February 4, 2017

We flew out of Cuenca at 8:30 pm on January 30th, arriving in Quito at 9:30. Then it was a 3.5 hour wait until our Florida bound flight left Quito. Arriving at 5:00 a.m. January 31st, and being the only international flight arriving at the Ft. Lauderdale airport, we managed to get off the plane and through security by 5:30. Unbelievable!  We had a shuttle booked for 7 am to take us from the Airport to Vero Beach, but we received a message that it had been cancelled for reasons beyond their control?? We had just enough time to catch a cab to the Greyhound depot and we caught the 6 am bus. Another 4 hours! It was a very long night. 

BUT.... it was nice to be back in the good old USA. 

Tom and Karen met us at the Bus Stop and we got our motor home prepped for the last leg of our journey - 

We got to spend a few days with Tom and Karen while our rig was getting her hydraulic jacks looked at.  

We visited and chatted, laughed and reminiced, and even played a game or two of sequence. 

Of course we had breakfast at Mrs. Macs one morning (the absolutely best breakfast you'll eat!) and dinner at Squid Lips on the eve of our departure. 






But that is not all we did ..... we managed to scratch something off of our 'bucket list'. Michel and I went sky diving!

Michel on his way out the door!

I cannot believe we actually did it, especially me.  I used to say "why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good plane" !

Free Fallin......

And it's kinda funny because I wasn't even scared. 

Me hanging out of the plane --- it's my turn!

At least not until I was hanging out of the plane. OMG!!! then it hit me - I was terrified.   

Free fallin .......

We were 14,000 ft in the air and we did a free fall for the first minute. It was truly the longest 60 seconds of my life. In fact I was afraid I'd have a heart attack -I was so terrified I couldn't even breathe.  Thank you to my tandem partner Rob, he talked me through the ordeal!! 

When Rob pulled the rip cord and we began floating I began to breathe again. The last 3-4 minutes were not bad. That's about how long it took to 'float' to the ground. 

Safe on the ground!!

That being done, I will never do it again! Michel didn't really enjoy the experience either, but he wasn't scared like I was. He admits he wouldn't do it again. We agree on that one!