KYLE, Texas (KXAN) — You’ve heard of a message in a bottle — but what about a message in a balloon that’s flown nearly 900 miles?
It might sound like fiction, but that was the reality for Kyle residents Jaymes and Rachael Knox. On Wednesday night, Jaymes was playing in the backyard with his dogs when he saw a balloon falling from the sky, carrying what appeared to be a rolled-up note.
“He runs in and he was like, ‘babe, put your shoes on! We have an adventure,'” Rachael said.
In a field behind their house, they found a blue aluminum balloon. Attached was a note, written in a child’s handwriting that read: “Haray, haray! You got this messig today! Olivia Brown sent this.”
Written on the bottom of the letter was a phone number. Jaymes and Rachael texted it and nearly immediately, they heard back from a family — located in Nashville.
The family had sent the balloon on Sunday, where it traveled for approximately three days and roughly 880 miles.
“Whoever — we’re assuming was one of her parents was probably texting us — they just said that she was ecstatic, that she was just jumping up and down,” Jaymes said. “She was just so happy that somebody — just screaming her little heart out, she was so excited somebody found her letter.”
Jaymes and Rachael said they hope Olivia can see her story shared on the news and know she was the one who started all this. They added the letter brought them “a little happiness in our day” that they didn’t know they needed.
“Keep her adventurous spirit alive,” Rachael said with a smile.