bps
December 24th, 2002, 10:00 AM
Hello Everyone --
I'm on the road for a little Christmas adventure -- some family, some business, and of course, some BASE jumping.
So there I am, traveling across the __________ and I see tall blinking lights about 5 to 10 miles off the highway. I had been driving for 10 hours by myself and I had been eyeing the moon as it rose into the nighttime sky, so I decided to pull over to stretch the ol' legs. As I pulled off the highway, I hopped out of the car and there was absolutely no wind. A rare occasion for _________. :P
Something was calling me to this object that I had never seen before, so off I went down various roads inching my way ever closer to the object. When I got there, I was pleased to find that the nearest house was at least a 1/2 mile away. And I was even more pleased when I found incredibly easy access and ample altitude for a sweet slider-up jump.
I've done plenty of true solos in my BASE career, but couldn't find a reason to do it tonight. So I pulled out the Vista, marked the coordinates, and then called up ______ back in my home state.
The converstaion was funny -- it went something like this: "Hey dude. I'm in ______ and I need virtual ground crew. Got your Vista?"
"Yep. What's the coordinates?"
"They're N _______ and W _______"
"Ok, hold on.....got it. I see that your at ______"
"Yep, that's it. I'll call you when I get to the exit. C-ya!"
I laughed at the situation thinking about technology and what it's done for us.
Deciding that I didn't want to park right at the base of this thing, I set off looking for a far away place to stash the car.
I found a nice little spot behind a semi-truck sized bail of cotton, and gathered everything up and took off across the fields for my mile or so walk to the object.
I was thinking about how perfect the night was. Cold and calm...moon shining bright in the sky...when all of a sudden, things took a turn for the worse.
Right in front of me, 4 or 5 horses stood up with a bunch of their little baby horses. They were pissed and even though they scared the crap out of me, I responded with my hands held high and I made a menacing noise in an effort to let them know who was the boss in this situation.
That was a big mistake.
In the same amount of delay one would take from Tombstone, they were on me. I kicked and yelled and fought back like there was no tomorrow, but as much as I hate to say it, I got my ass kicked by a couple of horses.
I managed to get out from under them and off to the side. They backed off slightly and I hobbled off as quickly as I could. I found a fence and gladly seperated myself from them. Assesing myself, I found some bruised ribs, a bloody lip, and various other things, but for the most part, I was intact. Not wanting to quit, I limped on towards the object.
Upon arriving at the base of my prize, I began gearing up while still thinking about the ass whooping I just got from a couple of farm animals. Right after cinching my chest strap, a car pulled onto the dirt road leading to the base of the object.
#####! Only having 3 or 4 seconds, I dove towards a small depression in the ground. The car came wheeling up and stopped about 100ft away from me.
My heart was pounding like crazy and then once they got out of the car, I realized it was just a redneck and his girlfriend (luv ya Gardner!). Still not wanting to expose myself, I waited to see what they would do. After 15 minutes of stinky-finger, the boyfriend was finally convinced by the girl that she didn't want to "do it" out here, and she much prefered to go somewhere else. There was not going to be any live porn for me tonight. Seeing the "go-ahead" the guy ushered her into the car and off they went to who knows where.
Not beleiving how the night's events were unfolding, I commented that at least the weather was calm, and I now had the object to myself.
Up the ladder I went. Now, I've climbed some crappy ladders before, but this one took the Grand Prize. It was loose, cramped, and there were wires everywhere. But it didn't matter, I was getting this jump...
So there I am plugging along only to greeted by a slight breeze down the wire at 150ft. By the time I got to 300ft, it was 30 right down the wire.
Trying to deny the fact, I moved up to 400ft before stopping to accept the fact that it was not meant to be. (maybe if I was from Portland...)
I started the climb down.
Of course, it wasn't over yet. Climbing down uses a different set of muscles than climbing up, and my damaged ribs made me aware of the fact. Next thing you know, it feels as my ribs were seperating from my chest and I cursed the horses as I limped very slowly back down the ladder.
After getting down, I hobbled back to my car using a different route, and called my virtual ground crew with only enough energy to tell part of the story.
As I drove away I couldn't help but laugh as I said to myself, "BASE. It's a never-ending adventure."
:-)
I'm now sitting in _______ and am feeling bruised, but good enough to jump. So I'm waiting on the weather so I can jump this way cool Eiffel Tower "look-a like" thing up the street. And the good thing about it, there's not a horse for miles. ;-)
Coming to an object near you soon...
Bryan Stokes
I'm on the road for a little Christmas adventure -- some family, some business, and of course, some BASE jumping.
So there I am, traveling across the __________ and I see tall blinking lights about 5 to 10 miles off the highway. I had been driving for 10 hours by myself and I had been eyeing the moon as it rose into the nighttime sky, so I decided to pull over to stretch the ol' legs. As I pulled off the highway, I hopped out of the car and there was absolutely no wind. A rare occasion for _________. :P
Something was calling me to this object that I had never seen before, so off I went down various roads inching my way ever closer to the object. When I got there, I was pleased to find that the nearest house was at least a 1/2 mile away. And I was even more pleased when I found incredibly easy access and ample altitude for a sweet slider-up jump.
I've done plenty of true solos in my BASE career, but couldn't find a reason to do it tonight. So I pulled out the Vista, marked the coordinates, and then called up ______ back in my home state.
The converstaion was funny -- it went something like this: "Hey dude. I'm in ______ and I need virtual ground crew. Got your Vista?"
"Yep. What's the coordinates?"
"They're N _______ and W _______"
"Ok, hold on.....got it. I see that your at ______"
"Yep, that's it. I'll call you when I get to the exit. C-ya!"
I laughed at the situation thinking about technology and what it's done for us.
Deciding that I didn't want to park right at the base of this thing, I set off looking for a far away place to stash the car.
I found a nice little spot behind a semi-truck sized bail of cotton, and gathered everything up and took off across the fields for my mile or so walk to the object.
I was thinking about how perfect the night was. Cold and calm...moon shining bright in the sky...when all of a sudden, things took a turn for the worse.
Right in front of me, 4 or 5 horses stood up with a bunch of their little baby horses. They were pissed and even though they scared the crap out of me, I responded with my hands held high and I made a menacing noise in an effort to let them know who was the boss in this situation.
That was a big mistake.
In the same amount of delay one would take from Tombstone, they were on me. I kicked and yelled and fought back like there was no tomorrow, but as much as I hate to say it, I got my ass kicked by a couple of horses.
I managed to get out from under them and off to the side. They backed off slightly and I hobbled off as quickly as I could. I found a fence and gladly seperated myself from them. Assesing myself, I found some bruised ribs, a bloody lip, and various other things, but for the most part, I was intact. Not wanting to quit, I limped on towards the object.
Upon arriving at the base of my prize, I began gearing up while still thinking about the ass whooping I just got from a couple of farm animals. Right after cinching my chest strap, a car pulled onto the dirt road leading to the base of the object.
#####! Only having 3 or 4 seconds, I dove towards a small depression in the ground. The car came wheeling up and stopped about 100ft away from me.
My heart was pounding like crazy and then once they got out of the car, I realized it was just a redneck and his girlfriend (luv ya Gardner!). Still not wanting to expose myself, I waited to see what they would do. After 15 minutes of stinky-finger, the boyfriend was finally convinced by the girl that she didn't want to "do it" out here, and she much prefered to go somewhere else. There was not going to be any live porn for me tonight. Seeing the "go-ahead" the guy ushered her into the car and off they went to who knows where.
Not beleiving how the night's events were unfolding, I commented that at least the weather was calm, and I now had the object to myself.
Up the ladder I went. Now, I've climbed some crappy ladders before, but this one took the Grand Prize. It was loose, cramped, and there were wires everywhere. But it didn't matter, I was getting this jump...
So there I am plugging along only to greeted by a slight breeze down the wire at 150ft. By the time I got to 300ft, it was 30 right down the wire.
Trying to deny the fact, I moved up to 400ft before stopping to accept the fact that it was not meant to be. (maybe if I was from Portland...)
I started the climb down.
Of course, it wasn't over yet. Climbing down uses a different set of muscles than climbing up, and my damaged ribs made me aware of the fact. Next thing you know, it feels as my ribs were seperating from my chest and I cursed the horses as I limped very slowly back down the ladder.
After getting down, I hobbled back to my car using a different route, and called my virtual ground crew with only enough energy to tell part of the story.
As I drove away I couldn't help but laugh as I said to myself, "BASE. It's a never-ending adventure."
:-)
I'm now sitting in _______ and am feeling bruised, but good enough to jump. So I'm waiting on the weather so I can jump this way cool Eiffel Tower "look-a like" thing up the street. And the good thing about it, there's not a horse for miles. ;-)
Coming to an object near you soon...
Bryan Stokes