Kent Couch flew 193 miles in nothing but a lawn chair and 105 helium balloons from his Oregon home last weekend. He could have made it longer but he didn't want to press his luck.

Couch packed some snacks and plenty of water for the trip, which he made once before. In September he flew for about six hours but did not thoroughly plan the descent and had to use a parachute to make an emergency landing.

This time the balloons were configured just right and he fastened four bags containing 5-gallons of water to act as ballast. He also carried along a global positioning system just in case.

Couch told local media, "When you're a little kid and you're holding a helium balloon, it has to cross your mind. When you're laying in the grass on a summer day, and you see the clouds, you wish you could jump on them," he said. "This is as close as you can come to jumping on them. It's just like that."

Couch is the second person to hit the sky in a lawn chair. Larry Walters got about three miles above Los Angeles in 1982.