Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #37 – A Surprise Birthday Party and Jumping Out of a Perfectly Good Airplane!

 

Wednesday, September 11^th., 2024…… A 75^th milestone Birthday for me! I started the day like any other day. The only thing happening tonight was dinner at The Point. Just Penny and Cherrelyn and us. I was going to take the motorhome in to Sweet Home to get new tires for the front today, but the weather wasn’t cooperating. It was sprinkling when I walked the girls so I texted the guy and asked if I can come in tomorrow. It was a good thing because it came down on and off for most of the day. We both worked on the weeding and got that done. We both also worked on some small projects around the house. Then, later, after Penny came over, we changed and headed off to dinner and enjoyed a great meal. I am still working on keeping my weight down, both for my procedure next week and also to make the weight limit for skydiving this weekend. But I still enjoyed the one beer! After we ate, we headed back home. What, to my surprise could all of the cars in the driveway mean! Happy birthday to me! Cathye had been working on this in secret, for some time. It was nice to see everyone there and we all celebrated with cake and ice cream and I got to open many funny bd cards!

Thanks Sweetie, for doing this for my big 75!  Love you to infinity and beyond!  After everyone left, we cleaned up a bit and then watched tv until hitting the spa before bed. A really fun day!  

Thursday, September 12^th., 2024……  Ok, today was busy. Cathye would get up later and walk and feed the dogs. But I was up early. I got the motorhome out and made a careful drive on the now well-worn-out front tires. But I made it and they went to work right away. Here is the wear on the front left….

After they had the tires off, one guy said, “I think I found your problem!”

No, that tie rod arm should NOT bend like that! He asked if I ran over something. Nope. Plus, the way it was bent meant I would have had to back over something. I thought about it for a while, then it hit me!  Back in 2018, when I was having the rv garage built, I had Tim excavate an area for a gravel driveway. Here are before and after file pics of that area…

When he was finished and had the gravel in and leveled, he said I should back in and out on it with the motorhome to help pack it done. Well, that didn’t work so well, and I buried the back wheels in to the frame! So, he had me get in and he hooked up a chain to the frame under the front, and pulled me out with his tractor. Turns out he must have attached the chain around the tie rod and when he pulled, he bent it like you see in the pics. That started the chain of problems with the front tires wearing out so fast.  I was grinding the edges off the tires and wearing them out quickly! So, after the tires were done, I headed over to Sanders Truck Alignment, about 15 miles away. They confirmed that the part was supposed to be straight! They had them in stock and before the day was over, I got a call that they had made the repairs and did a front end alignment and I was good to go. Not a cheap day but we now have peace of mind that we are not going to have any more tire issues. That’s good because we go to the coast next month for an outing with our rv club.     

Later in the afternoon, we headed off to the local Thursday farmer’s market on Main St. in town. We were there for a square dance exhibition to promote our upcoming class. We danced for about an hour and then headed off with a few friends to see our buddy, Rick, at his Kento Grill and have dinner. Back home later and tv and spa and bed.

Friday, September 13^th., 2024……  We were out to breakfast this morning and then on to pick up the motorhome. Here is the new part...

Randy is due in sometime today. He has Chuck, one of his riding buddies, with him this time. They are making their way north, stopping by Randy’s favorite bike trails to show to Chuck, who has never been out with him on a road trip before. Cathye had made chicken pot pie but they were late so they missed out and had to heat it up later. We visited for a while then called it a night. Tomorrow we skydive!  

Saturday, September 14^th., 2024…… Whoopie, today’s the day! I have not been stressed or worried about doing this and slept great last night!  I think I made up my mind years and years ago that I wanted to do it someday. Cathye had organized it and was originally planning to go too, but her medical issues got in the way for now. So, she gave her ride to Randy, who, had never thought too much about it, but is pretty much adventurous and joined me. Penny came over and the five of us headed down to Creswell, just south of Eugene to this tiny little airport, where Eugene Skydiving was located. We signed in and paid. We opted for the extra $ video for both of us. It only took a few minutes to go through the safety video and sign our waivers. Our tandem partner today was Ryan, who took us both out to get a quick tour of the plane and told us what we needed to do while getting out on the platform for the jump. Since I was going first (my choice), I went in and got harnessed up.  Ryan was a great instructor and made me feel at ease.  They got me in the plane and situated. I had to sit on the floor with my legs straight out flat (more on that in a minute). Ryan sat back to back with me for the ride up to 10,500 feet that took about 20 minutes. Then it was time to go! They opened up the side door and he said, “Put your foot on that plate above the landing gear wheel and we will go. It didn’t take anything for me to make that step out. But with all of the wind, I did have a little trouble keeping my feet on that little piece of metal. But once I got there, I was ready! Out we went! We had roughly 20-30 seconds of free fall (amazing) before he snatched my balls away when he popped the chute! It was a shock and a little uncomfortable on the boys (!) for the ride down! But it was still amazing! He let me have control of the chute and I did some turns. And yes, when you pull one side all the way to your chest, you do go into a spiral where your body is parallel to the ground for a short time!  That was cool! Then, we made our way to the landing zone. It was right across from the hanger, so the others could get some photos. As instructed, I had to hold my legs off the ground so Ryan could touch down first, then we both sat down to close the chute. One little bump on the butt and I was good!  We rode back on the golf cart and then it was Randy’s turn. Same pilot and jumper. Randy’s description was pretty much the same as mine. Awesome! Ryan came in a little hotter with him and Randy touched one of his feet before Ryan, so it was a little rougher landing. But he was fine. We all headed to the hanger and got our certificates and got to sign the 2024 jumper’s sign! I wrote, “I kicked this pig!”  The whole experience was magical, and I would definitely do it again! 

Here are some pics that Cathye and Penny took of both of us on our adventure. Also some we captured from the video file. You may have to zoom in on those when we were way up there!

 

 

Cathye was a little bummed but we plan on coming back for her birthday next year!  We went in and bought souvenir shirts and socks (thanks Randy) and then headed home.

I was good to go, but later, after the ride home, I noticed that my right knee was a little tight. I think I tweaked it either when I was sitting on the floor of the plane with my legs straight out (really uncomfortable for me with my osteoporosis!), or when we touched down on our butts. I took some Tylenol later and that would help. Randy had similar symptoms on the same knee that he touched down on with his foot. But, other than that, we were good to go. When we got back home we relaxed for a bit, before going off to Gametime for dinner and drinks with the boys and Cherrelyn and Penny, who joined us there. We all came back to the house.  If the guys were going out to ride this afternoon, we were planning on going to the visitation dance in Sweet Home with our Club. But they weren’t so we decided to spend time with family instead, and we all hung out by the firepit on the deck for a while. What a fun day! Thanks to my treasure of a wife for organizing this special treat! What a sweetheart!  “I promise we’ll go back so you can do it too!”