Don't Just Sit Around
By Bruce Lindsay
I have most of this week off. I don’t really have plans but there are always things that need to be put away and things that need fixing around the house. But today, the rain has made me change my plans today, and stay indoors. I could carve some wood, practice the banjo, work on some songwriting, or just catch up on some sleep. It’s a good position to be in – as long as I don’t just sit around doing nothing.
I have most of this week off. I don’t really have plans but there are always things that need to be put away and things that need fixing around the house. But today, the rain has made me change my plans today, and stay indoors. I could carve some wood, practice the banjo, work on some songwriting, or just catch up on some sleep. It’s a good position to be in – as long as I don’t just sit around doing nothing.
“A man can’t just sit around.” That’s a famous quote from Larry Walters, a.k.a. Lawn Chair Larry. Let me tell you his story.
Larry Walters always dreamed of flying. He joined the Air Force after finishing High School, but because his eyesight was so bad, he wasn’t accepted as a pilot. He eventually became a truck driver, but his dream would not die. He’d sit in his lawn chair in his girl friend’s backyard and watch the planes crisscross the sky.
Then one day Larry got an idea. He went down to the local Army Surplus store and bought a tank of helium and 45 weather balloons. These were not bright coloured party-balloons, they were heavy-duty spheres measuring more than 4 feet across when inflated.
Larry Walters always dreamed of flying. He joined the Air Force after finishing High School, but because his eyesight was so bad, he wasn’t accepted as a pilot. He eventually became a truck driver, but his dream would not die. He’d sit in his lawn chair in his girl friend’s backyard and watch the planes crisscross the sky.
Then one day Larry got an idea. He went down to the local Army Surplus store and bought a tank of helium and 45 weather balloons. These were not bright coloured party-balloons, they were heavy-duty spheres measuring more than 4 feet across when inflated.Back in his girl friend’s yard, Larry used straps to attach the weather balloons to his lawn chair. His Sears lawn chair was not unlike one you might have in your own backyard. He anchored the chair to the bumper of his car, and inflated the balloons with helium. Then he packed some sandwiches and drinks and a loaded BB gun. He figured he could pop a few of those balloons with the BB gun when it was time to return to earth.
It was July 2, 1982. His preparations complete, Larry Walters sat in the chair and cut the anchoring cord. His plan was to lazily float up from his girlfriend’s house in San Pedro, CA and drift over the desert a while, just a few hundred feet. But things didn’t quite work out that way.
When Larry cut the cord, he didn’t float lazily up; he shot up as if he was fired from a canon, over 1000 feet per minute! He climbed and climbed until finally leveling off at over 16000 feet! At that height he didn’t dare risk deflating any of the balloons, lest he become unbalanced and really experience flying! So he stayed up there, sailing around for 14 hours, totally at a loss as to how to get down.
Eventually, Larry drifted into the approach corridor for Los Angeles International Airport. A Pan Am pilot radioed the tower about passing a guy in a lawn chair at 16000 feet! (Now there’s a conversation I would like to hear.)
Larry eventually started shooting his balloons but then lost his BB gun around 11000 feet. By nightfall, the winds began to change and Larry was drifting out to sea. At that point, the Navy dispatched a helicopter to rescue him. It was difficult, because the draft from the propeller kept pushing Larry’s lawn chair further and further away. Eventually, they were able to hover over Larry, drop a line to him and haul him back to earth. Although he got tangled in some power lines, he was uninjured.
As soon as Larry hit the ground, he was arrested. But as he was being led away in handcuffs, a television reporter called out, “Mr. Walters, why’d you do it?” Larry stopped, eyed the man, then replied nonchalantly, “A man can’t just sit around.”
For all who know me, - Don’t worry! I’m staying inside today.
It was July 2, 1982. His preparations complete, Larry Walters sat in the chair and cut the anchoring cord. His plan was to lazily float up from his girlfriend’s house in San Pedro, CA and drift over the desert a while, just a few hundred feet. But things didn’t quite work out that way.
When Larry cut the cord, he didn’t float lazily up; he shot up as if he was fired from a canon, over 1000 feet per minute! He climbed and climbed until finally leveling off at over 16000 feet! At that height he didn’t dare risk deflating any of the balloons, lest he become unbalanced and really experience flying! So he stayed up there, sailing around for 14 hours, totally at a loss as to how to get down.Eventually, Larry drifted into the approach corridor for Los Angeles International Airport. A Pan Am pilot radioed the tower about passing a guy in a lawn chair at 16000 feet! (Now there’s a conversation I would like to hear.)
Larry eventually started shooting his balloons but then lost his BB gun around 11000 feet. By nightfall, the winds began to change and Larry was drifting out to sea. At that point, the Navy dispatched a helicopter to rescue him. It was difficult, because the draft from the propeller kept pushing Larry’s lawn chair further and further away. Eventually, they were able to hover over Larry, drop a line to him and haul him back to earth. Although he got tangled in some power lines, he was uninjured.
As soon as Larry hit the ground, he was arrested. But as he was being led away in handcuffs, a television reporter called out, “Mr. Walters, why’d you do it?” Larry stopped, eyed the man, then replied nonchalantly, “A man can’t just sit around.”
For all who know me, - Don’t worry! I’m staying inside today.
There are some pictures on the links below. Today Larry’s lawn chair sits in the Smithsonian. Larry appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and had some fame. I think it’s a great story. Sadly, Larry took his own life, walking into the woods and shooting himself in the heart, on October 6, 1993.
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I hate to admit it...but I have thought of doing the same thing. Maybe in this retirement mode I could drop by an Army Surplus Store...I know they had some balloons for sale...and I have a real good Lazy Boy Arm chair...better than his Lawn Chair... hmmmm?
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
posted by Murray Lincoln at
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
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