13,000 feet in the air, my leg dangling out the door, it hit me that I was about to fling myself out of a plane. Before my mind had time to process any fear, my instructor had pushed us out of the opening.
Let me backtrack.
As a gift a few months back, my Dad gave me a GPS. I am not one for directions and GPS’s annoy me, especially that voice saying “turn left now” 5 times in a row. I asked him to return it and decided we would go on an adventure. First, we played with the idea of a Nascar Driving Experience. Unfortunately, there isn’t one located in Buffalo. Finally, we settled on Skydiving.
We found a great local place in Newfane, Frontier Skydivers. The atmosphere and people were … well, fantastic. What a life they lead! Many of them have rearranged their lives to revolve around the next jump. Work during the day, jump in the afternoon, relax with beer and friends at night. Relaxed and completely centered around catching that next adrenaline rush.
Suited up in my pink parachute outfit, I was ready to go. My instructor, Larry, was exactly what I needed. He explained the important stuff and didn’t get caught up in the detail. More of a “go with the flow” kinda guy, much like me. I didn’t want to ask questions or get bombarded with detail … I wanted to jump!
One at a time, the single jumpers fell out of the plane until finally, Larry & I were left. Left leg first, right leg underneath and suddenly I was sitting out the door of a plane. What a rush!
We did a few flips in the air then evened out … free falling at 120 mph for 60 seconds. It felt like we were floating. He gave me the signal to pull the ripcord and we were suddenly flung back into the air as the parachute opened.
The cool part was that there are handles attached to the parachute which enables you to direct where you go. Pull down on one side for a few seconds and you start spinning in circles.
It was an experience like no other. I will be chasing that high always!
I can’t wait to go back and am determined to take training classes to receive my license to jump solo. Even if you’re not the adventurous type … live outside the box! Do something a little different – and this is DEFINITELY something everyone should do.
Let me backtrack.
As a gift a few months back, my Dad gave me a GPS. I am not one for directions and GPS’s annoy me, especially that voice saying “turn left now” 5 times in a row. I asked him to return it and decided we would go on an adventure. First, we played with the idea of a Nascar Driving Experience. Unfortunately, there isn’t one located in Buffalo. Finally, we settled on Skydiving.
We found a great local place in Newfane, Frontier Skydivers. The atmosphere and people were … well, fantastic. What a life they lead! Many of them have rearranged their lives to revolve around the next jump. Work during the day, jump in the afternoon, relax with beer and friends at night. Relaxed and completely centered around catching that next adrenaline rush.
Suited up in my pink parachute outfit, I was ready to go. My instructor, Larry, was exactly what I needed. He explained the important stuff and didn’t get caught up in the detail. More of a “go with the flow” kinda guy, much like me. I didn’t want to ask questions or get bombarded with detail … I wanted to jump!
One at a time, the single jumpers fell out of the plane until finally, Larry & I were left. Left leg first, right leg underneath and suddenly I was sitting out the door of a plane. What a rush!
We did a few flips in the air then evened out … free falling at 120 mph for 60 seconds. It felt like we were floating. He gave me the signal to pull the ripcord and we were suddenly flung back into the air as the parachute opened.
The cool part was that there are handles attached to the parachute which enables you to direct where you go. Pull down on one side for a few seconds and you start spinning in circles.
It was an experience like no other. I will be chasing that high always!
I can’t wait to go back and am determined to take training classes to receive my license to jump solo. Even if you’re not the adventurous type … live outside the box! Do something a little different – and this is DEFINITELY something everyone should do.
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You are SO AWESOME. Thanks for letting me live vicariously through you for a moment. :)
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