When the news finally came in that "The Eagle Has Landed" that's code for Winston's balloon airlift eagle treasure has been found. It was a dreamlike feeling to say the least because Winston's experiment actually worked. When asked why he did it Winston replied "The movement I was thinking about when I launched the Eagle was called Random Acts of Kindness. That was my reasoning behind a different type of delivery of the act. A balloon launch for whomever found it. Then I was not singled out for giving to anyone charity or person. My act was open to the world or at least someone in the United States, Mexico or Canada."
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| Original Takeoff Of Eagle in Valley of Fire State Park, NV on 9-24-2015 |
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| Pictures of Original Eagle Airlift from Nevada watch the video on youtube of Winston's Airlift Eagle Head Treasure Hunt |
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| It was found high in the White Mountains of NM at the end of the Argentina Canyon Trail. |
It was found 703 miles away from it's takeoff spot in Nevada. Chuck Oliver (the finder) notified Winston via Email he had found the carving in a capsule while riding his horse along the Billy the Kid Trail. Chuck sent Winston a photo of the carving and the COA as you will see further down this post. Read Chuck’s personal account of the treasure recovery below.
"To: John Winston
We just got back home here in North Idaho, so that's why haven't gotten right back to ya. We had googled the launch and watched it. Pretty neat.
We took a trip this spring to escape the snow and mud. Wanted to check out the Capitan, Fort Stanton, Fort Sumner and ride in "the footsteps" of Billy the Kid. We heard about some nice trails in the White Mountain wilderness so we rode there a couple days. When we were on the Argintina Canyon trail, near the top, we spotted your treasure. I saw the mylar balloon and ribbons, not much left of the other balloons. It was fairly open with grass, trees and brush (will see if one of us has pics of near there and send some to ya and of horses ect). The treasure was probably 80 yards off the trail in some brush. I have to admit my first thought was, damn people and there mylar balloons. See them, or what's left of them, quite often way out in the woods, go out of our way to go over and get off and pick them up. So went over to pick it up and when I got a hold of it saw the tube and said hell there's something attached to it. Opened it up and Wow, what a surprise. We decided it was Karma paying off for all the balloons and trash we pick up when we are riding (beer cans are the other big one we find way out there, they must get heavier once they're empty, because they pack em in full but once empty people can't pack them back out)
So thank you for the nice surprise and treasure."
Chuck and Teri Oliver
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| Picture taken by Chuck and Teri Oliver was emailed to Winston. Their picture shows the Eagle and certificate were perfectly preserved when they found it. |
Shortly after the initial balloon airlift Winston had speculated that the eagle carving was missing and swept away by jet stream and landed in a remote area of Mexico or top a high mountain because the capsule would loose altitude somewhere over 500 miles southeast of the launch. He had even contemplated the carving would never be found in his lifetime and gave up thinking about it's whereabouts after a year had gone by with no word. In hindsight he wished he would've added a GPS Track-R device to the precious hand carved eagle. Time passed and Winston chalked it up as a lost project.
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| The balloon airlift carried the eagle treasure 763 miles into the White Mountains of New Mexico where it landed and was MIA for 17 months until it was found by Chuck and Terri Oliver. |
Finally 17 months later it was found. Winston said "After I heard the eagle was found by horseback in the White Mountains I started crying" It was an emotional experience for the Artist, his family, customers and many Facebook followers because everyone who knew about the balloon launch wondered if the eagle would ever be found. Well folks it was found. Like a Alien mylar ballon beacon calling out to a horseback riding stranger...Look over here..Over here. It was like the universe was connecting cosmic karma dots with a horseman who takes personal pride in the cleanliness of our National Parks. Chuck mentioned Karma in his email. Winston couldn't agree more. If he were to walk up to someone and give his art-work to them as a Random Act of Kindness, knowing how Chuck treats our mother earth he would be candidate number one. Winston feels in his heart that we are all connected as humans to mother earth and everybody deserves to own a precious piece of art from her that they can hand down to their children and generations to come.
This December Winston is planning on releasing another hand made piece of art via balloon airlift.
Look for future Treasure Hunt in 2017
