A lonely Mark Twain balloon, riding high altitude wind gusts, reached a spit of sandy beach on the edge of the North Atlantic, according to a handwritten note sent to the Carthage elementary school by a Cape Cod resident.
Amanda Murphy, a registered nurse living in West Yarmouth, Mass., recently found a deflated balloon lying on the bleached sands next to the crashing ocean surf. Only when she picked it up did she discover the laminated yellow card attached to the end of the balloon.
“I found your balloon last week on the beach in Cape Cod,” Murphy wrote in her note mailed back to the school on Monday. “Didn’t take long to get there! I picked it up because I’m concerned about environmental effects of beach litter. I then found your note and couldn’t believe you had so recently sent your balloon on its journey.
“Good luck to all the students there at Mark Twain.”
With the help of Google Maps, the balloon’s journey covered approximately 1,519 miles made in less than four days. Driving in at 75 mph non-stop would take someone in a vehicle roughly 23 hours and 56 minutes to reach the speck of sand where the balloon was first discovered.
Said Mark Twain Principal Laurel Rosenthal of the balloon’s final resting spot in Cape Cod, “That’s the end of nowhere.”
Later, she jokingly wondered if the next would come from a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean or even from Spain or France found across the Big Drink.
Based on the balloon’s trajectory, a balloon would either splash down inside the ocean or could make it into Canada, landing in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island or St. Pierre et Miquelon.
Or perhaps Iceland, Great Britain or Ireland.
The balloon belonged to fourth grade student Sam Mouton.
Previously, the furthest a Mark Twain balloon has traveled over the years was made this year, an 800-mile scenic journey to central Pennsylvania.
