Weekly Update for 8/9/09
Some days it seems as if there is but a few hours between weekly
updates, like every time I turn around another week has passed and I’m
excitedly counting down the days until Friday! Not that I am
complaining, because there is nothing I like more then my weekends full
of skydiving! This last weekend was no exception – just like that last
several weekends we had 2 days full or somewhat crazy weather, lots of
friends out to enjoy the sky, and some pretty sweet skydives leaving my
head in the clouds for the majority of this week so far!!
I’ll start off this week’s edition with some exciting news! Fly Free
Skydiving is officially open for business all day Friday, Saturday,
Sunday and Monday! You can also expect us to be flying loads in the
afternoons/evenings Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Some special
things to keep in mind… We have a good base of fun jumpers however they
are not always going to be available during the week. If you want to
come out any day of the week (including Friday and Saturday) and want to
make sure you are going to get to jump, either call a couple people to
bring with you or gives us a call at the DZ to see if there are people
there to get the plane flying. It takes 3 for a load during the week.
We also plan to have tandems and AFF’s scheduled so if you don’t mind
solos or 2 ways or hop-n-pops come out and tag along!
Saturday started off looking good. The sky was BLUE and begging for
canopies and the ground winds actually looked alright for a change.
Mike, Eric (better known as my Dad, or, “Ashley’s Dad”) and myself
volunteered to be the wind dummy load of the day. What we didn’t
realize is we subsequently volunteered to be the ONLY load of the
day!!! The uppers at 8am were enough to push us around under canopy and
only went up from there. By about 7pm Saturday night the winds at 3000
were honkin between 45 and 50 MPH and as the old saying goes – rather be
on the ground wishing you were in the air then in the air wishing you
were on the ground!
With Saturday a wash (what else is new?!) we had a busy day scheduled on
Sunday and we really made Mark earn his keep!! With a ton of tandems
out to get their long awaited fix we kept Mike busy on the packing mat
and Mark busy in the air! A HUGE thank you to Mike and to Krista for
keeping the tandems packed and for meeting Mark in the landing area with
water, you guys are the best!
We had some special guests out Sunday for jumping – Mark, Matt and John
– relatives of Terry’s came out to brave the sky. Now, remember our
deal gang – we gave you the awesome experience of true flight – now it’s
your turn to talk Uncle Terry out of the plane and into the sky!!
As usual anytime the ever so handsome Cal-Mo-Dee is out there is sure to
be something fun in the works. When Cal came in asking for a sectional
I knew we might be in for a treat! A couple phone calls for Notams and
clearance from St. Louis Approach and we had a last minute impromptu
demo jump into the fairway at one of the nearby golf courses in
Hillsboro! Thanks for letting me come along Cal, I enjoyed the cozy
plane ride!
Like I mentioned earlier, we are now officially open for business Fri –
Mon and this week was no exception. We had 7 tandems booked for Monday
and low and behold the evil Mother Nature tried her best to keep us from
having fun!! The rain stopped late in the day however and we were able
to get up 4 of our tandems before the sun went down. The last load of
the day I sat with my foot on the step waiting for the right spot to
pass beneath me and looked out at the sunset and really couldn’t help
but take a deep breath and think how unbelievable it is to have the best
job in the whole world! Then in the blink of an eye the game was on and
we were making someone else an addict!
Two of our favorite most reliable fun jumper friends were also along for
the jumpable weather Monday – Banks and Colleen have become quite the
staple to our Monday evenings! We love having your two smiling faces in
the plane with us!!! Colleen is getting to be one heck of a canopy
pilot and Banks, well, he’s getting there but I guess time will tell!
Thank you guys for sharing the rides to altitude with us (well half way
to altitude anyway)!
Once again another great weekend and the dream of being a DZO just keeps
getting better and better. I’m simply oozing with happiness and I’m
sure that there is a fair share of people who are waiting for the silly
grin to wipe off of my face! No can do! Being surrounded by such a
great staff, family and friends is just as good as it gets! So – how
about we all celebrate how wonderful it is to be a part of this crazy
little adventure and fill this weekend with more smiles and skydives?!
We hope to see you there!
Until next week…
XOXO
Ashley
