So I sent a text to my friend Jen, who has proven to be a person who is always up for an adventure, that said something like, "I think I need to zipline." I expected her response to be something to the effect of, "Sure! We'll chat about it when I get home from vacation!" and then we would peruse the Shawnee Bluffs website, consider our options, think about good dates, etc., etc. Instead, she wrote back, "Great! Tuesday!" Yikes! Better get my brave pants on. She is READY.
We settled on today, Thursday, for a day of great weather and free schedules, and it was an AMAZING adventure. Two days after I booked the three-hour tour (hm.... where have I heard THAT particular phrase associated with a particularly BAD tour experience...?) on the website, Jen met me at my house--earlier than I know she prefers to get up in the summer--and then we picked up her friend Devon, and we were on our way to Makanda into the wilds of the Shawnee Forest. Following the GPS lady's advice, we wound our way from paved to rock to dirt roads until we came upon the building where all the fun happens and prepared ourselves for this adventure in the treetops.
The building is actually quite nice--clean and comfortable, offering nice facilities (good for nervous bladders) and all the amenities to make a lovely day of ziplining. After signing our forms promising not to sue in case of lost limbs, possessions, or lives, we went outside to put on our gear and get our "class" on how to properly zip. We were given all manner of confusing straps and clamps and clips, a bottle of water, gloves, and a lovely yellow helmet, and a trusty guide trussed us all up in the safety gear. Then we all trooped down to the class area--a very gentle, mostly horizontal practice line to get us used to the feel of the zipping. All good! I managed to take off, put on the brakes with my leather gloves, and come to a stop as directed. Mostly. I actually gripped the wire with all my might, bringing me to a dead stop rather than a gentle slow-down, but no worries. I then got to practice pulling myself to the stopping point. Practice eventually made perfect....
Alrighty. On to the zipping! We all hiked over to the first bluff, and here I must admit that when I first conceived of the idea of zipping, I mistakenly thought the name of the company was Shawnee TRAILS Canopy Tour; it is actually Shawnee BLUFFS Canopy Tour. As in, rock bluffs. In the air. With valleys swooping into the bottoms. Where the trails are. We were in the CANOPY of the trees. So my first look at the first zipline took my breath away--literally. I was one of the last to go, and I watched all the other zippers coast off into the forest professionally and with little fuss. Must be easy, then! Not at all scary or terrorizing. There were children, even, on this trip. And one sort-of elderly fella. So my turn. I approached the little step stool, carefully not looking into the abyss below me, allowed Dustin to attach my apparatus to the line, check all the carabiners, and await word on his walkie-talkie that all was clear. Alrighty. All one has to do is to sort of sit in the harness; as long as one is on her feet, nothing happens, but as soon as her feet lift up, the zipping starts. Okay, then. Just sit. Mhm. It is one thing to watch the graceful ease with which everyone ELSE lifts their feet to zoom off into the distance, it is another thing entirely to actually lift one's own feet and trust this fella with the bleach-blonde bangs and hipster glasses and blasé attitude to know what he is doing with my safety. So deep breath. Aaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnndddddd sit! I'm doing it!!! HolycowI'mdoingit!!!! WWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! Careening across the valleys and streams and rocky bluffs! Weightless and free!!!!! Wind in my face!! Screeching like a crazed pterodactyl all the way across, but no matter!!!! I DID IT. Almost--my zeal to come to a stop actually stopped me a little ahead of the platform, but thanks to my attention in class, I knew how to hoist myself the last few feet to the goal. And then clung to the tree in the middle of the platform as my knees remembered how to hold up my body and my heart resumed its normal pace while everyone made such funny jokes about tree-hugging. Har, har. Whatevs. I survived! Kinda! One down, seven to go. And that, I was then told, was the baby one! The one to ease people into the process! !!!!!
And the next seven zips were all completely differing experiences--some were extra-tall (100 feet or more to the floor of the forest in some spots), some were extra-long (1000+ feet from platform to platform), some were extra-fast (speeds approaching 42+ miles per hour across the swooping zipline), and some were easy--short jaunts across from tree to tree. There was some hiking in the wilderness to get from one spot to the next; we traveled over rocks, dirt trails, and suspended bridges to achieve the next goal--stopping from time to time for pics (which are for sale when we return back to home base... of course... :-) ). The day was so beautiful--one of those days when Mother Nature is really showing off in southern Illinois; no humidity, temps around 77, a light breeze, and full sunshine dappling the ground through the leaves. We even saw a deer that had no worries about a troop of people squealing and crowing across the skies in the forest. She was taking a snooze, curled up in a little curved cleft in a rocky bluff.
Because each zip was really very different from the last, each had something new to offer. Sights, emotions, lessons, and challenges were unique to each experience, and I am so happy I did all of those jumps. I actually got pretty proficient at working my "brakes" (the leather piece on my gloves) and it took less and less time for me to convince myself to "sit" and just fly across the leaves and streams below. It is by turns exhilarating and terrifying, awe-full and breath-taking. Each and every leap brought a new adventure and a racing adrenaline rush, complete with wobbly knees and shaky hands and a huge smile, no matter how scary the initial "sitting" was. The wind was responsible for the water in my eyes, I'm pretty sure, but it could also have been the awareness that I am a lucky, lucky lady, alive, able-bodied, and brave on this day. Ready to take on my next decade of life with a confident leap. Zip zip!!!
Other awesomenesses to report today:
- celebratory lunch at Russell Hill Winery! We three zippers enjoyed a terrific lunch--lovely turkey and asparagus panini for me, sangria, spinach and artichoke dip, and a mocha/coffee cheesecake to finish, eaten outside in the sunshiny breezes. Delightful!
- delivery of wireless printer! Am fancy. I could print from RIGHT HERE on my bed if I wanted to.
- arrival of Lilly Pulitzer agenda! So pretty and preppy! Can't wait to schedule my next thirty-seven adventures!
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