All Good Memories
Though I’ve enjoyed my time at the Skydive Arizona Holiday boogies in the past, each one has had some sort of bad memory associated with it. There was giving myself a concussion in 2005. Sean breaking his leg and two friends dying in 2006. Being sick in 2007. (We spent 2008 in ZHills, of course). This year, trying to keep our time away from work to a minimum, we decided to go back to Eloy since it’s easy to get to Arizona without taking any time off work for travel. I was looking forward to a boogie without any bad ju-ju, and I got it, and got the much needed mini-break from work, too.
So, after a crazy busy Christmas Eve at work (surprisingly busy), I headed down to pick Sean up at the airport BART station and we hopped on a plane to Phoenix. Getting in as late as we did, not much was open, so we picked up some milk at a convenience store to go with the cereal we’d brought, and headed on down to Eloy. Once there we picked up the keys to our team room, a lovely 1/2 trailer converted into bunk space. The team rooms have two sets of bunk beds, and at $40/night are a bargain even with only two people using them. They come with a mini-fridge and a microwave, and have shared showers and bathrooms. Most importantly, they’re on the DZ for the ultimate in convenience.
Early Christmas morning we woke up to clear, cold skies. I called around to a couple stores and found that Safeway was open a few hours, so before we started jumping I headed up to Casa Grande to get some provisions for breakfast, lunch, and snacks for the weekend. Once back on the DZ, I connected with the day’s organizer and got in three jumps before sunset. The next three days I was fortunate enough to get to jump with organizers from Arizona Airspeed, which was not only great fun, but I learned a ton from the best of the best.
We had some great dinners with friends old and new over the course of the week, and as always, the DZ did a great job of putting on a great event. I sat back and reflected on the interesting mix of people I jumped with this week - the range of nationalities (American, Brit, Peruvian, Canadian, Argentine, German, South African), and the range of professions and backgrounds and ages. It really stuns me when I think about it: how limited my sphere was before I started skydiving and how wide it feels now. Instead of running (exclusively) in yuppie professional circles, I’m meeting people that I probably wouldn’t have come across any other way but through this sport. Pretty cool stuff.
So, as we close out 2009 with no more jumping planned till the new year, I stand at 596 jumps - not a bad 2nd half of the year! Looking at my numbers in early November I thought I’d easily cruise to 600 by year end but Mother Nature conspired against me, alas.