Today was an off day for training. Slept in a little bit and went over to BJ’s to watch some Football. After watching the Colts spank the Bronco’s I watched Batman Begins and are some power fuel (Pizza). After that, BJ said we were going to go jumping into some water. So Tony and I pile into BJ’s truck with him and off we go.
The first place we went to was called the Boiling Pots and it was a pretty good time. The drop was around 25 feet or so, and was the first time I had ever jumped into the water from so high. I made the mistake of taking in a deep breath right before I jumped and when I landed I knocked the wind out of myself. Couldn’t help but laugh, but I was okay and it wasn’t too bad. We climbed out of the water, dried off and headed to another place.
This time it was a bridge off the side of the road and it was a lot higher. When we got out of BJ’s truck and walked over to the bridge I was thinking that there was no way we were jumping this and that it had to be a joke. BJ had this smirk on his face, as he always does, and kept trying to tell me it wasn’t a joke. He was saying he had never jumped into this one, but had seen people do it a bunch of times. As I am doubting him, I notice a cross right where we are standing with flowers all over it and BJ tells me that someone died jumping from here a few months ago when they didn’t get a good push off and landed on the rocks. Now I know he must be joking… until he climbs over the edge and jumps.
WTF. He didn’t just do that. Now Tony climbs over and he jumps too. They both land safely and are looking up at me to jump. I am thinking there is no way I am doing this jump. The other one I could handle… this is way too far. Next thing I know I am climbing over the edge and ready to jump. Now I am paranoid that I need to get a good push off the edge or there is going to be a cross there for me too. I get a good push off and I push the air out of my body so I don’t knock the wind out of myself. I am so happy to be alive, and that I actually went through with it that I don’t even think about anything else. A few seconds later I realize how hard I hit the water and everything from my elbows to my fingertips are bright red, numb and tingling. It also feels like I just got punched in the face and throat because of how I landed.
We climb back up to the road and notice a helicopter buzzing overhead pretty low. It’s one of those yellow rescue helicopters and we wonder what’s going on. Helicopter flies away and we get back into BJ’s truck and head back to the house. We are coming up on the entrance to the first place we went to and see an ambulance pulling in. We figure the helicopter and the ambulance must be related and pull in to see what’s going on.
When we were leaving the first place, we passed 4 kids that were heading to where we had just jumped from. Sadly, one of the kids jumped from a different ledge into a different pool and didn’t come out of the water. Not sure if the drop was higher, or he landed on something. I tried to look up some news on it, but can’t find anything. RIP.