Trying something new

A couple of months ago, Carl had expressed an interest in ziplining, and so we've been looking for zipline places. It hadn't worked out that we go to any of them... it was either too hot or we ended up not going to the town where they were located (Leavenworth) or they seemed so expensive. I was surprised that Carl was even interested in going as he is not happy being in high places (even getting on top of Gracie is not something he likes to do), but... he thought he might enjoy it.

So, I checked around Rapid City, South Dakota, and it turned out that there was a zipline place in Keystone, South Dakota -- and it had an option of multiple ziplines or to do just one that was 800' long. I looked more into the 800' long one and it sounded like a good option -- particularly considering that Carl might get there and decide this was not for him!

We also had caught back up with our friends Linda and Jim from Dallas (they had been in Medora before we got there, and were still in the area around Custer when we got to Rapid City) - we had already talked about meeting in Keystone to visit an ice cream place that Dwayne and I had visited back in 2018... so we decided to meet up in Keystone. I told them we were thinking we'd do ziplining, and they decided that they weren't interested in doing that, but they were good sports to watch and take pictures and videos of us doing it!

We met up at Rushmore Tramway Adventures (https://rushmoretramwayadventures.com/), signed the waivers saying that if we died, it was by our own choice, and purchased our tickets.

The park looked really nice -- we headed to the sign that said "Enter here for harnessing"

Young people working there getting us harnessed.

Carl's all harnessed!

We had to go to a platform up above the slides... there was a moving walkway which made it easy - Carl thinks they should have had a moving walkway where we had to hike up to Lewis and Clark Cavern! (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2022/08/lewis-and-clark-caverns-state-park.html)

When we got to the platform, the worker ensured that I was snapped in to a safety rope so I'd be okay even if I happened to fall off the platform...

Carl getting snapped in -- note that the worker is also snapped in.

Ready to go!

Our route would take us over the slides. One of the workers told us that the slides were made from cut up safety cones and that there was air that came up from underneath to allow folks to slide down easily -- and if it was a hot day, sprays of water also came up.

One, two, three and we're off!

Unfortunately, for some reason (maybe our cable to the line was twisted?), we both were turning around so it was hard to get pictures (did I mention that we were on parallel ziplines and going at the same time?)

Carl got to the bottom first, but the brake stopped him and then pushed him back out before the worker/catcher at the bottom could get him onto the platform.

The catcher caught me and then hooked himself onto the cable...

... and pulled himself out to Carl, and then pulled them both back in.

Back standing on solid ground! He survived!

... and so did I!

We have thoughts afterwards: we wish that they had provided us with a little more preparation for what to expect: if Carl had been more aware of what was happening at the bottom, he could have put his feet down and stopped himself by standing up on the platform. It would have been more comfortable if we had not been rotating while going down -- I was facing backward at the point when I reached the platform and the brake was really unexpected for me and gave quite a jerk to my neck.

But, all-in-all we enjoyed it, and it wasn't scary at all (we were so busy we didn't have time to think about launching out!), and we'd love to do more! 

After we were done with our adventure, we all four went into Keystone for ice cream and lunch (in that order!).

While we were in Keystone, the steam train came in, let its passengers from Hill City off, and filled the engine with water for the return journey.

It was good to see friends Linda and Jim again, and to try something new!