Washington - An Oregon man reclining on a green lawn chair suspended by giant party ballons landed in a horse pasture outside Cambridge, Idaho, at about 2245 GMT Saturday. American Kent Couch landed safely after gliding some 378 kilometres on the wind above the desert, according to the Oregonian newspaper.
Although Couch ended the day north of his goal of Boise, Idaho he had a successful trip after being released by a ground crew who helped him steer clear of light poles as he left from the parking lot of a gas station he owns in Bend, Oregon.
"If I had the time and money and people, I'd do this every weekend," the Oregonian reported Couch as saying. "Things just look different from up there. You are moving so slowly. The best thing is the peace, the serenity.
"You can hear a dog bark at 15,000 feet (4,500 metres)."
During takeoff Couch dumped some of the 170 litres of cherry Kool- Aid he carried as ballast in three drums before the wind carried him away. To keep from flying too high Couch controlled his altitude by popping some of the 150 helium-filled balloons that took him aloft.
Travelling at about 32 kilometres per hour Couch had hoped to ride prevailing winds to the area of McCall, Idaho, about 230 miles east.
"He's crazy," said his wife, Susan. "It's never been a dull moment since I married him.
"I did tell him next time he went up he had to take me, but he said no, he didn't want anything to happen to me."
The journey was Couch's third balloon flight inspired by a TV show about a 1982 lawn chair flight over Los Angeles by truck driver Larry Walters. Walters gained folk hero status but was fined 1,500 dollars for violating air traffic rules.
At the end of his first flight Couch had to parachute out of his craft after he reportedly popped too many balloons. Then in 2007 he flew 193 miles to the sagebrush of northeastern Oregon, short of his goal.
