relaxing morning, and Neha’s wonderful vegetable briyani for lunch. joined Kunaal at the YMCA for Aroo’s swim class. was really cute watching the kids get introduced to the pool. took a short driving tour nearby, then on to the airport and my flights home. disappointed to see no progress on the roof.
got breakfast across the street from the hotel at e.leaven. shockingly, is a restaurant in Jackson that has also expanded into Chicago. was nice to see a photo of the Teton Range in the restaurant, and realized how it can be a small world sometimes. Kunaal picked me up and we went to his place. spent the day with Neha and the family and had a good time hanging out and chatting. not to mention the fantastic food that rolled out of the kitchen all day and night. 🙂 Tarun and Neha came by for dinner, and a good time was had by all.
all day meetings at the James Hotel, then on to a dinner cruise on Lake Michigan. had some incredible views of the city at sunset, and was great to catch up with some good friends.
camped out in front of the AT&T store last night to ensure i’d be one of the few in town with a new iPhone. met some cool folks, and after 12 hours of waiting, i was in and out of the store in 5 minutes with my new toy. is nice to finally have room for all of my music, videos, etc., and the ability to shoot video in Europe next month.
my USPA A license showed up in the mail today. hopefully, this will be my ticket to jump in Europe next month. but, the downside is i’ll now be bothered to sign off on other people’s jumps.
drove up to the DZ and it was windy! skipped the first load to let some others be the guinea pigs, and after seeing them battle the winds, i grounded myself for the day. was 20 mph, gusting to 30 mph, so i figured it was probably better if i just watched. helped a number of tandems land, then started the long drive home. made it home before dark and was able to do a run along the dike before settling in for the night.
got in the night before and stayed at Dave’s. arrived at the DZ by 9 am – did 2 solo jumps, did 2 2-ways with John, did a 3-way with Jason and Marty and thought i was done for the day. had a pretty sketchy landing on the last jump, as my base leg on the landing was with the wind, and i was unable to turn cross wind for my landing. landed ok, but it was my only non-stand up landing of the day, and even managed to squeeze by the fuel truck. 🙂 got talked into a sunset 10-way with the pros to end the day which was very cool. was Jake’s 1000th, and someone pulled his hacky at about 9,000′. spent about 11 hours at the DZ, then went downtown to Wing Nutz afterwards with the crew and finally made it back to Dave’s for some well earned rest.
got up and watched some of the Ghana game before the others awoke. chatted a bit and played with Roni, then headed back to Ogden. missed the first couple of loads, then got put on about a 3 hour weather delay. finally got up twice and had a pair of very nice flights, including my first gainer exits. Miller was flying a wing suit for the first time, and on his second jump he had his first cutaway. grabbed some Thai on the way out with Ryan, Jake, and Chase. the long drive home wasn’t so bad – caught a gorgeous sunset on the other side of the Pass.
woke up early and caught the Argentina game in a coffee shop. drove over to the DZ knowing that everything would be grounded due to the weather, and was right. went to Iggy’s and caught the first half of a poor US effort against England, then crossed the street to iFly for my 2:00 pm tunnel time reservation. spent 20 minutes practicing belly flying and am starting to feel dialed. grabbed some food with John after flying, then drove down to Salt Lake to hang out with the Blacks. had a nice sushi dinner, a few drinks, and spent the night catching up.
got up and the rain was back. tried to wait it out, but eventually figured it wasn’t going to stop. broke down camp then paddled all the way back through a constant drizzle. wasn’t too bad, and was great to finally get into the truck and take off some wet clothes.
