Did somebody once go aloft in a lawn chair tied to a bunch of helium balloons?
Dear Cecil: For a long time I’ve heard stories about a man who tied a bunch of balloons to a lawn chair and went soaring into the heavens. I even spent an afternoon searching at the library to see if it was true, but no luck. I gave up, thinking it must be someone’s wild imagination. Then the other day a story in the paper made mention of a mad balloonist named Larry Walters. Can you tell me more? — Roger K., Dallas, Texas Dear Roger: How fleeting is fame. It’s been a mere 16 years since Larry Walters made his legendary flight, and already people are starting to think he’s a mythical being. Au contraire. Larry, an authentic working-class hero (at the time he was driving a truck), went aloft July 2, 1982, from his girlfriend’s backyard in suburban Los Angeles. His craft: an aluminum lawn chair borne by 42 helium-filled weather balloons. Larry’s original idea was that he would fly east to the Mojave desert, but it didn’t quite work out that way. As his girlfriend and buddy were feeding o
