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The Superior Express -

Floating on air above the plains

September 9, 2021

Mary Sawyer, her daughter, Stefanie Gonzalez, and others gradually lift off from the Mitchell Airfield on their hot air balloon ride Sunday morning not knowing for sure where they would land. Later the wind took them northeast where they landed in a grassy field at the Scottsbluff airport. Mary and her husband, live north of Burr Oak.

At 5:45 a.m., Sunday, my daughter, Stefanie Gonzalez, and I headed to the Mitchell Airfield at Mitchell, Neb. We were scheduled for a hot air balloon ride with High Plains Hot Air Balloon Company with take-off at 6:15 a.m. In the dim morning light, we could see the wicker turned on its side. The crew was unfolding the 120-foot nylon balloon on the grass. It made the basket we were going to crawl into look terribly small.

Joining us was a couple from Moore, Okla. The wife was a traveling nurse who was working for a few months in Scottsbluff. Her husband was retired military. They had scheduled...

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