Steve sent this before he went to the 96 US Nationals, where he was killed in an opening collision. It captures the full throttle approach he had to life....
From BounceCity@aol.comDate: Tue, 15 Oct 1996Subject: vacations...Hi Everyone!!! A thousand apologies for not answering my e-mail lately! I've been busier than the proverbial one armed paper hanger. The first weekend in Oct., I flew to Georgia to make some training jumps with my new team ("Clean Air" 8 man canopy formation speed team). Although it started off slow, it kept getting better and by the end of the weekend, we were cranking out some impressive jumps. Early in the practice, we had a collision and an entanglement between Mike Paolin and I. We both have to cutaway and use our reserves. This was the 25th time I've had to use my reserve chute in 21 years. Yes, never a dull moment.... Overall, the team is performing very well and everyone thinks we are going to win the Gold medal at the National Championships next week. I hope so too. After practice, I flew down to the Cayman Islands for some R & R. (guess I never get enough vacations...). I was planning on doing some scuba diving but the water was still so choppy from the recent passage of hurricane Josephine that most of the dive operators were not operating. The ones that were required a prior reservation and I hadn't foreseen the need for that so we had to look elsewhere for fun. We chartered a hot little 3-man research submarine to take us down to 1000 ft on the "wall" and to explore the wreck of the Kirk Pride at the 800 ft level. Right before we were supposed to depart, the captain of the sub, decided it was to choppy for us to safely board the sub and canceled. For our inconvenience, (and to encourage us to rent their expensive little sub again in the future) they gave us free tickets on the 25 man tourist sub that goes down to 110 ft to explore the reefs (it was still operating). It was a blast. Beautiful scenery and lots of fish to gawk at. I still missed the going scuba diving as we had originally planned. Most of the rest of that day and the next, we sampled local beers at various pubs and killed brain cells on the beach. (We don't worry to much about killing brain cells, we figure we are only killing the "weak" ones anyway...). My flight back from the Caymans was canceled by Northwest so I got to spend and extra day there laying on the beach (damn! I hate it when that happens!). After returning from the Cayman islands, I had to spend the whole afternoon getting ready to go backpacking in the Smokies. I had planned a day of Hang Gliding at Lookout Mountain but the day's delay out of Cayman kind of shot that plan down. Having less time to get ready than I planned for the backpacking kind of put me behind the eight ball though. By the time I got packed and on the road Thursday night, I had to spend ALL night driving to the trailhead to meet my niece and nephew. I never got to stop and grab some sleep like I'd hoped so the first days pack was gonna hurt. I found Bob waiting on me with Beth and Robbie at the designated spot and proceeded to try to get everyone's pack ready. These things always take more time than you'd think but we started down the trail near Clingmans Dome about 1230 in the afternoon for a 3-day, 21 mile adventure. The first days hike was pleasant with my Dog Alex leading the way (he has his own pack and was carrying dog food and beer). The first nights camp was near two streams and we settled in for a cold night. I slept on the ground by the fire. Deer were all over and roaming near the camp. About 2AM I was awoken to a deer standing almost over me looking down at me. I let out a good expletive scaring the deer away and waking everyone up. The second morning began with a hard uphill trek followed by numerous stream crossing and some beautiful forest scenes. We crossed one last large creek on a footlog and make a large lunch. About this time my dog Alex began limping but we weren't sure why. Next, we made the steep uphill march to Martins gap and camped on the ridgeline. The dog was having serious problems but there was little aid we could render him in the wilderness. We had dinner of mostly marshmallows and hot dogs cooked on sticks over the fire that night. It was delicious! That night, after the fire went out, we seemed to be in "deer central" and at least 10 deer walked right between our tents! After an early camp break we began the hike down the Sunkota trail to meet Indian Creek and then on to Deep Creek campground. The dog had a real problem the last couple miles. He kept stopping and laying down. We didn't find out until we got home and to the vet but he had developed heart problems (premature ventricular contractions) and has been a permanent guest of the animal hospital ever since I got home. Today we hope for some good news. Drugs seem to be stabilizing his heart arrhythmia's, and the vet is hoping for a complete recovery. Aside from the problems with my dog, the backpack with my niece and nephew was a blast. They were great and seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. I hope we can find time to do another one in the spring. Right now I'm fixing to run out the door to fly to Providence and Fort Lauderdale layovers. When I return on Thursday, I will have about 4 hours to repack and leave for 9-10 days to attend the 1996 US National parachuting Championships in Arizona. Wish my team luck! Well, keep me posted on what you are up to! I was going to write a longer, more detailed description of the backpacking trip but I'm short of time. Maybe Beth or Robbie will pen one!
Blue Skies,
Steve