9.05.2009

Truth be told...

You may remember me posting a little game a while back; I gave you 4 random facts - one of which was not true. Well the time has come to reveal the truth.

As a refresher, the four options were all things from which I've jumped: a moving vehicle, a plane, a bridge, and a cliff.

Truth #1: The New York Canal passes through Kuna Idaho. There's a spot just outside town that the canal is lined with cliffs on both sides and it is deep enough to dive into (feet first at least) and a boulder lined beach down stream that provided an easy place to swim to/climb out. Steve and Nate used to go there quite a bit, so when I started hanging out with them they took me out cliff diving. The recording studio that they recorded their first few demos was also in Kuna, so the water was rather inviting after a long hot day in the studio. Spending the day recording some fun music with friends, Mexican food at El Gallo Giro for lunch/dinner (aka linner), and capping the day off with a cool swim and jumping off cliffs in the warm summer sun... good times folks. Good times.

Truth #2: Highway 9 didn't always runs straight through Arlington Washington. It used to zig-zag through town and cross the Stillaguamish via West Avenue (which is now a dead end). Before West Ave dead ended, the bridge across the river paralleled a defunct railway bridge. The rail road is no longer in use, but the bridge still stands. On the south side of the river is Arlington Park. It's not much of a park - just a few parking spots, a bathroom, and a couple of picnic tables. But I used to frequent that park. I would climb up the rocks to a ledge under the old Highway 9 bridge and watch the water - it was the perfect place to sit and think. Shane, Nettles, and some of the other guys I used to hang out with like to go there on Sunday afternoons to swim. The water was cool, and the beach was fairly sandy (silty?); due to it's location (just west of where the South Fork Stillaguamish joined the main river) it was a great spot to swim. But the swimming wasn't the main draw... it was the abandoned rail bridge. Below the bridge, the river was deep with a slow current. Perfect bridge to jump off. No risk of being hit by passing traffic, and a relatively safe place to land (splash).

Truth #3: A friend of mine in Boise had some wealthy parents. For his 21st birthday, they paid for him and a friend to go skydiving... heh... just kidding. Never jumped from a plane. However, I have jumped from a moving vehicle. My brother, my dad, and I used to volunteer to work the Marysville Strawberry festival. For a few years, the three of us ran Market in the Park, a vendors fair in Comeford Park. On the final night of the festival, after all (or most) of the vendors had packed up their booths, Aaron and I, along with our friend Milton were cleaning up Comeford Park - loading power cords, traffic cones, and various equipment into the back of Milton's truck. We'd almost finished when we noticed a missed cone. I decided to try my best stunt-man imitation and as Milton cruised through the park, I leaped from the truck bed to retrieve the cone. The landing was not as graceful as I imagined.

So for the two of you that played along in the comments - you guessed correctly. Any one get it wrong?

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