It’s 6:30 a.m., and I’m shivering on an open swath of land in South Dakota’s Black Hills, waiting for a plastic balloon to determine the course of my day. Damien Mahony, co-owner and pilot at Black Hills Balloons, released a birthday party-style balloon into the morning’s wind — a method to help gauge whether our much larger hot air balloon will take flight. Read the full article here.
