When I set off on this journey, one of my very first rules was ‘say yes’. Whenever I was going to spend time with someone, if they asked me to tag along with what they were doing, I would say yes. That rule has brought me to pee-wee soccer matches, the green rooms at music venues, into the kitchens of popular restaurants and opened the door to too many incredible experiences to list. This last week, it brought me to the airport in Stevensville, Montana - the home of Skydive Missoula. My friend, Renee, is obsessed with skydiving and spends all of her summer weekends in the “drop zone”. When she asked me to tag along, my answer came easily: yes. Because she knows everyone there, she introduced me around and over the next couple of weekends I got a serious look inside the world of skydiving. Unfortunately, because of the repair bill I’m looking at for my van this month, I didn’t jump myself, but I had an awesome time hanging around the shop, getting to know everyone and taking these photos.
The shop at Skydive Missoula wasn’t an unfamiliar environment for me. It reminded me in many ways of the scuba dive shops I’ve worked at over the years, just with a different set of equipment. It’s a vibrant place, with music pumping and a hundred different things happening at once. The longer I spent there, the more organized the chaos became until I finally saw the well-oiled machine it actually is. Everyone I met at Skydive Missoula over the last two weeks was excited for their jumps from first-time tandem jumpers to seasoned veterans with thousands of jumps in their logbooks. It really was a fun environment to experience, even though I wasn’t there to jump. I was incredibly impressed with the competence of the staff who lived, ate and breathed skydiving. Having hung out with them outside of the shop as well, I can tell you that they just keep on talking about skydiving late into the night. Even the pilot of their plane was a seasoned skydiver.
During my two weekends at Skydive Missoula, I got to be witness some really cool experiences, including my friend Renee’s 100th skydive - an epic milestone in her skydiving career. I also got to see one of the school’s students, Sereina, get her skydiving license which put a huge smile on her face. In addition, I got to see a couple of dozen people make their very first skydive ever. They looked nervous getting on the plane, but were all smiles by the time they landed.
I had an amazing couple of weekends hanging out at Skydive Missoula. If you’re ever in the area, stop on in and tell them I sent you. I’m sure they’d love to show you how to fly.