Recent Musings:
I did it!
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
I actually went hang-gliding! Wow, what an experience. I'm alive, nothing's broken and I have a roll and a half of great action photos my boyfriend captured for me.
We had a comical start. I got up at 5 a.m., called my man and woke him up, chugged lots of coffee and hit the road by 6 a.m. We arrived in the town at 7:30-ish and I called the instructor to get directions to the field. He says, "Oh Rhonda, I didn't know you were coming today!" I about cried and went ballistic at the same time, but he made it happen, although a couple hours later than anticipated.
I was nervous and very jittery. I had know idea we were towed up 3,000 feet by an ultra-light plane! I asked the other flyer to go first so I could watch and when she landed, saying it was incredible, I was ready. They buckled me and the instructor in (I went tandem), made sure I was mentally ready, told me not to touch any part of the hang-glider and off we started.
I'd say I probably never moved for the first 2,000 feet of the flight. Mike, the instructor I was tandem with, asked if I liked the view and I said, "I'm too scared to turn my head!" He laughed and told me it'd be fine, so I started checking things out. The reason I always wanted to hang-glide is because I thought it would be the closest you could get to feeling like a bird, with that feeling of soaring and floating and feeling free. It wasn't until we released the towline from the plane that I actually felt like a bird - it was like being completely suspended in the air a half mile above ground. I was elated.
We also broke a major flying law by flying through a cloud! I guess this is never supposed to be done but our ultra-light pilot towed us right for one, so we went for it. That was cool. It was instantly warm and wet inside the cloud; I took a big inhale and closed my eyes - how often does one get to be inside a cloud?!
We descended gradually, with Mike asking and always checking that I was okay, which I appreciated greatly. He did a couple stalls and a wing-over, which were kind of scary and exhilarating. I was smiling ear to ear by the time we landed and was so pleased with myself for going through with it.
I have great pictures, thanks to my honey, so any time you'd like to check them out, let me know!