Nevada balloon mail discovered in Cedar County

Reagan Johnson (far left) and other students from the Bright Beginnings Preschool in Nevada launched their annual Balloon Out mail carriers last August.

By Nancy Malcom

Nevada Daily Mail

The motto goes that "neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep postal carriers from delivering the mail."

Reagan Johnson

That might apply to mail carriers trudging through all kinds of weather to bring mail to your homes. But it could also apply to the Bright Beginnings Preschool's annual Balloon Out air mailed notes.

For the last seven years eager preschoolers have attached sealed plastic bags carrying crayon colored messages to balloons and sent them off into the breeze; anticipating they find a recipient.

Each year at least one person has found the balloon messages and responded. For the first six years all respondents have been within Vernon County.

Call it global warming, call it an errant trade wind, call it fate, one balloon mail sent flying in August 2006 was found a couple of weeks ago half-way across Cedar County between El Dorado Springs and Stockton.

"My son Clayton found it deep in the woods while he was mushroom hunting," Karen Rains explained.

Her son attends college in Springfield and only comes home on weekends. It is extremely unlikely that the balloon or plastic bag would have ever been found if he hadn't been turning over leaves looking for mushrooms.

"The only thing he could see of the note was the phone number," Rains said about the deteriorated condition of the balloon mail letter.

At Clayton's insistence they called the preschool to let them know how far the balloon had traveled.

"Clayton kept saying we should call the number because it was so odd that the note was found after being there all winter."

Reagan Johnson had sent one of 10 balloon mails into the air on Aug. 4, 2006. She saud couldn't remember the exact picture she had colored and placed in the zipper-sealed bag for delivery; but it was "like a card," she explained.

"I thought people would find it," she said with a grin. "I was excited when Mom said someone had found it and called Miss Tracy."

She also said she appreciates the Rains family taking time to call the preschool when they found her weathered note.

"Thank you for letting me know you got it," she said, "I was very excited to hear that."

She plans to send another balloon mail out on the breeze this year.