Blogger Layouts

Welcome to Our Patch of Heaven!

Howdy friends! In honor of our 100th year in operation (it's incredible!), the Bar Lazy J is going high-tech! Now not to worry--there's still none of that allowed here while you're on vacation, but while you're away and anxious to keep up with what's going on (or you just need your "ranch fix"), come check in on our ranch blog where you'll find hoards of photos, we'll follow our staff and you'll hear all the latest happenings first! Of course reading about it isn't nearly as good as the real thing, so we hope to see you out on the trail real soon, but until then, check out what's happening and leave your comments--we love to see that our friends have stopped by! Happy trails everyone!

Monday, August 6, 2012

Flight School 101

DAY 1!

As you well know, we got the zip line installed, so all we lacked were some certified operators so we could get to running it!

          So on Sunday morning, six brave souls headed out to start their 2-day course to become just that—who knew “school” could be so fun? But then again, I think with these classmates, they could’ve made even Calculus fun (Is that exaggerating? I didn’t say “easier” mind you, I just said “fun”. Let’s clarify that right here and now.)  A professional team flew in from North Carolina to offer the training and our first day began with a trip to Drowsy Water Ranch—good friends of ours who simultaneously installed zip lines on their ranch by the same company from NC. So we combined our training days which allowed us to teach and learn from one another as we went. Our friends at Drowsy were already on day 2 of their training, so we got to be their “dummies” so-to-speak under the watchful eye of our trainers. They were fantastic and we all found ourselves quickly learning “the ropes” (figuratively and literally). Not to mention, we had SO. MUCH.  FUN.

As you can see…….

             …………….here we are getting harnessed up!

DSC08264 DSC08266

Then it was up to the practice zip where we got all the instruction on what to expect and what to do with ourselves. (Our excitement was building...)

DSC08271

 

And then??

DSC08275 Cheri!

DSC08279

Jerry!

DSC08281

Chad!

DSC08312

Dale!

DSC08321  Sue!

DSC08295

and Tammy!

We zipped and zipped (and zipped some more) and instead of wearing us out, it got us hooked. After a long (awesome) day,

DSC08324DSC08326DSC08300 DSC08298     

we couldn’t wait to get back to the ranch for Day 2 of training on our own zip line!

wire

DAY 2!

After stellar teaching and demonstrations the day before, our second day of training was a breeze.

First things first—putting on and adjusting harnesses: and don’t joke about making any mistakes, cause your partner got to suit you up next!

DSC08331DSC08334 

DSC08336 DSC08339

Then it was up to the top and our own practice zip line. (And we may or may not have laughed at one another’s helmets during the drive.)

DSC08341

        Just like our horse program, safety comes first. We were quite impressed by all the cutting edge equipment and first-rate safety procedures used throughout the entire process. If you could call something “over-cautious”, this would be it—and we mean that in a very positive way. One of those times, you can’t have too much of a good thing!

DSC08342DSC08352    

Then it was time for our test runs!

DSC08396   

DSC08363

DSC08370 DSC08372        DSC08356

DSC08381

You can thank Jerry for doing a little tree trimming on his run down the line…… Now Dale won’t have to climb up there and make Pete do it and do it himself! Thanks Jerry! Very thoughtful!

DSC08390

We’d like to thank our wonderful instructors for their mighty fine teaching and getting us all certified. Most fun we ever had in school! (Oh and please don’t let the alarming shortage of people in this photo….uhhh….alarm you. This is no way an indication of survivors. Just the photo-ready ones!)

DSC08399     

So……..

—drum roll please--

the Bar Lazy J River Zip is officially operating!!

Let the zipping begin!

No comments:

Post a Comment