And so, it's been a while and I had an "itch" that I needed to explore. In short, I miss the sky.
I used to skydive every weekend and fly small planes as well. There is something about being vertical and having vertical freedom. It's been said many different ways by many more eloquent than me, about breaking the shackles and rising against gravity and all that... but still, there is *something* to being in the sky like the birds that really has no comparison.
And so on that note, I left pre-dawn. It's nice now that the morning and evening sun grants me plenty of time for distance travel before I have to work my day job. I decided to skip the interstate and head north to a drop zone I was only vaguely aware of, Skydive Superior, on the shores of Lake Superior in Superior, Wisconsin, just south of Duluth. The sky was calm and the early morning roads perfect as I carved endlessly through backcountry Minnesota out towards the river valley, then up the scenic river valley route for an hour through a green-saturated countryside road that follows the river north. I reached my cross-over point at St Croix Falls. There we dive into Wisconsin's highway 35, a more or less northbound backcountry road that itself took me past seemingly-endless barns and silos and farms and through charming towns in rural Wisconsin. "Population: 125" kind of towns.
The final push up from a comfortable coffee shop in Webster, Wisconsin (Fresh Start Coffee Roasters) into Superior lead me straight to the airport terminal and a CLOSED hangar. "Skydive Superior", it seems, is no more. Instead, there is now Skydive Duluth in its stead, a brand new drop zone started by one of the die-hard locals who wanted to keep skydiving alive in the Duluth area. As the story goes, this all happened after a very unfortunate Skydive Superior airplane crash involving skydivers. It had a happy outcome. Luckily, when airplanes go 'bonk', skydivers and their pilots are all wearing parachutes. :-)
I chat for a long while with one of the FBO (terminal operator) folks, who fills me in on the back story. Then, one of the flight instructors there comes in and we get to talking. I reminisce about my old days of flying and, before long, I am signing up to come fly with him in the coming week. What? Am I really ready for this? My heart says yes, willingly, gratefully "yes!", to the idea of flying again. I guess I'm going to be airborne again soon, one way or another (or both), as a pilot and as a skydiver.
I thank him and find a Superior-based coffee shop in which to finish my work day. I close out the place and head home, through another long windy Minnesota road, across old railroad bridges and down along the Veteran's Memorial Highway. It is an hour of stunning (STUNNING) and curvy countryside with massive evergreens and maples towering on both sides of the road. Loved every minute of it.
But, as with all good things, I was forced to call it and head for the interstate when I saw huge thunderstorms brewing to the south of me. The wind started howling, gusting 30-50 mph due west and the cutting crosswind made my speedy interstate ride southbound into the looming storm a bit challenging. Still, we make it just in time to avoid the bulk of the rain I see washing down from an angry looking sky just to the southwest.
As I tuck Sunshine, my Bandit 1250, into the garage and connect up her charging station, I think about the day we just had. After a nearly 400-mile roundtrip and all that we saw and did, I pat her seat and remember Dad's words.
A day well-lived, that's what today feels like.
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