Hot air ballooning didn't acquire much popularity until propane burners and lightweight fabric made the sport relatively simple and less expensive than helium balloons. Rigs cost about $14,000. But the fuel is cheap -- three hours flight for about $15. The price of a ride on one, however, is still high. Barbarick charges customers $110, which includes an after-touchdown champagne brunch.

The uncertainties of ballooning are much of its magic as seen in hot air balloon festival. But it is the sudden silence that is most noticeable. High above freeways and traffic and cities there is no sound, not even wind. The airship floats along with the wind and so there is no breeze, neither the sound nor the feel of it.

It is an exhilarating way to see the world. But the landings are the interesting part. A balloon accidentally landed in a California prison yard once. In Arizona an aeronaut touched down, just for a moment, on top of a Phoenix skyscraper. They settle down beside amazed golfers and in schoolyards.

Barbarick keeps on hand in the gondola an extra bottle of champagne to soothe surprised farmers when the giant rainbow airship has scared herds of milkcows.

His planting was finally done and farmer Mike Grismer had just sat down with his wife and sons for their first meal together in three weeks. Then there came a knock on the door. It was the curse of Huntley, come calling.

"The guy said his balloon had fallen in my field and he wanted to retrieve it," Grismer said. "He was bold. He just walked right through my house and pointed out the back window. "I got mad and threw him out. I told him he could wait until I finished my dinner."

Beyond the cities and past the suburbs, where commuter trains run out of track and fast-food franchises fear to tread, muggings are rare and gang crimes unknown. Out here, it is balloons they dread. "Every time I see one go over, I shudder," said Jim Huseman, owner of the Pinecrest Golf and Country Club, near Huntley.

"They get low like they are gonna land, and we run through the hayfields yelling, 'Lift 'er up, boys, lift 'er up!' "said Doreen Wagner, whose husband farms in the area. Huntley, population 1,600, sits at the end of Algonquin Road, about 50 miles northwest of Chicago. It is also downwind much of the time from the WindyCity BalloonPort in Fox River Grove, one of the busiest hot-air balloon launching areas in the state.