelope which would scare the farmers when the balloonists landed. The balloonists learned that if they lowered a champagne bottle from a string and offered it to the farmer, they would realize that they were earthlings and came in peace.

* * *

BALLOON WACO! INFO: www.balloonwaco.com or send an e-mail to fly@balloonwaco.com.