On Saturday, Kent Couch, 48, hopes to fly 300 miles in his original flying device: a lawn chaird lifted by helium balloons.

Couch is already what we might call an expert in clustering ballooning and this is his third flight.

This time Kent Couch hopes to break his previous record, by flying from his gas station from Bend, Oregon to Boise, Idaho. Last year, on his second flight, Kent Couch has managed to fly 193 miles.

While watching a show on the Discovery Channel years ago about Larry Walter's lawn chair helium balloon ride in 1982, Kent Couch decided that he wish to repeat the experience.

On September 18, 2006, Kent made his first attempt; launching his custom-made, cluster balloon lawn chair from Bend, Oregon. He was in the air for six hours before succumbing to a parachute landing into Brothers, Oregon.

For his second attempt, Kent Couch reconfigured his balloon pattern, placing balloons within arms reach, enabling him to reach up and release small amounts of helium.

This time the lawn chair is “powered” by 165 helium balloons. He is using also cherry Kool-Aid as ballast to control the altitude of his lawn chair.

Equipped with a parachuste, Kent Couch successfully took off today at 6:00 am, the Associated Press reported.

Thanks to the Satellite Personal Tracker, and Google Maps, Kent Couch’s flight can be tracked on his website, www.couchballoons.com