OMG We had the BEST time EVER!!!!!!! Skydiving is awesome!! We seriously had such an AWESOME time. I think I'm still high from it (the legal kind of high LOL). OK so let me see if I can tell you the entire story.
My friends and I met at work at 9:30am on Friday, September 26, 2008. It was Kristi, Cyndi, Chris and me. It was Cyndi's bday too!! We were SOOOOO excited. We were yelling and screaming the whole way there. And we were jamming the music. I seriously think that Cyndi knows the words to every song in the world LOL! We looked SOOOOOOOO HOT riding in Kristi's mini-van. We stopped at a rest stop and of course we had to let the people there know that we were going skydiving. Then we were on the road again. The closer we got, the more we were screaming with excitement!! Right before we got there, we popped in the CD "Live like you were dying" by Tim McGraw!! It's about a guy who just found out he's dying. Part of the lyrics are.... I went skydiving, I went Rocky mountain climbing..... So, we got even more pumped up singing that. As we pulled up, we stuck Kristi's camera out the window and took a picture of the SKYDIVE CHICAGO sign!! We started SCREAMING with excitement.
We got out of the van and we walked in. We were like an hour early so we had time to take it all in. We talked to this lady that was kind of snooty but she said we could fill out our paperwork while we waited for the others to get there. She told us that she had to witness us signing everything so we should not sign anything until we were in front of her. She kept saying "Don't sign anything." Then he said "Be sure not to sign anything, it kind of sneaks up on you." We were like "HHHHHHHHAAAAAAA like it's gonna sneak up on us.." and we were making fun of her (not to her face of course). So, we signed everything that basically in 50 different paragraphs we said that we wouldn't sue if we had serious INJURY or DEATH! We kept laughing because if you looked at the page from a little far away all you would see was "INJURY or DEATH" in every paragraph.
Then it was time for the class. We went downstairs and a guy named Sparky was our teacher. He was decent looking until we looked at his teeth and it looked like he hadn't brushed them in MONTHS! But, he was still really nice and funny. We first had to watch this video made by the guy who had designed the parachutes we were going to use. The guy that did the video sat at a desk with his fingers crossed and he didn't move the entire time. In Sparky's words, he looked like one of ZZ Top's grandpas. He had a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG grey beard that seriously went down to his chest. He basically told us the same thing as the paper work. I don't even remember a word he said LOL! Then Sparky taught us about H-A-T. That is when you jump, you first look at the HORIZON, then check your ALTIMETER, then.... hmmm what was the T for? You can tell I paid attention LOL! Then he said that when we'll be attached to our "Tandem Master" and he'll basically do everything. When we get up to 13,000 feet, we'll jump. We just have to arch our back and tip our head back. Then we'll free fall for about a minute at 120 miles per hour!!! And we're supposed to make a W with our arms. Then we're supposed to check our Altimeter and pull the parachute at 5500 feet (55 stay alive). I think that was it, it took about 5 minutes LOL! He told us that if we didn't pull the chute, it was ok bc they would pull it for us. And there was a reserve parachute, and if we both passed out a chute would come out automatically.
So, then we were done with class. We walked up stairs to see how our tandem master would be. I got "ENZO." I walked over and asked if he was Italian and he said yes. I said "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I'm Italian too!!!" and we slapped each other a 5. I kept screaming and yelling and acting CRAZY!!!! Every few seconds I was screaming. The Tandem Masters kept saying "how much caffeine did you give her today." And they said "She always acts like this." LOL! Then we started suiting up. Then Enzo put my strap things on. It says Danger in 3 different languages on the back since that is the only thing we'll have on, no parachute on us!! Here is a pic of us in our suits!!
Left to right is me, Kristi, Chris and Cyndi. I know, I look like I have 15 chins LOL!
Then Enzo started going over and over with me how to check the altimeter and then pull the little ball for the chute to come out. I was paying attention but I was so excited, I couldn't concentrate. I suppose I should have "tried" to concentrate since I was jumping out of a perfectly good plane!! But, I was too excited! Here is Enzo trying to go over things with me:
Then it was time to load the plane. I was so excited that I just started boarding. Then I heard someone yell, "MELISSA!!" and I turned around and Enzo said "BYE!" HHHHHAAAAAA I totally forgot I needed my Tandem Master LOL!
So, we started loading the plane. I kept yelling "HI MOM" into the video camera because I knew my mom was going to FREAK when she saw the video of me jumping out of an airplane. She had NO IDEA that is what I was doing. Then one time I said "Hi Halle, Ellah, and husband...uh Rick." HHHHHAAAA I was so excited I couldn't' think of my own husband's name. OMG I hope he doesn't read this or I'll be in BIG trouble for that one LOL! Here is me loading the plane:
The plane fit about 23 people. There were no seats. We all had to sit on the floor toboggan (sp) style. We were in two rows. My camera guy was SOOOO funny. His name was Brad but he went by B-Rad! So, my Tandem master was behind me and my camera guy was in front of me. It was soooooooo exciting. Cyndi was right next to me and Kristi and Chris were behind me. Here we are in the plane:
On the way up, we reviewed the steps a few more times and then he hooked me up to him. It was WAAAAAY tight. I go "WOW, that's tight." and he goes "Good and he tightened it more." I thought my boobs were going to go flat. Not that they aren't already.
Then we got up to 13K feet. Cyndi was the first jumper. We "walked" over on our knees and then I watched Cyndi jump out. Suddenly I thought "HMMM that may be the last time I ever see Cyndi." Then my camera guy climbed out and just hung on to the side of the plane so he could get me jumping. Enzo, my tandem master, walked me over to the edge. He kept scooting me closer and for a split second I thought I was going to fall out and I almost got scared. But, then I didn't. Then I arched my back like a pro and put my head back and he counted and we took off. It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My favorite part was actually jumping out. Here is me jumping out. I am upside down in the first few pictures because you actually do a flip.
Check out my "PERFECT" arch!
That little white thing is not the parachute. It's just a thing that slows us down a little bit so that we are "only" going 120 mph. ONLY!!!
Here is another picture of me screaming with excitement as we are "FREE FALLING" Kristi, the gansta's favorite part. And another view of my perfect arch.
Check out this view!!
So, on the way down, I checked my altimeter one time and it said I was at 11,000 feet. So, I thought "OK, I'm good, I have plenty of time to act like an idiot for the camera and then I can pull the chute." YEAH RIGHT!! I totally forgot to ever check it again and before I knew it, Enzo was pulling the chute. THANK GOD he remembered LOL! When he pulls the chute, you feel a slight jerk and your legs fly out and that's it. It's completely peaceful and calm.
I did get a little sick from all of the spinning so I told him not to spin me too much any more. Then he said "OK, I'm going to unclip the bottom two clips." and I'm like "WHAT THE..........." So, I said "OK but don't unclip the top." Like he didn't already know that. He needed to do that so that he would have more room to move around when we landed. Then we just floated down, it was SOOOOOOOOO AWESOME.Then Enzo went over the process of coming in for a landing. All I had to do was stick my legs straight out. But, that was much harder than I thought. Thank goodness for all of those Planks I've been doing because I have abs of steal. That really uses those abs. Here we are coming in for a landing:
And here we are back to earth safe and sound!! (See mom, I lived!!)
After all of that fun, I went to the restroom and when I came out, Cyndi had already bought me a Mike's Hard Lemonade Light. We waited for our videos to get done and then we were off to Cyndi's campsite at Woodhaven Lakes in Sublette, IL. We decided we were going to stop and eat at this Pizza place before we went to the camper. Kristi is training for a marathon and she still needed to run 5 more miles for the day. We dropped her off 5 miles from the pizza place. She changed on the side of the road.
So, we drive off leaving Kristi behind. When we get to the Pizza joint, we order a Mike's for me, and a pitcher of beer. And of course the Pizza. It was seriously the best pizza I've ever had. I HATE beer so I wasn't having any of that. Kristi came in 32 minutes after we arrived at the pizza place. It was HILARIOUS because she walked in wearing only her sports bra and shorts and she was literally DRIPPING with sweat. I was cracking up because she left a trail of sweat all the way to the bathroom.
Then the pizza came out, perfect timing. We ordered another pitcher of beer and we scarfed down the pizza. Then we were like "Let's hurry and drink the rest of the beer so we can get to the camper and watch our videos." So, there was like 1/3 of the pitcher left. I said "I should just chug all of that myself!" Totally joking since I can't stand beer. But, Cyndi said "I dare you, I'll give you five bucks!" and I was like "OK" you can't dare me to do anything because I WILL do it. Once a kid dared me to jump off my house and he said he'd "catch me." I climbed up and jumped and he moved out of the way and I went SPLAT on the ground (too bad I didn't have a parachute). Anyway, so I started chugging away. There were like 4 other tables of people and they were all laughing at me. Then I stopped for a breath and I looked at this 70+ year old guy and said "I'm getting too old for this." and he started cracking up. Here is a picture of me chugging:
Then we were off to the camper. We broke out the margaritas and beer as soon as we got there and it was all over after that. We were CRAZY!!!!!!! I drank a TON and had a blast. I never drink so that was ok. We started watching the videos. We ended up watching the videos about 10 times between Friday night and Saturday morning. We had the songs memorized by then. Cyndi's mom and dad stopped over at around midnight. I don't even remember them coming in, I just remember looking and they were sitting there LOL! We showed them the video and they left. We also hung out at the camp fire for a while, laughing and acting stupid. My butt cheeks got ATE UP by mosquitos. I guess black guys aren't the only ones that love that ghetto booty!
We went to bed at around 1:30 and got up around 7:30am. It took us a while to get up and around.
We started our drive back but we had to stop at Skydive Chicago again because Cyndi's still pictures didn't show up on her CD.
Then we went back home. We were crazy the whole way home, but a lot more calm than we were on the way there.
We can't WAIT to do it again!!!
