Adventures in the Sky

Thanksgiving, 2001

Birthdays at the Hickman Household get rather crazy around this time of year. My eldest daughter, Angel, has her birthday on the 21st, I have mine on the 26th, Thanksgiving comes right in the middle of all of it, and then my son Jarod has his birthday December 4th followed by my wife's on December 7th. By the time we get to Laura's birthday, with Christmas staring us all down just weeks away, about the LAST think Laura wants is another party, cake and presents. So, a year or so ago, Angel, Laura and I all got together and decided to consolidate our birthdays. Ever since then we ALL celebrate our birthdays at once ... on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We have one cake, exchange all kinds of presents and try to do something a little unusual. This year, Laura decided we should all go our and take a ride on a Powerchute.

Powerchute are perhaps best described as a cross between a go-cart, a huge fan and a kite. It is a metal framework on wheels with an aviation engine and huge propeller on the back attached to a mammoth parachute. I only found out later in the middle of the flight that it is rather like sitting on a bicycle at 3,000 feet in the air!

We arrived VERY early in the morning (before eight) as we were told that it would be easier to haul someone of my weight into the air in colder air. As it turned out, the morning was VERY cold. We all thawed out sometime later that afternoon.

Angel went up first, followed by your mother. It was quite an adventure. I was the last to go up. The pilot put my helmet on me, positioned the microphone so that we could talk to each other and off we charged across the cow pasture, the engine buzzing behind me.

The sensation reminded me of the motion of a Ferris wheel -- and you know how much I hate Ferris Wheels! It seemed like we were hanging from the parachute (which, of course, we were) and we caught a lot of turbulence as the morning warmed up. I found it a decidedly unpleasant sensation at first. I tightened down my shoulder straps. Other than the seat between my legs, there was nothing between me and a very long drop to the ground.

Finally, at 3000 feet over the valley, he turned off the engine. In the sudden quiet, we seemed to hang there suspended in the sky. There was nothing in front of me: no framework, no canopy, nothing -- except the beautiful earth below. I could take in Zions Canyon National Park, Pine Mountain and Snow Canyon in a single view. St. George sat below us to our left as a little jewel of a town. It was truly beautiful and moving.

The pilot -- Frederic was his name -- reached over and pulled on one of the side lanyards. Our little Powerchute wheeled over into a delightful spin, a neat little roller-coaster ride. Soon we were drifting down back toward the cow pasture / airfield. He turned the engine back on, we buzzed a couple of cows and were back on the ground.

Quite an adventure for our joint birthdays!

If you would like to know more about powerchutes, you can visit the website of the guys who actually managed to get me into the air at: http://www.skytrailsranch.com