When I left my house, it was 8:30. I stopped to get some breakfast from Chick-fil-a and got on the road. While I was driving, I put on my ankle braces. I wanted to be ready when I got to to the DZ so I could make a fast call.

Matt asked me to send a package for him. I decided to go to the post office in Orange instead of the one near home. I figured it would be faster, but it wasn't! OMG...the Orange post office was tiny and there were a bunch of people in line.

After I was done, I logged into Burble. Load 2 was on a 20 minute call. I wasn't sure if I could make it. Fortunately, I had money on my account. I could add myself to the load when I was 100% sure.

It didn't take long to get there and I unloaded the car. The plane was on a 10 minute call. I ran over to the bathroom and came out and geared up. I added myself as a low pass on the 2 minute call. I LOVE BURBLE!

The pressure didn't bother my face, but I opened with a surprise from the Suffolk packer.

Present from the Packer

My excess brake line wasn't stowed. When I pack, I tuck the excess from each into the elastic band on the back of each riser.

When I popped my brakes, the one on the right got hung up.

Malfunction

My canopy started to dive so I held down on my left brake line while I tried to release the right brake. It only took a couple of seconds. Shew! 

Brandon on the Otter

Since my face was for the most part okay, I decided to go to full altitude on my other jumps. After I manifested, I noticed two experienced jumpers waiting for their rigs to be packed. I introduced myself and invited them to jump with me.

They were both recently licensed at TSC - Brandon & Kristin. Brandon looked familiar, but I had never seen Kristin. How did I know him?  

Then it came to me...Facebook!  

He sent a friends request earlier in the week. Since the weather was crappy in North Carolina, they set out on a road trip to find better weather. After jumping at the Ranch (NY), they went to Cross Keys (NJ). Skydive Orange (VA) was the third drop zone of the trip.

Hmmmm....maybe some day Brandon & Kristin will be able to say they have jumped in all 50 states.

Before the day was over, I organized 3 belly jumps. I was hoping to get some interesting video so I left from the camera step on each jump. Unfortunately, my camera was a little too far forward so the video isn't that great. I did managed to grab a few fun screen shots to share. I love this shot of the first exit. Check out Emma leaving from the Otter!

airplane exit

I was waiting for Bill to get into place, but Kristin is very floaty and together she and Brandon were slowly spinning and backsliding. I decided to dock on them before we ran out of altitude.

docking on brandon and kristin

Six way

Later in the afternoon, a few more people showed up and I invited them to go with us. I planned a six way and shot outside video.

No mater what happens when I am skydiving, it's always an opportunity for me to improve. Today, I learned that I need to be more aggressive when I am shooting video and that I should make sure my camera is correctly angled.

Oh...and I learned that I have the most amazing husband. When I called to say that I would be home 30 minutes behind schedule, he offered to make dinner! I am so lucky to share my life with him.

Only 47 jumps and 3 states to go. Will I make it before my birthday? Stay tuned...