Drop Zone

Those are not specks on your screen.  Those nine black dots that you're currently trying to scrape off your screen with a fingernail, are skydivers.

Yes, skydivers.  People who jump out of planes.  On purpose and supposedly for fun.

We picked up our friends Marlaina and MacG at the T/A in Eloy today.  They're spending the weekend with us.  Our first stop was lunch and since it's Eloy - which is basically consists of dirt, cotton, and correction centers - our choices were limited.

We found the Bent Prop Saloon & Cookery located on the grounds of Skydive Arizona.

When we arrived we saw planes circling and skydivers falling from the sky. Lots of them - at one point, we counted 20 divers in the sky.

We all ordered the Bent Prop burger - not bad, served with a giant slice of green chile - and scarfed down our meals since all four of us were on the edge of starving.

There were only a few customers in the bar area, more in the main dining area, and several sitting outside dining and watching skydivers hit the dirt.

The quiet of the building interior belied the crowd just outside the doors. People sitting on the back patio of the salon, wandering the grounds, and in their own lawn chairs just in front of the landing area.

It was definitely a good call since lunch came with a show.  After watching a few jumps - and one guy fall to the earth without a parachute (we were told he was okay) - we headed back to the house.

I've never seen skydivers this closely.  The divers seemed pretty young (and fit!) and seemed experienced, if their landings were any indication.  I only saw one guy come in and land on his ass.

There were also quite a few guys in camo since they also do military jump training at this location.

Skydive Arizona bills itself as the "world's largest skydiving center" since they average 135,000 dives per year.

There's a chance of death involved - a guy just died in a jump a few days ago, and another one on New Year's Eve - so it's not anything I would ever do, but all in all, it was an interesting find.



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2015: King (And Queen) Of The World
2014: Winding It Up Before Leaving Town
2013: Who Is A Bahamian?
2012: Pay No Attention To The Cat Behind The Curtain
2011: Papa Can You Hear Me?
2010: The Err Erudes Them
2009: Sorry, no post for this date.
2008: Addicted
2007: When You Just Can’t Decide Between Dinner And Breakfast
2006: Purple Industrial Skies
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!