The University might have to send a custodian across the country to pick up the last bit of Homecoming trash.
Naomi Grove, a rancher, stumbled upon a Mylar balloon in her field Nov. 7. The balloon was red, metallic and bore the Lobo Knights Homecoming 2009 insignia.
Grove’s ranch is in McKinley, Virginia, near the Allegheny Mountains.
“I was out walking across my property, doing what I call ‘bush goating’ — my goats and I clear bushes — when the reflection of the inside of the balloon caught my eye,” Grove said in an e-mail to the Daily Lobo. “It took me a little thinking time to figure out the significance of the balloon. I did not know ‘Lobo Knights.’”
The distance from Albuquerque to McKinley is approximately 1,529 miles, according to Google Maps. And Dave Gutzler, earth and planetary sciences professor, said such a long trip for a small helium balloon is unusual.
“It’s very surprising that that would last all the way across the country,” he said. “Weather balloons get launched twice a day at the airport and they rarely make it out of the state … What makes it unusual here is that the balloon didn’t simply pop and fall out of the sky before it went all the way — before it made it across the country.”
Gutzler said the balloon got trapped in an air current that propelled it east and, ultimately, to Grove’s ranch.
“That balloon must have ascended into the sky over Albuquerque and got caught up in what are called the Mid-Latitude Westerlies, which are winds that blow from west to east across the continent,” he said.
Grove said another balloon appeared in her field in 2008 from Jackson, Ohio. Gutzler said the Mid-Latitude Westerlies probably propelled that one, too.
The Alumni Association bought at least 200 of the homecoming balloons at $1.30 each, said Sue MacEachen, senior program manager of Alumni Relations. She said the balloon could have been launched at any time during Homecoming weekend last month.
“We used the balloons for a few events,” she said. “At the end of the events sometimes we’ll just tie them up and give them to little kids, so it’s apparent something got away.”
MacEachen said the balloons are handed out to kids because they would otherwise be popped and thrown away.
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“Our intent is never to litter or anything like that,” she said. “Usually, in good fun we give them to kids throughout the events, and what they do with them we can’t control.”
Grove said she would dispose of the balloon, but offered to return it to New Mexico.
“Honestly, I put the balloon in the barn trash to be taken to the landfill later,” she said. “I could send the well-traveled balloon back to you if you would like.”
