Large fireball like object rising from over distant rooftops straight up for almost one hour and blending into the stars

MY STORY:  Hello, I dont have a processor, so i do as best i can..
I happened to listen to Jeff's show tonite  and  so i finally  decided to tell my story here .
This  happened  in the summer of either 1973 or '74.
As i was driving towards the outskirts of the city in a souteastern direction and suddenly i saw a large sphere/fireball-like object rising above the rooftops in the distance .
i was almost panikstrucken and so pulled into the next sidestreet, halted the car as fast as i could, while keeping my eyes on the object .
it slowly ascended straight up .
As far as size, all i can say is  it was the size of the moon! only brighter.  And distance, i assume it was more then a mile away, maybe several miles.
So to my judgement  it must have been the size of a house, possibly larger .
i remember leaning to with my back to the car, eyes riveted to that thing for almost one hour, till it shrunk the size of the stars.
At that altitude it  appeared shifting in all directions, but i assume that was due to the atmosphere, or my eyes being tired concentrating on it.
this is what i saw, and to this day i havent found an explenation. .
I also  would like  to mention that  i dont believe in UFO's , at least in the 90++% of the materiel thats being reported ..
but what i saw that evening was big and it was real.(at lest to me it was)  Jeff was urging his audience to report things, so here is my story .
and it is NOT a hoax!!! lol  Oh! almost forgot..    the next day i took my friend Rudy and his gf to the site and we wondered for hours thru bushes, tall grasses and  along the Mures riverbank, but didn't see anything unusual .
I have to say at times i kinda felt a bit embarrassed  .. :-)  this isen't easy to tell people, so therefor i mostly kept it to myself.
regards, ((initials deleted))
Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate.  PD