Last week, we went to Colorado and Wyoming and finished our journey to skydive in every state. This week, I'll be writing posts about the experience, but I wanted to make this post to say that we are done!
I did my first AFF jump on July 10, 2004 at Skydive Orange in Virginia. So, I guess technically it took me 12 years to achieve this goal. However, Matt and I didn't really start working on this until December of 2013. At that time, we had jumped in 8 states together.
Along the way, we saw some amazing sights and drove over 20,000 miles. The United States has a wide variety of terrain and climate.
We visited Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Park in California, Las Vegas and the Red Rock Canyon in Nevada, The Harry Potter Theme Park at Universal in Florida, Devil's Tower in Wyoming, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, the volcanic rock fields in Oregon, water falls and an active volcanoes in Hawaii, and many other amazing places.
Over the course of the last few years, we have met some of the nicest people on the planet. So many people helped us achieve this goal! I couldn't possibly name every one, but I'm going to try.
- Utah - Skydive Ogden
- North Carolina - Carolina Sky Sports & Nate Harpe and Jennifer McKinney
- Pennsylvania - The Skydivin' Place & Jim Smith
- Virginia - Skydive Orange & Everyone that came to our wedding!
- Florida - Skydive Deland & Tammy McCarthy
- Maine - Skydive New England
- Massachusettes - Skydive Pepperell & Friendly Staff/Locals
- Connecticut - Connecticut Parachutist, Inc.
- California - Skydive Perris & John Carlson
- Arizona - Skydive Arizona & Liz Williams
- Nevada - Skydive Mesquite & Awesome DZO
- Tennessee - Skydive East Tennessee & Tim Carlyle
- South Carolina - Skydive Carolina & Annette Smith
- Delaware - Skydive Delmarva
- Maryland - Skydive Deep Creek & Donald Johnson
- West Virginia - Skydive Deep Creek & Neal Porter
- Ohio - Start Skydiving & The packer that gave me a rubberband.
- Michigan - Skydive Tecumseh & Rex,Dennis and Billie
- Indiana - Skydive Ft. Wayne AKA Gravity Powered Sports & Tod Molter
- Illinois - Skydive Chicago & The locals that were willing to put up one last load!
- Wisconsin - Great Lakes Skydiving & The friendly staff!
- Iowa - Paradise Skydives & Jay Speckeen
- Alabama - Skydive Alabama & Christi
- Georgia - Skydive Georgia
- Louisiana - Skydive Nawlins & Brenda and Charlie
- Mississippi - Gold Coast Skydivers & Lizz, Celine and Jeananne
- Arkansas - Skydive Skyranch & Wolf Grulkey and Tyler
- Oklahoma - Oklahoma Skydiving Center & the awesome staff!
- Kansas - Air Capitol Drop Zone & Martin Myrtle
- Missouri - Skydive Missouri & Feisty
- Kentucky - Skydive Kentucky & Jim's amazing wife!
- Oregon - Eugene Skydivers & Urban Moore and Teresa of Skydive Oregon!
- Idaho - Skydive Idaho & John and John
- Washington - West Plains Skydiving & the locals waiting for the only load of the day!
- Montana - Meadow Peak Skydiving & Wayne, Rhonda & Chet
- Alaska - Alaska Skydiving Center & Tammy, Dan, Barb & Ian
- Minnesota - Skydive Twin Cities & Spencer and Luke
- North Dakota - Skydive Fargo The Awesome Club! & Tina Richards
- South Dakota - Skydive Adventures & Matt Link
- Nebraska - Lincoln Sport Parachute Club & The Awesome Club & Chuck Crinklaw
- New Jersey - Skydive Sussex & Mother Nature
- New York - Skydive The Ranch & Emma
- Vermont - Vermont Skydiving Adventures - Ole Thomsen
- Rhode Island - Boston Skydive Center & Dean O'Flaherty
- New Mexico - Skydive El Paso & Bob Kern
- Texas - Skydive El Paso & Bob Kern
- Hawaii - Pacific Skydiving & Arvel Shults
- New Hampshire - Josh AKA Papa Smurf
- Colorado - Skydive Colorado & Nathan Morgan
- Wyoming - This is a long list! Colin of Sydive Hot Springs, Nathan Morgan of Skydive Colorado, Heather Day for giving me a list of potential balloon pilots, Mark Purdy for trying to work with me, Dan Griffin for giving me a second list of balloon pilots, Bruce Pivic, Tammy Folley, and Pat Newlin for giving me a third list of balloon pilots, and Cameron for suggesting we go with Ray! But most of all RAY Shady and his crew (Nancy, Lon, Leah, Pam, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, and Jane!) Thank you Jim Crouch, Bobby Page, and Josh for the information about NOTAMs!
I'd also like to thank my mom. When I broke my ankle on my 4th AFF jump, my mom said, "When will you be able to jump again?" My mother taught me to be a strong independent woman. This is a gift that I carry with me every day. Thanks, Mom!
