Skydiving Adventures - Part II

Harnesses are now on. Checked and doublechecked to make sure everything is connected and hooked as it should be. Everyone is ready to go...almost.








Once we had on all the gear, they took us out to an airplane "shell" to show us how we would jump out. It's not a nice thing to do to drag your tandem buddies shins across the kick plate when exiting the aircraft. This causes pain to someone who is extremely important to you. You want your tandem buddy on your side, or literally on your back. Anyhow, we practiced exiting the aircraft. Again, my stomach knotted up. Then came the time to board the plane.


Now a little description is due here. The plane is not a luxury liner by any means. There were two benches running longways behind where the pilots sit. Both were covered with green artificial turf/carpet. The boarding system is like in accounting. LIFO (Last In First Out). You can back out of this whole thing up to the point where you board the plane. After then, there is no refund. Tyler told me we would be the last ones in. At that point, I didn't realize we would be the first out.



All aboard. In we went on the benches lined up and ready to jump. The plane took off and started its climb to 13,000 feet. It seemed really high. I could see Larry Miller Sports Park down below and it looked like a kids play race track, or spaghetti. I could see over the Oquirrhs, over Salt Lake Valley and Olympus Peak, and all the way to Wyoming. On the back wall of the plane there were two lights. Red and Green. When the light turned green it was time to jump. I kept thinking, aren't we high enough? It looked high enough from looking out. It took a long time to climb high enough, or so it seemed. The high tech plane door was made out of plexiglass and duct tape. On each side of the door were two handles. They told us not to hold on to the handles. At some point on the way up Tyler causally mentioned upon our departure we would do a backflip. I told him "that wasn't in the video." At that point, my life was in his hands...



The light turned green. It was our turn to go. The next thing I knew I was standing with my feet over the kickplate and Tyler was pealing one finger at a time from the handles we were instructed not to hold onto. Out we went. The only thing I have to liken it to is when you wipe out really hard waterskiing. It was noisy. You have no idea which way is up or down. I wondered if we did the backflip? Then I started thinking about the 3 B's and firehose. breathe, banana, and belly button. The free fall lasts just over 1 minute. You fall over 100 mph. I'll admit, it seemed like a long time. I soon started to wonder about the parachute opening. Would it happen? When? And, what was taking so long? Then I heard the "pre"parachute go. This was good. Then the real one deployed. It felt like it jerked us back up in the air a mile! I loved the parachute ride. It was a blast!




Pretty soon we were approaching the landing. Our instructions were to put our legs straight out and that's exactly what I did. I had legs and ankles to protect. Marathons to run, you know. The landing ended up being no big deal. I ended up sitting on Tyler's lap. He unhooked us and that was it. I pretty much was left there laying on my back. What a rush! Then I decided I better see if the others also made the jump. They weren't far behind.







Angelia and her tandem buddy. Sorry Carla and Jeff (not pictured).

Skydiving recap:
Would I do it again? Possibly
Am I glad I did? Yes
Faith promoting experience? Absolutely!

"On Your Left"

This post is affectionately dedicated to my sister, Joyce. It's her birthday today. Happy Birthday, Joyce! Below she's toasting all of us.



Two years ago at Little Red Riding Hood I passed Joyce and Chelsey without realizing it was them. I will forever be reminded of this tragic event. I really didn't do it on purpose...really. Those of us who bike know about "On your left!" For those who don't, here's a crash course.

“On your left!” – A rider is going to pass on your left. Call out, “Thank you!” to indicate that you heard their call. Bicyclers should never pass on the right, but if this happens, kindly remind her to pass on the left.

I could make up excuses why this happened, but really none are good enough. For heavens sake, I should have known it was them. Afterall, we do look a fair amount alike.

Anyhow, all that being said, she's a great sister and example. I know she's not only on my left and right, but also has my back. Happy Birthday, Joyce.

Final Four -- Go Duke

Okay, if Duke wins it means I picked the winner in my NCAA March Madness bracket. I get the prize. Actually, it's more than the prize. It's the honor, it's the bragging rights. The kind of bragging rights that can be brought up boastfully at family gatherings. This could be a very big deal. The suspense is killing me... There's 11:21 left in the second half and Duke is up by 3. And to think I could be watching Dancing with the Stars. Nope, not tonight.

Yeah! Duke won.

Easter Bunny

Contrary to what was said in a fast & testimony meeting a couple of years ago, the Easter Bunny does exist... And apparently he shops at Ethan Allen.

Confused City Cowboys

Okay, I took this picture while driving.... Just couldn't help it. See in the country there's lots of places to ride horses. Not that I've done a lot of riding, but I have seen a lot of wide open spaces just perfect for horseback riding. Might I suggest 20th East isn't one of those places. There are speedbumps on each side of where this picture is taken. It's on my way to work and back. It's in the "city."

And, this isn't the only city cowboy I saw this very day. The second was wearing a helmet of all things. Okay, I understand the wearing of helmets for safety purposes.....but aren't cowboys (or girls) in this case supposed to wear cowboy hats? As my mind wanders with this a bit more, is there a market for helmets disguised as cowboy hats? Just wondering....

Skydiving Adventures - Part 1

I'd like to introduce you to Carla. Today's birthday girl to whom I dedicate this post. In honor of Carla's special day, I've decided to post about our skydiving adventure that took place Sept. 2009.

Ever known anyone in their right mind who wanted to do this? Me either. That's what I told Carla and Angelia last fall when they asked me if I was interested. Why would anyone in their right mind jump out of a perfectly good airplane? They were going with a group, so would get a group rate and continued.... "If you're going to do it, now is the time. It won't cost as much." "No thanks," I replied and I thought I meant it. I did pull up the Skydive Utah website and look at it briefly to see just what they were getting into. A day or so later while shopping at Harmons there was a good looking guy with a Skydive Utah Staff shirt on. He was behind me in the checkout line. Hmmmm.

Doris said, "Do you work there?"

He said "Yes."

Doris said, "I need to talk to you. My neices are trying to talk me into going this weekend."

He said, "You should definitely go."

Doris said, "Okay, here's the deal. I'm afraid of breaking my legs or ankles and I have marathons to run."

He said, "If you come, I will personally go with you. I've jumped over 1000 times and never had anyone get hurt. I will personally pay you $1000 if you do."

Doris thought... he's good looking, and looks strong. Not some little scrawney wimp.

Doris said, "Really? What's your name?"

He said, "Tyler"

Doris said, "I'll think about it."

He said, "See you Saturday."

Doris said, "Okay, I'll think about it"

All of the sudden this skydiving thing seemed like an okay thing to do. Was my thought process clouded (hmmm nice choice of word here) because he was strong, good looking and blah blah blah. Likely. I made a reservation the next day with a special condition, that Tyler be my tandem buddy.

Fast forward to Saturday. The day. Thoughts had gone into will and testament preparation by this point. Okay more than that, I had actually written something down. Angelia, Carla, Jeff and I all headed to Erda. When we arrived they had us watch a video. What I remember now was it talked about 3 B's. Breathe, Banana, and Belly Button. Pretty much the bottom line was

1. Breathe. Don't forget to breathe. It can be like sucking on a fire hose if you do it through your mouth so be sure to breathe through your nose.

2. Banana. Your body needs to be in the shape of a banana. Kick your feet toward your bum.

3. Belly Button. Point your belly button toward the ground.

After this instruction we did a lot of watching on the tarmack. It looked like this:

We would watch for a while and then you would see people dropping out of the sky like this.

And then Doris's stomach knotted up.

Next they came and said okay, let's get you set-up with your harness and a little more instruction. Stay tuned...