The journey between here and there

The ringing phone shattered my dreams and brought me to a hazy reality. I grabbed the phone and just listened. It was Elvis!
“Good morning! Welcome to Vegas baby! It’s time to wake up and enjoy the day,” said the Elvis voice.
Nice.
Only in Vegas can I get a wake up call from Elvis. Love it…. I wonder if I go to California if I can get a wake up call from Tom Welling?… hmm….

I lay in bed for a few moments trying to wake up. Once my mind reviews the things I have planned my heart is pumping the adrenaline is going and I shoot out of bed. I’m so excited. The cell phone buzzes. Dave has sent a text that he is on his way. Excellent. I finally get to meet this elusive guy. The adrenaline kicks it up a notch. I hop in the shower. The water is not draining and pools at the bottom of the tub… *sigh* I wish we were at the Venetian at this point cuz I know it will be amazing, but hey, it’s free so I have no right to complain.

“Uhh… Joanne?” Ryan pops his head into the bathroom.
“Ya?”
“Dave wants to know if he can come over to our room to freshen up.”
“WHAT?!? Are you kidding me?”
“Umm… no.”
I peer out of the curtain to look at his face. Nope he’s serious.
I laugh. How funny. Nothing like getting to meet each other for the first time and getting ready at the same time. Craziness. Excellent, I love surprises. I’m shocked actually and pumped.
“Whatever. I don’t care. I think it’s hilarious. As long as you don’t mind, just tell him to wait until we can get dressed.”

I cut the shower short, which I really didn’t mind cuz a flood is gonna happen if I don’t get out. I scramble to get dressed and tidy up the room a bit. Ryan’s turn in the shower and I’m trying to focus on what I’m doing.

I’m annoyed that the shower is not draining and wondering if he wants to take a shower and what the heck happened to him? Questions race through my mind as I fly about. Of course I should have called up maintenance to fix the problem right away, but that didn’t cross my mind until later.

I’m glad that Dave is comfortable enough with us that he can show up, change, shave and get ready in our hotel room. I laugh at the silliness of it all. The adrenaline jacks up another notch. I feel the energy race throughout my body. This is going to be a fun day. I’m worried that everyone will get along and wonder if I’ve made mistakes in the planning and inviting.

Dave arrives and he looks just as cute as he he does in all his pics and tall! Holy! He’s a whole foot taller than me. I shake his hand which seems awkward to me, but I just push the feeling out of the way and begin chattering. He has a warm smile and puts me at ease. As I get going I sneak glances to see how he is reacting and handling the energy. His eye brows shoot up several times. Wonderful. Exactly what I was going for. He can handle it, for how long, we’ll have to see how good his patience is. This is gonna be fun. I race around still frantically trying to get ready.

We need to be down for breakfast by 6:30am. Of course we don’t get down there until 7:15am. Late as always. One day I’d like to be on time and early. We meet up with Leslie and Kim who have sat down to eat at the buffet. Dave gets a cool reception from her. Instantly I know it’s going to be a rough day and I sigh. I’m annoyed that we’ve missed breakfast. I don’t care if I eat, cuz I normally skip breakfast anyway, but Ryan gets really cranky if he doesn’t eat and I’m not sure how Dave reacts to no food. Time will tell.

We all pile into ‘Jenna’ Dave’s blue VW and head off to Jean NV. The girls are chattering and laughing. I call the Extreme skydiving place and we’re still good to go. When we were at the hotel I had a vile of ginseng, royal jelly and a couple of bee pollen pills. Since I don’t drink caffeine, the stuff hits me when we are in the car. We turn into the airport and my energy goes off the charts. I feel like I’m going to burst. The car ride is killing me. I need to release this energy and get up and go.

We get to the skydiving building. They usher Dave and I into a small little room. We are given forms to fill out. I don’t even read the form, the small print or the blah, blah, blah. I just sign my name… and not even get that right. I write it on the wrong line… Focus. I can’t focus.

We have to watch this video that is hosted by Moses. The guy has a crazy wild beard. I can’t even pay attention to that. I figure the instructor will maybe tell me what I have to do and give me a little refresher right before we head out. I’m attached to someone else, it’s not like I have to know what I’m doing. I’m just along for the ride. Dave is focusing intently on what is being said. I try to keep quiet so he can listen, but Leslie comes in and distracts me. I’m looking everywhere except the video.

I’ve always wanted to go sky diving and here I am. Right at this moment. I’m so excited and pumped. I try so hard to settle down, it’s not working. Even though I’m not talking my body feels like it’s going to explode. I just want to go for a run to get rid of this energy. I shouldn’t have taken that energy stuff this morning. It’s throwing me for a loop. I usually get a rush like this before a race. My leg shakes in order to release some energy. My mind is flying everywhere at a million miles a second.

Finally Moses stops talking. I think most of what was said just swooshes over my head. We get our jump suits. Dave has a blue polka dot suit. He rocked the suit. It looked hilarious, but it was all good. I take a picture and he channels Michael Jackson in his pose. They gave me a purple thing.

Mike, my tandum guy, helps me into the suit.
“Stop moving and settle down.” He says trying to buckle me up as I bounce around.
“ok, sorry.” But then 2 seconds later my leg is shaking and I’m swaying back and forth.
“If you don’t stop moving you’re not going to make it to the ground alive.” he says.
“Just so you know $200 is in it for you if she doesn’t make it back.” Ryan offers, “I just took out a $800,000 dollar insurance policy against her, so it’s ok”
LOL… it’s how he says he loves me.
“How many times have you jumped?” I inquire of Mike.
“3″
I keep chattering to Leslie as he is buttoning and cinching me up. I heard the number, but didn’t acknowledge it.
“You didn’t even miss a beat or catch that did you.” he asks me.
I laugh. “I did, I just knew you were kidding.”
He’s actually done 2000 jumps, he informs me… good enough.

We go through and review what Moses was talking about….see I knew someone would run through it again.

Mike takes out the video camera and we head out. I get on the plane and I’m pumped. I have to swallow my gum and sit on Mike’s lap. It’s all good, he’s got nice blue eyes like my dad’s. Up, up we go. There are 6 of us crammed in this tiny space on the plane. I stop talking because the plane is noisy. I love planes. I want to fly one. I need to start taking lessons. Ryan got me a beginners lesson, but I want to learn more. I love the lift up in a plane, the view and the bird’s eye view. I just relaxed and watched everything go by. Unfortunately, being out in the desert there wasn’t much to watch. A lot of sand, sage brush and more sand. A little disappointing considering that I get to see the Rocky Mountains and the lush Kananaskis when I go up in a plane. There’s so much more to see out in Alberta, but hey, I’m in Nevada and it’s the dessert.

Up, up, we go. I was so thrilled. I’ve always wanted to do this and I was so pumped. I grew quiet, just looking out the window and drinking in this moment trying to embed it into my memory so I could remember this forever. We reach 15, 000 feet and it’s the first guys turn to jump. The sound of the air rushing through the cabin freaked me out. They jumped out and I began to scream! I covered my eyes and my adrenaline was racing. Mike scoots over to the edge.

“Are you ready?” he asks.
“Nononononononononononono….” I scream and shake my head. He tilts my head back and pushes off. I close my eyes and I scream for the first 5 seconds. I force my eyes open cuz I don’t want to miss this. I hate this falling feeling. I feel like I left my stomach back in the plane. It was just surreal. The wind rushing by was so noisy and loud. My legs grew numb and I just wanted the parachute to open up. After what seems like forever the tug of the parachute whips us up. Then everything goes silent. The fluttering of the parachute is all you hear from up high. It was so peaceful. I loved it.

I looked for Dave and the other guy and they were already so close to the ground. Mike asks me if I like roller coasters… umm… heck ya! So he twirls and spins us around. It was dizzy fun. Yippee… I just want to float around in the sky for awhile longer. I want to do this again… but somewhere that has lots to look at from the sky.

We landed and after the dust settled I had Mike help me up. I was just so content and happy. That was so much fun. I wanted to do it again.

Ryan, Leslie and Kim met us at the drop zone. After posing for a couple of pics, Dave and I hopped into the van that took us back to the airport. I got a DVD of the jump, changed out of the purple outfit, then we headed off to Pahrump to go find the Spring Mountain Racetrack and ride in the Bishop’s radical SR3. Another adventure awaited us…