UFO Sighting in Perry, Georgia on June 1st 1979 – White bright circle sending out light like a smoke ring that passed through us

I am really just trying to find an answer to an event that happened when I was a child. I was somewhere between five and ten (I am forty-three now) when my mother and I were going through the McDonald's drive thru in Perry, Georgia when I first noticed the object as it came into our line of sight because when turned the corner going around the restaurant. As we sat waiting in line facing south (towards Cordele, GA) there was a bright white light that was giving off white rings (like smoke rings) coming toward us, through us, and past us. The object stayed in one spot, it did not rise, lower, or go from left to right. I would guess that the object was over a mile away. What I thought when I saw the object was that it was pretty cool (I must have been around seven or eight because I knew it was some sort of UFO and probably had already seen Start Wars and Close Encounters). If memory serves, we lost sight of the object because we left the area. Afterwards I remember thinking that I had saw something extraordinary. I also remember the next day my mother telling me that it was reported as a weather balloon. I apologize that my description is not exactly what you asked for as I was a child and the only part I really remember is where I was, who I was with (which my mother has passed now, but we did talk about the incident when I was older), and what I saw. I have searched the internet trying to find anything that would explain what I saw, but have come up with nothing. As I am now much older, I know that a weather balloon is a ridiculous answer to what I saw. And I have thought about Warner Robins Air Force base being so close, that maybe it was some type of experiment, however, the base is in the opposite direction of the the object I saw. Again, if there is any other object like this that has been reported, or if anyone else reported the same event (I am sure many people had to see it), I would really like to know. Thank you, Mike DeFore