Skydive Carolina is about five hours away from our house. It wasn’t necessary to stay in a hotel, but life is somewhat easier when you wake up less than hour away from the drop zone. It’s nice to sleep a little later and grab a nice breakfast before arriving at the DZ.
The drive from Richmond to Charlotte was uneventful. Matt used Priceline to find a discounted room – for less than $70 we got a room at a Wingate and the price included free breakfast! When we got to the hotel, it was around midnight. The hotel was nice, but the bathroom was a little small. No worries. We were going right to bed anyway. When we woke up in the morning, we checked out the breakfast selection – mostly carbs. Waffles, cereal, donuts, muffins, - nothing we really wanted. So, we opted for breakfast at IHop. We both enjoyed eggs, bacon and pancakes and still made it to the DZ before 10:00 AM.
As we walked into the hangar, I saw a familiar face – a girl named Christy. I had met her at Skydive Orange and also ran into her at VSC. She was from Northern VA, but her Nationals team was training in South Carolina. She said it takes her over seven hours to get to the DZ. We chatted for a couple of minutes and then she went off to do a practice jump. The packing space in the hangar wasn’t as large as I thought it would be, but the facilities were nice. They have indoor bathrooms, multiple picnic tables, some team training rooms, a gear shop, food on site, and an absolutely beautiful large landing area. I had heard that the landing area was sizable, but I didn’t realize that it would be enormous!
When we were done with the waivers, we manifested for low passes. It was so hot that we both decided to just jump in our shorts and t-shirts. I dreaded the thought of putting on a jumpsuit in the heat! We grabbed our rigs and our helmets and headed to the loading area well before everyone else showed up. We told the others that we were doing low passes and we thought we were the only ones, but a man and a woman showed up at the last minute.
As we loaded the plane, the two locals told us they were leaving first, but they were pulling right out the door and they were getting out at 2,500. Apparently, Matt had a conversation about this and the pilot had agreed to keep climbing to 3,000 and then we'd be exiting.
Matt and I were both planning to pull lower and we had more aggressively wing-loadings, but it didn't seem to matter to them. Based on the jump run, the first out would be closest to the accuracy pad. So, in that regard, it made sense for them to be first out plus there were only four of us.
At Skydive Carolina, they have so much real estate we could land a few foot ball fields away from them. I later discovered that the woman was CHERYL STEARNS! She has almost 20,000 skydives! She is an amazing inspiration to women in the sport!
When it was my turn at the door of the airplane, I was even more impressed with their landing area. There was no way to miss it – so green and lush. Under canopy, Matt and I were below the other two. Most of the time, I just follow Matt’s pattern, but it seemed like he was a little low on his base leg, so I modified mine and turned on to my base leg sooner. There wasn’t much wind, but I had a great stand up landing. I love our new state “high five”! It’s so exciting to land and to know that we can cross another state off the list!
We walked back to the hangar together and laid out our canopies in the experienced packing area. Both of us needed to get a drink before we could consider packing. It was almost 90 and it was very humid. The combination of the two makes it miserable for packing!
Here we go again…the second jump debate. We absolutely loved the landing area at Skydive Carolina, but if we left right after we were finished packing, we’d be home in time for dinner! We could grab lunch on the way home and avoid having two meals on the road. It’s hard to just leave after 1 jump, but I need to keep reminding myself that this is a quest to skydive in every state. It isn’t a quest to make new friends or to drive up my jump numbers - not all of this adventure is going to be fun. Sometimes, the hotels are going to suck. Sometimes we are going to get stuck in traffic, and sometimes, we’re going to have to make the choice to get on the road after just one jump. This was one of those times.
After he finished packing his rig, Matt went into the gift shop to find a t-shirt. He came back out to get more money because he also found a pair of gloves he wanted to buy. While he was in the store, he was talking to one of the owners and she wanted to meet me. I told him I’d be in after I got our log books signed by one of the locals.
Before I wrote in the log books, I wanted to get my ankle braces off. While I was sitting at the table, I started a conversation with an older gentleman asking if he’d sign our log books. It turns out that he had been skydiving for a long time – his license number was D- 8482 and his name was Mike Siegfried. I asked him if he knew of anyone that had jumped in all 50 states. He said he knew a bunch of people that started, but none that had actually finished. I thanked him for signing our log books and he wished us luck.
I put my stuff in the car and changed shirts. I was so sweaty! I stopped in the bathroom to splash some water on my face and discovered my sunburned cheeks. I had forgotten sunblock…ugh! I need to add that to my mental checklist. Then, I realized that I had misplaced my purse. I went back to the car to look for it, but it wasn't there.
I rushed back down the gravel path and Matt was standing there with my purse in his hand. He was wondering what was taking me so long! When he came back to where I was sitting, he found my purse. I am so lucky I have him looking out for me. When I entered the gear shop, I was greeted by the gear store manager/co-owner of the drop zone, Annette Smith. She was so nice! We spent a little time talking and then set out on our way. We found the closest Chick-Fila, ordered some food, and headed home.
On the way home, we got stuck behind an accident. It took a very long time to get around. Most of the highway was blocked with only one lane getting by. Of course, rubbernecking adds to the delay, but it’s so hard not to look to see what’s going on after you’ve been trying to get past it for an hour. We were moving so slow when we passed by and of course we had to look for ourselves. The front of a car was wedged under the side of a tractor trailer. I wondered how on earth it was even possible. I have done a bunch of driving. I’ve seen overturned cars, fender benders, flipped trailers, but in all my years of driving, I had never seen anything like this. It’s sad when you are looking at an accident and you know that it’s impossible for the driver to be alive.
Even with the delay, we managed to make it back to our house by dinner time. I cooked while Matt unloaded the car. Dinner. Hot showers. Movie and cuddling. Life is awesome!
