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07/07/2008: "The Dumbass Tried It Again ..."

Some guys are apparently slower to learn that others. Kent Couch, who twice before tried to fly from Oregon to Idaho via balloon-powered lawn chair, tried it again on Saturday. To his "credit", this time he made it.

Armed with a BB-gun, a satellite phone, boiled eggs and a parachute, Couch used over 150 helium-filled party balloons to complete his flight from Bend, OR to Cambridge, ID - a distance of 235 miles - in just over 9 hours.

After spilling off some cherry-flavored Kool-Aid that served as ballast, Couch got a push from the ground crew so he could clear light poles and soared over a coffee cart and across U.S. Highway 20 into a bright blue sky.

"If I had the time and money and people, I'd do this every weekend," Couch said before getting into the chair. "Things just look different from up there. You've moving so slowly. The best thing is the peace, the serenity. Watch Couch explain why balloon flying is "a beautiful thing" »

"Originally, I wanted to do it because of boyhood dreams. I don't know about girls, but I think most guys look up in the sky and wish they could ride on a cloud."

Couch's wife, Susan, called him crazy: "It's never been a dull moment since I married him."

The scary part is that he has corporate sponsorship for his "flights". For something as suicidal as this, that seems an awful lot like sewing a sponsor's patch on Jack Kevorkian's lab coat ...