With Hesitant Stride - A Blog Novel - Excerpt 7

We continued north heading for the surprise Richard had planned for us. Much of the route wound through vinyards. Still, I saw more houses than I remembered from my previous trips. "Is it just me, or is Napa undergoing the same development as Sacramento?" I asked.
"No, you're not imagining things. Just as with other rural counties, more of Napa is being re-zoned to allow single- and multi-family residence construction. As the population increases, more housing has to be built and there really isn't any way to increase housing in the cities. And people like the idea of being able to relocate to quite towns. It has the added bonus, to those towns, of increasing the tax base."
"But doesn't that mean we have fewer farms? That can't be good for food prices or for the canneries that depend upon the farms."
"It's one of the trade-offs. I've been studying some of this in my class on community planning and development. People want nice homes, good schools and jobs; they want the government to provide more and better services, which means that the State, cities and counties have to increase their tax revenue. And no one wants to raise the tax rates, so the easiest way to generate more revenue is to increase the number of homes."
"Fine, but if you're right, most of the area around Napa is going to lose its charm. Just like what's happening between Dixon and Davis. And that makes me sad." I looked around at the homes we were passing as we entered the outskirts of Napa. "You can see these homes anywhere in the Central Valley; there's no character; it all looks the same as any bedroom community between Auburn and Oakland." We finally plunged into the heart of Napa, with it's beautiful small Gold-Rush era shops and neo-victorian homes. "See, now this part has character."
I could visualize myself living in this town. Far less stress, good neighbors, plenty of social events. This would be a place to raise a child, I thought, if I ever have one. Well, this date might be the first step towards reaching that goal.
"Hey, you awake there?" Richard startled me out of my daydream. "You look like you're about a million miles away. We're here." He pulled the car into a spot right in front of a vast lawn.
"No. I was just thinking feminine thoughts." I said as I got out. "What is this place again? It looks like a big park. I hope you brought food, because I'm almost hungry."
"We should have some shortly," he said, looking around. "Oh yes. It's over this way," heading to our left.
I skipped along, catching up just as we rounded a small stand of Black Oak trees. Unfolding before us was a veritable circus of frenzied, colorful activity. Fans bellowed; cloth snapped as hands grabbed and pulled; ropes pulled taut. Finally, my eyes made sense of the scene.
"Balloons! These are hot-air balloons!" I flung around in amazement towards Richard. "We're going up in a balloon?"
"Yes. I'd seen these floating around one time and stopped to admire them. I got to talking with the ground crews and discovered they run adventure flights over the vineyards every day during good weather; which around here is most of the year. They even serve a picnic brunch during the flight."
"Wonderful! I've always wanted to go up in a balloon."
A woman emerged from the cluster of inflating balloons and approached us. "You must be the Leonard party. Our other guests have already arrived. Welcome to Napa Valley Balloon Adventures. I'm Leesa and I'll be your pilot today," she said, leading us on a wending trip to one of the balloons. "I see you both brought some warm clothing. That's good as it promises to retain some chill this morning. Since there are just the two of you, we'll be going up in "Purple Harvest" which is a 60 foot diameter balloon. I consider it to be one of the most beautiful balloons we own."
We stopped to watch as the people around it, the ground crew if I understood Richard correctly, inflated the balloon. Slowly the bag puffed before our eyes. As I took it all in, I had to agree with Leesa, it was a gorgeous balloon. The main color was a light, almost robin's egg blue. However, it was clear where "Purple Harvest" got it's name. A huge bunch of royal purple grapes, limned in gold and surmounted by a crown of green leaves, complete with umber 'veins', adorned opposite sides. A hissing, somewhat muted, roar accompanied a burst of pale blue and purple flame directed into the cavity of the balloon. Slowly, reminding me of a dancer sweeping up from the floor of a stage, the massive ball rose. Within a minute, it towered overhead, joining its sisters to form a forest above us. Already, several of the participants had clambered into their chariots, which were straining at the hold-down ropes. "Mighty steeds, eager to race," I said.
"Why, yes. They do appear to be champing at the bit, don't they?" Richard replied.
"You do have a way with words, Miss… " our pilot said.
"Elaine. Elaine Hardesty," I replied. "I'm so looking forward to this. Richard doesn't know this, but I've always had a fantasy of soaring over drowsy countryside in a balloon."
"Then by all means, your chariot awaits. Let's get you two aboard and start this adventure."
"How do we climb into the basket?" I asked.
"I like to use the term, 'gondola', and we have a set of steps right around here," she replied as she led us to the other side of the balloon.
Richard and one of the ground crew helped me into the gondola. Thank goodness I wore slacks. I would not have been able to maintain my dignity in the shorter dress I had planned to wear. Then Richard clambered in, followed by our pilot. I was surprised just how crowded the basket was; it appeared larger from outside. "It sure is cozy in here," I remarked.
"Well, yes." she replied, "But that's because on the other side of this divider we have a rack holding the three fuel tanks we'll be using during this flight." Sure enough, the basket had been divided into two sections, and the tanks filled the other section from side to side.
"That seems to be a rather large amount of fuel," Richard commented.
"Again, yes. However, we most likely won't use it all. Still, there's always a chance we'll run into a colder-than-normal stretch of air and we'd end up having to roost in someone's yard. And that would be exciting."
"I imagine it would get costly, too. What with any damages." he said.
"No, if we had to set down on a small property, we'd most likely damage the envelope, but not do all that much to the house. However, if we lose altitude and come down in the middle of a vineyard, there's no telling how many grapevines we'd damage or destroy. That would be expensive. Heads up, we're about to lift off." The entire time we'd been in the basket, she'd been firing off the burners. Now, the basket 'gave' as we shuffled around. The ground and crew, with the slow grace of thick maple syrup, sank below the rim. We were aloft!
"I expected more of a rush; we could be riding in one of those old, open cage, brass gate elevators you see from time to time." I said. Then silence descended as Leesa cut the burners. "It's so quiet. And I don't feel any wind."
"You won't feel that much. Remember, we don't fly in heavy wind conditions and once we're in the air, we tend to drift along at close to the wind speed for whatever height we're at. And we can try to shift directions or speed by gaining or lowering altitude, where the wind conditions may be different." She smiled, "Of course, there's no guarantee the exact direction we travel nor how cold or hot the air is, so there's no way to predict exactly where we'll set down. Thus, if you look over the side, you'll see that our ground crews are packing up and getting ready to follow."
I looked to one side as Richard peered over the other. The ground was a long way down. But I spotted the support SUVs moving out. Looking down reminded me of where I was and what I could do. For the first time in my life, I could scan the panorama of the horizon, taking in homes, countryside and distant mountains just by turning around. The land spread out before me, rich greens and solid browns bathed in the glow of the early morning sun, washed with a warm yellow so reminiscent of an amber 81B matched to Fuji Velvia film.
"Would you look at this view," Richard asked. "It's beautiful. And everything's so clear. I can see the vineyard workers amongst the vines. Are they harvesting?" I shifted over to his side and gazed upon the fields below. "Just like a picture," he said.
Which reminded me… I had, at the last minute, decided to bring my digital camera. I pulled it from my purse and composed a shot, keeping the angle of view wide to capture part of the rim of the gondola along the bottom of the frame to establish scale. As the Sun appeared in one corner of the image, I set it to take several shots, bracketing to capture the full range of light and dark within the scene.
"Miss Hardesty, You might want to bracket your exposure. You're facing into the Sun."
"Thank you, Leesa. My camera can be set to automatically snap several bracketed images with one press of the shutter." I flashed a smile at her, "And since we're going to be so close for this trip, feel free to call me Elaine."
"Will do, Mi… Elaine." She grinned. "I always try to start formal, because I never know until we get up here."
"I've never been one to stand on proper manners and formality when being open and friendly can be so much more comfortable."
"Yes, that's one of the things I think I like about her." Richard said. "That and she's very interesting to have a conversation with." Once again, Richard expressed feelings and validations I'd never received from Alan. One more checkmark for the I think I'll keep him column. "Of course, since this is just our first date, I look forward to getting to know her better."
"First date? You'd be surprised how many of our couples customers are on their first date." We floated on our random path, drifting as effortless as a cloud over the Earth. My camera's memory card soon filled and I was forced to change out for an empty one. One image that struck a chord of joy within me was that of two of the other balloons drifting lower over a pond, rimmed by the Sun backlighting it, causing the colors of the envelopes to glow with a translucent energy. I framed and shot it eight ways, hoping I'd get enough to allow me to create a panoramic vista.
Leesa waited for me to complete that series and said, "Along with the views and my scintillating conversation, you also get a picnic brunch. If you're at all hungry, we can eat when you're ready. We've got about 30 to 40 minutes of flight left at the rate we're traveling."
"Richard, are you ready to eat?" I asked, realizing that for all the stillness of our trip, I had worked up quite an appetite.