Passion for Skydiving has Priority over Posting!

Author’s Thoughts 

Tomorrow is Saturday and for most of you Saturday is already here.  The big news is that the website has generated tremendous traffic from so many people coming and sharing their ideas and input.  It is amazing what you can do in one week.  I really look forward to the next week to see what can grow and become of this little plant that is growing in the corner.  With enough water, light and love this plant is going to turn into a tree and provide abundant fruit, shade and comfort that many can share at one time.

Some of you may be sad to hear that this will be the only post on Saturday….why?  Because I am going to pursue one of my favorite passions.  I say “one” because I have many.  It falls into the category of a major one called “flying”.  I love to be in the air whether its in a plane, helicopter, BASE Jumping or skydiving.  Tomorrow is the start of my summer skydiving season.  With a whole week of eating, breathing, dreaming and talking about following your passion it is time I did just that.

I work part time for Mile Hi Skydiving just outside of Denver.  They are wonderful operation and everyone there is like family.  (See Human need number five on the Anthony Robbins post) Going there is like going home to a family reunion every weekend.  Being around other people that feel just like you do about what you are doing, is a wonderful place to be.  Explaining what it is like to skydive or be a skydiver is too hard…the only way to know what it is like is to have them do it and live it.

He is one of the family members that I was mentioning.  One of the “good guys”. He has an amazing story that I hope he will soon tell.

I realized that I needed to get ready so I have dug out all the old gear, dusted off the helmets, charged the camera batteries and pulled out the rigs.  Hopefully, no little rodents have made their winter bed in my parachutes.  I guess I will just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best.  Altimeter, camera suits, tandem suits, helmets, goggles, gloves, etc…it all adds up.  One way or another when you skydive you will come back to Earth.  The question is, “How hard!”  The proper gear helps to provide a positive answer to that question.

My favorite part about tomorrow is the skydiving, but a very close runner up is being around all the people that will do a skydiving jump for the first time.  Their energy is amazing, their eyes are so big, their hands get sweaty and their passion to conquer their fears is tremendous.  I am instructor rated to teach, do tandems and shoot video with a camera on my head…not all at the same time. 

All day long I get to go up in the airplanes and down with the students, but each one is an adventure and each one I get to experience “their” very first skydive, which gives me a lot of love for what I do.  I share my favorite experiences over and over again.  Sometimes as much as 15 times in one day.  I make about $40 a jump plus tips.  I could make as much as $500 tomorrow, which to some is a lot and to others is not much.  I remind people that there are no nice cars in the parking lot at the dropzone because no one is getting rich skydiving.  Also, if there is bad weather, we all sit on the ground and make nothing.  Imagine going to your office job and if it was too windy, raining, clouds were to low, lightning, snow or something mechanical had an issue…then you did not make a dime.  Skydivers are most definitely passionate about the sport long before the paycheck.

 One of my AFF Students passing Level 7 graduation jump.

Despite all of that, I have had so many tandem passengers that scream in excitement when the parachute opens and I hear many of them say, “you have the best job in the whole world!”  I simply reply, “you can too….just ask me how!”  That reply applies to a plethora of things in life.

Thank you again for each and every person’s support so far, it was been amazing and wonderful at the same time!

Kenyon Salo

 My wife and my hero…flying at 150mph upside down. 

If you would like to learn more about skydiving go to the USPA website.