Embrace Your Inner Quirkiness
Did you hear about Ken Couch, who rode a green lawn chair supported by a rainbow array of more than 150 helium-filled party balloons from Oregon all the way to Idaho?
Cheered on by spectators wearing fluorescent green “Dream Big” t-shirtsand clutching a mug of coffee, , Couch rose out of the parking lot of his gas station into the bright blue morning sky and roseride the prevailing wind about 230 miles east.
Each balloon gives four pounds of lift. The chair weighed400 pounds, Couch and his parachute added 200 more.
For altitude control, he carried a BB gun and a blow gun equipped with steel darts to puncture a balloon periodically so he didn’t go too high. He also had a pole with a hook for pulling in balloons, Global Positioning System tracking devices, an altimeter and a satellite phone.
While copying his feat isn’t on my to-do list, I have to admire the quirky cajones of a man willing to “Dream Big” and just go for it. And I would bet that his willingness to think beyond the lawn chair translates into creativity in other spheres of his life as well.
How quirky are you willing to let yourself be? What is the most outrageous unfulfilled dream you can imagine? And if you were to actually go for it, how would that shift your image of who you are? What is stopping you?
I invite posts on the topic “honoring my inner quirk”.
Couch, a veteran of hang gliding and sky diving, estimated the rig cost about $6,000, mostly for helium. Costs were defrayed by corporate sponsors.
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