Blimp Ride!

      A book review in the New York Times Book Review of  His Majesty's Airship brought back the memory of my ride on the Goodyear Blimp. When we moved to Golden Valley, MN, in 1988, I asked a local pastor acquaintance in the area to recommend a automotive repair place. P.I. recommended Carl's Tire on Broadway Ave., not far from the church. For 19 years it was my 'go to' place for things automotive. In addition to tire sales they did general automotive repair.

     Car's tire sold Goodyear tires. Goodyear once offered a tire sales promotion, with which Carl's tire cooperated. For the purchase of a set of tires the purchaser would be eligible for a ride in the Goodyear blimp. This was probably the early 90s and I was driving my first Subaru. It was a light, skinny little thing very easy on tires. In fact it was so easy that there were over 100,000 miles on its current tires. Wanting that blimp ride I opted for new tires...probably also a good thing for safety sake.

    My appointed time was 12:00 noon on a bright June? day. There were 6 or 8 passengers and, as luck would have it, I was seated next to the pilot. The ground crew unfastened the tether and we drifted up into the sky. We sailed over downtown Minneapolis low enough to clearly see the buildings below. Heading west we flew over my house in Golden Valley low and slow enough that I could see the water hose in my yard. From there we circled over Lake Minnetonka and the western suburbs. We'd been promised a half hour ride but, becasue it was the noon hour and the ground crews lunch time, we were up for an hour.

    The pilot's main activity was constantly maneuvering to keep the blimp horizontal. Without those efforts the ship would either climb or dive.  Not surprisingly it was very smooth and quiet. Then noise from the engines behind the cabin was just a hum.  Approaching the airport he slowly brought us down over the ground crew. They grabbed the ropes the blimp trailed and tied it down next to the platform used to enter the cabin. Thus ended my one and only ride in a lighter than air ship.

Takk for alt,

Al