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It has always been a dream of mine to skydive and a couple years ago I had my first chance. Kiko (the friend), Trent (the cousin) and I decided to skydive over the 4th of July weekend. Instead of going in town we figured we would save money and drive north to Canada. At the time the dollar was still worth something and this actually made since. We made arrangements with the local drop zone to do a tandem jump each. Then we packed the car and headed for the border.

3 hours later. We pulled into the airport outside of Winnipeg, Canada. The employees of the drop zone decided it was a good time to tell us the clouds were too low and we couldn’t jump until they cleared. After it was obvious they were not going to clear, we made for the nearest watering hole before heading back to the USA.

Day 2. This time the drop zones had the foresight and courtesy to tell us not to go because of the cloud cover again.

Day 3. They called us again and informed us they believed we should be able to jump in the afternoon. Still cloudy but a high chance we would actually be able to do it. We kicked the idea around for a few minutes and said what the hell. Now, my cousin lives about an hour north of me on the way to Canada. He had been studying and catching up on the lost homework time. We asked if he would like to go, which he sheepishly declined. Just before we passed his placed we called again and got the same response. About 5 minutes later, the phone rang, we make an illegal u-turn on the highway, and Trent was in the car as we drove northward again.

We arrived to a heavy cloud cover again but with a lot of hope of finally being able to jump. The drop zone was fully confident and started to prepare their equipment. Then they proceeded to pull out a needle and thread in order to sew some loose ends on the parachute rig. Not what I would call comforting. On the video tape we are heard making jokes about it. I was selected to go first.

The ride up in a tiny plane with no leg room and knowing that they just sewed up the parachute which my life depended upon was not the most nerve-racking part. For me, the most unnerving part was when the door to the plane actually opened (heart stopped for a second). Then I got hooked to the tandem person I jumped with and inched our way to the door. I made my way towards the door when this man in his young seventies lunged out of the plane like he was superman. After seeing that, I was a lot less worried. Jump. The initial rush is so exhilarating that it is hard to express. I knew from that moment on skydiving was something I wanted to make a part of my life.

I actually jumped while there were still clouds and got to flyfall through them on the way down. Then there would be a clearing and I could see all around, then we would go through some more clouds. Finally, about 1500 feet before we had to pull the parachute, the clouds were gone and I could see the vast earth quickly approaching me. Needless to say, the parachute worked fine and we had a great time. Trent could be heard yelling the whole way down when he jumped. When Kiko finally jumped, the clouds were completely gone and we were able to film his whole jump from the ground.

If you haven’t participated in the art of falling to earth, I would highly recommend it. I have since jumped one more time about 2 years ago and look forward to doing it again. What are your thoughts on skydiving? Have you ever skydived or plan on skydiving? Let me know.