Kari Fjeldberg thought giving out balloons featuring the logo of her new salon, Classic Reflections, would be a nice way to spread the word about her business.

But she didn’t expect her message to reach as far as Michigan.

One of the helium balloons, given out at the Freeborn County fair and lost into the air by its recipient, wound up in a Michigan river &045; 517 miles from Albert Lea &045; where an angler from Indiana fished it out.

The fisherman called the number on the balloon Friday to tell the business about how far the balloon had sailed, Fjeldberg said.

&uot;I just thought it was so cool,&uot; she said. &uot;Claudia at first answered the phone and almost hung up on him, and asked him if he was serious.&uot;

The angler, Aaron White of West Bend, Ind., told Fjeldberg he was fishing in Vandalia, Mich. when he saw the purple-and-white balloon floating, still inflated, in the water and grabbed it.

Classic Reflections employees got on the Internet to calculate how far the balloon traveled. They determined it would take eight hours and 21 minutes to drive to Vandalia from Albert Lea. They figure the balloon was likely swept up in a storm system that passed through this week and carried off.

Fjeldberg’s salon, located on East Main Street in Albert Lea, has been open since March.