On July 5, 2008, Jaysn and I decided to embark on an exciting adventure. We hopped in the car and drove to “Sky Knights” in East Troy, WI for a little adrenaline rush.
It was an absolutely beautiful day. The sun was shining, it was 80 degrees, and as the weather man said, “you couldn’t put a cloud in the sky if you tried.” There was no wind and very little humidity. Most people would take advantage of a day like this by taking a trip to the beach. We took a plane ride to 13,500 ft above the earth….only to jump out.
Now, some may think that jumping out of a perfectly safe airplane is grounds for a straight jacket, but for some reason we didn’t think it was a bad idea. We even paid extra to have this lapse in judgment recorded for all the world to see. First, we met our tandem partners (you didn’t think I would go alone did you?).
“Hi, my name is Hoochie” he said as he shook my hand. (Great, I’m trusting a man with my life nicknamed after wacky tobacky). Next, we suited up in our Buck Rogers jumpsuits. As we walked to the plane, I felt very cool, like we were the newest NASA astronauts….until I looked over and saw my partner eating a Quarter Pounder with Cheese and drinking a Mountain Dew – ON THE WAY TO THE PLANE! Was he nuts?? Wait, was I nuts??
We boarded the small plane and straddled the bench inside. My partner behind me, still eating, was very calm and collected. So was I….on the outside. It was a beautiful plane ride. I love seeing the Earth from that altitude. So peaceful, so calming. Then someone opened the door to the airplane and WOOOOSSSHHH. Ok, almost ready to go. Too late to throw up now.
We each had an assigned camera man. When he asked, “Do you have any last questions before we go?” I should have answered wittingly, “Yes, where are we going again?” Instead, I found my vocabulary had strangely shrunk to almost nothing. I must have left it on the ground.
Jaysn was first. His camera man climbed out of the plane and held on to the side. I don’t know HOW they do this. I mean, the plane is still moving and they can hold on?? Just to get a photo of us? They must be crazier than we are. Jaysn got into position with his tandem partner, smiled at the camera, and POOF, they were gone, free-falling into space.
Ok, it’s my turn. Wait, goggles? Check. Tandem partner? Check. Are we strapped together? Tightly? Check. Heart still beating? Check. Time to go! We scooted to the end of the bench. Obediently I followed all of my instructions. I knelt at the door, crossed my arms over my chest, looked down and screamed “HOLY CRAP”! (hey, at least I kept it PG-13). I smiled at the camera, and WOOOSSHHH…..we jumped!! It is breathtaking – literally. Suddenly, you are met with 120mph wind force and all you can see is the ground. Surprisingly, you don’t feel like you are falling. But it is a MAJOR adrenaline rush! I couldn’t stop smiling…or looking at the ground. We fell 9000 feet in 50 seconds before we pulled the chute. Thank God it opened.
It feels like you are jerked upward suddenly when the chute opens. My stomach actually turned more during the parachuting portion of the jump. It takes about eight minutes to reach the ground. We did a few turns…I steered a couple of times (hasn’t anyone told my tandem partner about women drivers?) …it’s actually very peaceful.
As we got closer to the ground, it felt like I was on a roller coaster. We came in at a pretty good speed and had a very soft landing. It’s empowering, exhilarating, exciting, awesome, amazing….It was fantastically overwhelming! I highly recommend it to everyone!!
(By the way, the video we had to watch before hand was filmed in DeLand, FL – my home town. The man who invented most of the tandem equipment is from DeLand. I saw aerial shots of my hometown before my first skydive. To think that I grew up in the town dubbed “The skydiving capitol of the World” and I had to move to Wisconsin to finally jump.)
