Lawnchair-flying, self-mailing and DUIs
July 12th, 2007 by Alex Pickett in The Morning Papers, Urban ExplorationsJust as I was about to get my lawn chair and buy 100 helium-filled balloons to float across Tampa Bay for my next Urban Explorer column, some gas station attendant in Oregon beat me to it.
Last weekend, 47-year-old Kent Couch traveled nearly 200 miles on his favorite lawn chair, eating snacks and staring at clouds for nine hours before touching down just short of Idaho.
(This idea of lawnchair-flying has also floated the balloons of a musical-theater composer.)
Couch’s ascent into fame has me almost as disappointed as I was in 2003, when I found out a Texas man had stolen my idea of mailing myself to a destination to avoid airfare. (As it turns out, I’m glad he chose to do it — police arrested him moments after arriving in a freight box on his parent’s doorstep.)
Until I can figure out an even better stunt, check out my column this week on hanging with the drunks at a DUI checkpoint.
July 12th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
This “couch” fellow was a cheap imitator.
Lawn chair larry has been a hero to me (and young kids around the world) for some time now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Walters
“Lawrence Richard Walters, nicknamed Lawnchair Larry or the Lawn Chair Pilot, (April 19, 1949 – October 6, 1993) was an American adventurer. He took flight on July 2, 1982 in a homemade aircraft, dubbed Inspiration I, that he had fashioned out of a Sears patio chair and 45 helium-filled weather balloons. He rose to an altitude of 16,000 feet (3 miles) and floated from his point of origin in San Pedro, California into federal airspace near Long Beach airport. The account of his flight was widely reported in newspapers.”
July 12th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
He may not have had the initial idea, but he went much farther than Walters and didn’t get arrested. I’m putting my money on the Couch.
July 12th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
I once worked on a research for a screenplay detailing the life and times of Larry the Lawn Chair Pilot. Unfortunately, Hollywood swept in with their own version of the story, complete with lame-o romantic subplot and ruined the whole thing.
I do love that this new guy’s last name is “Couch” though. It adds an extra level of hilarity, don’t you agree?