And seek fame, fortune, and adventure." Horace Greely
I'm already famous, or is that infamous? I'll never have a fortune but I'll always have enough to cover my bar tab, fill the gas tank, and get a couple more jump tickets, and that's all I need. But Adventure? I'm always up for an adventure! So I've gone west.
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| You know you're in Sudbury when there's a Big-Ass nickel in the background. |
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| Gladstone Manitoba. (Happy Rock - Gladstone, get it?) |
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| Now that's a LOT of Bull! |
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| Old MacDonald really did have a farm! |
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| My 3rd province in as many days |
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| Back to my roots |
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| My summer home |
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| My summer job Lyal starts the daily staff meeting at 8 sharp: "We have a quiet day for tandems, there's a group of 14 booked for 9 o'clock with a total of 25 booked for the day. As usual we can expect some walk-ins. It's a cold morning, remember to put gloves on your passengers. Mark is teaching the First Jump Course, he has 10 people so we'll need some jump masters later in the afternoon.There are several AFF students booked, Larry gets priority on all the Level 1 and 2 students where possible." It goes on to cover everything from equipment readiness to the talent contest scheduled for the evening to close out Gavin Days. At a quarter to 9 the P.A. comes to life: This is a 20 minute call for Caravan load 1, Sig Tandem with Carol, Larry Tandem with Phillip, Chris Tandem with....." 35 minutes later we exit at 12,500 feet into a crisp sky with a layer of broken cloud far below us. Once the canopy is open above us we follow another Tandem down through a passage between towering cloud banks, with my passenger screaming with delight as he spots our shadow surrounded with 2 circular rainbows on the passing clouds. I've only just returned to the packing mat when I hear: "Caravan Load 2, Sig Tandem with Steve, Larry Tandem with Izzy...." I'm still gearing the guy up when Dustin sticks his head into the room to say "You're doing a back-to-back, your passenger will be Casey, and there will be a rig waiting for you by the plane." Crap! Now I have TWO people to gear up! I land with Izzy, and as soon as he's unhooked I start tugging at my straps, drop the rig where we've landed, and run across to where the plane is waiting for me. Aidan has already double checked my passenger's harness so as soon as I pull on the waiting Tandem rig we're off again. I know we've cleared up all the people from the the initial rush so I'm expecting a breather as I return to the packing mat after the jump, but I hear Manifest calling yet again: "Larry, can you make a 20 minute call for an AFF with a Level 2 student?" I look across the basketball court to where Margaret is half hanging out the window, with her microphone in hand. "Hell Yeah!!!" I run grab my suit, sprint across to the gear room to meet my student, to find out that somehow Aidan has gotten there before me and has the guy all prepped and ready to go. As we ride up in the plane Aidan reviews the dive plan with the student, and it's clear to me that's he's briefing me every bit as much as he's briefing the student. I'd just pulled my gear off after the jump when Ray walks over to ask if I want to get in on an 8-way he's planning. "There's another group of Tandems watching the training video but we should have time before they get all their paperwork done." "I'm In! By the way do you know what time it is?" "Eleven fifteen" someone calls across the packing area. It's only been two and a half hours since I first heard my name over the P.A. Just another day at Eden North. |
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