While Matt was using the restroom, I stayed in the car and put on my ankle braces.  I figured I would make use of my time.  I was getting our gear together when an older gentleman arrived.  I asked him if he was a skydiver and he said yes and offered to show me the way over to the hangar.

Not only was Dusty a skydiver, he had been jumping since the 60's! Dusty had recently made the trip to DeLand to order some new gear.  While he was there he was taking pictures of the military jumpers and he witnessed Jessica's accident.  He described to us what he saw.  

Jessica initiated a swoop and her canopy hit one of the military jumpers.  She cut away, but didn't have time to pull her reserve.  Without an RSL or a Skyhook, she had no hope.  He said the military jumper landed with her canopy wrapped around him, but he was fine.  

He told me they took the memory card from his camera before he left the scene. Although there is no way to verify Dusty's account of the incident, it did validate other information I had heard. Such a terrible tragedy. My heart hurts.

Dusty walked us over to the hangar.  Lots of people were inside - tandem students getting trained, people packing.  This little DZ was doing something right!

The owner's wife gave us waivers to complete.  After Matt finished his, he went to pack his rig.  He asked one of the local jumpers where he should pack.  The guy pointed out an empty "hook" and said Matt could pack there.  Of course, Matt was confused.  We'd never seen such a thing! The hook was hanging from the ceiling.  Matt told the guy that he didn't need the hook and asked if he could just pack on the floor.  The guys seemed confused by Matt's response, but said sure.

One of the senior staff members looked at our log books and checked out our gear.  As he was flipping through the pages of mine, he was reminiscing over his own travels.  He had been to a bunch of the same places.  He gave us a very through drop zone briefing including how to use the seat belts on both planes and how to open the rollup door on the 206.  We really liked this plane!

While we were waiting, we talked to Dusty some more.  He asked if we'd been to Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures in New Market. Of course, we'd been there! We've known Charlie for a long time - we even went on his 1,000th jump! 

Shortly thereafter, we were on a call. Dusty gave Matt his card and said we should tell Charlie and Melissa hello from him as they are good friends. The skydiving community is so small!

At first, we thought we'd be going out of the 182, but a couple other local jumpers manifested and we had enough to take up the 206.  We put on our gear and waited outside for the others.  One of them came out and asked if we had gear checks. What a good practice!  It was great to see experienced jumpers being responsible.  So often, we rush to the plane without making sure everything is just right.

Inside the 206 was very spacious! There was plenty of room for a sixth person. Since he'd be he first out, Matt was by the door. We were both facing the tail for take off. As we got closer to 5K, I turned around and faced the front of the plane.

My GoPro snapped this picture of the local guys. Awesome shot! The guy in front of me was being silly (I love silly!).  He was saying, "Don't do it!" The man next to him was smiling and the DZO appeared to be sleeping.

Just before the door open, I was thinking...wow!!! We were getting ready to skydive in Kentucky! Awesome!  It was an absolutely perfect day for skydiving. Before we got on the load, Matt said he was going to land in the peas and he did!

Part of the area surrounding the airport looked residential and there were some power lines, but there were still plenty of outs. One other thing to note - This drop zone has fences. We would need to fly over a small one on our final approach to the peas.

When I came in for my landing, I was determined to land in the peas.  I got target fixation, and flared a little high.  I finished my flare and did a little PLF - nothing too dramatic.  I was so bummed out that I didn't stand up my landing because everyone was watching.

Since we had a long drive ahead of us, we didn't bother packing our gear.  Matt went to manifest to pay for the t-shirt I had picked out along with our jumps.  As we were leaving the hangar, the DZO's wife gave us each a free t-shirt.  Score! Skydive Kentucky is awesome!  

We put our things in the car and asked Dusty to sign our log books. His D license number is 7307! Dusty was headed out to lunch and invited us to come along with him and even offered to pay.  It was very nice of him, but we were still 571 miles away from home and needed to get on the road.  It was 1:45 PM.

We did it!  We got all five!