Oregon’s lawn chair pilot recovers gear

BEND, Ore. – Kent Couch had a few stories, but little evidence of his trip across Oregon’s skies in a lawn chair last summer – until now.

The Bend resident planned to fly across the state to Idaho in his lawn chair, which was connected to more than 100 helium balloons. But he landed early in Eastern Oregon.

A crew was waiting to help him, but the wind blew Couch off course – leaving him to disembark alone. He jumped to the ground and tried to hold a rope tethering the chair. But the balloons yanked it away. His chair, cell phone and other gear – including a camera that documented the trip – were gone.

He didn’t have any other documentation of how serene and beautiful it was to float across the state.

Couch offered a $500 reward for anyone who found the chair. He put a posting online with the question “Did you find my chair?” in several languages. He heard rumors that a pilot had seen it over Michigan. But he’d nearly given up hope.

Then earlier this month, a farmer near North Powder riding a property line came across the bundle. The farmer hadn’t heard of Couch’s trip. He called the sheriff’s department and was connected with the lawn chair pilot.

The chair and gear were about 13 miles from where Couch landed, near Union, and everything was intact.