The reality is that as you're standing on the first platform and they open the gate for one of your fellow "zippers" to take off your thought process is more like "why on earth did I pay these people good money to do this?!". The trick is not to think about it and just let yourself hurtle into space. Oh, and don't look down. The guides will tell you to do that but it's much less scary to keep your focus forward on the landing zone.
At this point we should mention our tour guides, Jake & Justin, aka Morris & Garfield, the kitty patrol. They communicated over 2-way radios via a series of meows. (We are NOT making this up!)
So we approached the first line which traverses the Canyon of Cactus. After watching the first "zipper" make it safely to the other side, Auburn became the first Palermo in space - supposedly to keep from talking herself into walking back to the base. After watching her fly away, Skeeziks & Mickey engaged an intense 2-out-3 rounds of Rock-Paper-Scissors to see who went next. As the loser, Mickey went next, followed by Skeeziks. We all arrived safely and to our surprise, dry (as in, nobody peed her pants) and un-bloodied as well as fully adrenalized. On to platform 2 aka the Valley of Vengeance!
The second line is the longest and we call it Moonshot Mama because it defied gravity but was also the saggiest. It was Mickey’s turn to go first so with a whoop and a holler she leapt into the abyss. When Skeez’s turn arrived Morris was concerned about breaking the laws of physics. He used a formula to determine this:
Not enough weight + Too much line sag = Skeez stuck on the line dangling 1000 feet from the ground
To counteract this formula he proceeded to load her into the “cat”apult and send her rocketing down the line. She was to hold her streamlined cannonball position until the last possible instant to ensure she did not get stuck. By means of comparison, Auburn was told to hold the starfish position, which creates the most wind resistance, for virtually the entire ride.By now we were feeling fairly confident in our zip-lining skills and were ready to take on the Platform of Pain (line 3) and line 4, the Mountain of Marriage - or Mayhem, if you prefer.
The 5th and final line, the Descent of Despair, featured photography by Veenhof of the freestyle competition which ended with our best Kerri Strug Olympic-style landing while Veenhof yelled “You can do it, Palermos” in his best Romanian accent (a lá Bela Karolyi).
The tour on Catalina is great for first time zippers and we had a fantastic time!
Look forward to the
continuing adventures of the Palermos as we take up parasailing, parachuting and cliff diving as we convert the Palermo’s motto from “Sleep is for cowards!” to “Death is for cowards!”
