KIRKLAND —
A Rome man and his son landed safely on a Kirkland road tonight after their hot air balloon veered off course.
"We were going to put it down on the other side of town, and then the wind kept shifting," Steven Flanders said shortly after landing the balloon on Chapel View Road at about 8:30 p.m. "That's what's exciting about ballooning, you never know."
Flanders said he and his son Adrian took off at about 6:20 p.m. in Vernon along with a second balloon. At one point, his balloon veered off course and he needed a place to land.
Steven Flanders first was going to try and land on the high school baseball field, but ended up heading south of that.
Police units were notified, and traffic was stopped near where the balloon planned to land. The Flanders ended up landing on Chapel View Road, which runs east off of Fountain Street.
The landing came much to the surprise of Nicole Storey, 16, and her mother, who were just leaving their house at the time. The multicolor balloon finally was pulled down to the ground just feet from their vehicle.
"You normally don't see a hot air balloon landing right in your driveway," Storey said.
The Flanders' ground crew, which follows the balloon in a vehicle, met up with them on the road. After the crew folded up the balloon and packed it and the basket into their vehicle, the road was clear to traffic. That was at about 8:45 p.m.
Kirkland police Officer Wayne Smoulcey said the hot air balloon landing was a first for him and other officers who helped tether the balloon.
But it was just another day for Flanders, who balloons two to three times a week as a hobby.
His balloon holds 90,000 cubic feet of air, can carry up to five people, and is capable of reaching heights well above the 3,000 feet he was at Friday, he said.
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