These shoes were made for skydiving

If I start an official life list I can now cross skydiving off of it. My friend Mary went for a casual tandem skydive three months ago... and now some 50 jumps, several thousand dollars, and a certification later she convinced Darren, Jenn and I to give it a shot. While I don't see myself joining the Real World: Drop Zone (as we decided to call the wacky drama filled hookup hangar) that has consumed Mary's weekends ever since, I could definitely be convinced to jump again (though after seeing the hard landing by one of the AFF students on our load, I'm thinking that original plan of taking the six hour class and jumping solo might not have been the best way to start).

Jenn got her video guy but we ultimately had to split up into two loads. Darren went with jumpmaster Nick, while Mary tried a threeway with a couple of the girls who'd also got hooked this summer. They went up on "otter load 7" which allowed us to photograph their landings before Jenn and I took off on "otter load 9". Jenn also had Nick as her jumpmaster, and Elmo was her videographer (who even got some video and photos of me!). Mario was my jumpmaster and had me go through the process of watching the altimeter, waving off and then pulling our chute. I loved the transition from the wind rushing past my face at 120 MPH to absolute silence when the chute opens.

I also realized that my REI attic sale Keens have lived quite a full life since I got them in June: trekking across West Africa, kicking it in Class V Whitewater, and now free-falling for over a mile. I wonder what adventure they will have next...

Here's the video that Jenn got. Most of it is of her, but you get an idea of what the experience is like and you can see me jump out of the plane around 3:32 left and then around 0:24 left you see me land in the background (rainbow chute)...