There oughta be a movie...

From time to time I want to review the lives and deeds of folks who are... interesting. They may be heroes or may be villains. They may have accomplished great things, and history holds the record, or they may be obscure but... interesting. The latter is the case with Larry Walters.
In a previous life, I conducted weekly sales meetings, and each week I struggled to find some inspirational or motivating or edifying and entertaining story. The Larry Walters story would be great meeting fodder-he exemplified determination, pursuing a goal despite naysayers, and risk taking to fulfill a vision. In a future life, if I am a filmmaker, Larry Walters' story will be my first project-it's perfect for the surreal texture of the Coens (Fargo, Raising Arizona, Big Lebowski) or Tim Burton (Big Fish), or the darkly surreal David Lynch (Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart).
Larry Walters was born In 1949 in California. He dreamed, as a kid, of flying. He joined the Air Force but was not allowed to fly because of poor eyesight. After his discharge, he acted upon an idea he first had at 13 to fly. In 1982 he purchased 45 weather balloons and 2 helium tanks. He tethered his Sears lawn chair to his Jeep, then filled 42 of the balloons with helium and tied them to the chair (he dubbed his "aircraft" the Inspiration). He put a parachute on his back, took along sandwiches, Miller Lite, a CB radio, a camera, and a pellet gun-to shoot balloons to adjust his altitude and land. The plan was to rise to about 30 feet and float for a few hours. When the assembled friends cut the cord Larry and chair shot up rapidly until it finally leveled off -at 16,000 feet! Being much too high to shoot balloons and risk falling out, he floated for about 14 hours! Eventually he drifted into the restricted air space of Los Angeles International Airport ! He finally did shoot some balloons, and as planned, he drifted gently back towards the ground-until the dangling balloon ties got caught in power lines, causing a blackout in parts of Long Beach. When authorities finally figured out what to charge him with he was fined $1500. When asked why he tried such a stunt he said, "A man can't just sit around". Indeed. Words to live by.
Larry enjoyed 15 minutes, or so, of fame. He traveled and spoke briefly (sales meetings?), but in 1993, at 44 years old "Lawnchair Larry" hiked into the forest and shot himself.
Thank goodness there have been others wired like Larry-driven to chase a dream, even a kooky one. The Wright brothers come to mind, and Christopher Columbus, Jobs and Wozniak, Sergey Brin and Larry Page (Google), and others who agree with Larry-"a man can't just sit around."