James Boone’s Blog

El Caminito Del Ray December 2, 2008

I stumbled up on this video one day. http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1438490562 It immediately caught my attention, most due to my extreme fear of heights. Now… I’m not sure where this fear came from, I certainly wasn’t born with it.

As a kid I would jump off of anything I could get access to, my step-dad would take me to the top of the Galleria Tower, I loved hanging out on the roof… But that all changed.

I don’t know when exactly, but while on a road trip with the family we visited The Royal Gorge Bridge in Canon City, Co. http://www.royalgorgebridge.com/ Upon first glance it doesn’t appear to be too high… but right out in the middle you soon realize just how far away you are from solid ground, and you realize how thin the rotted wood planks are under your feet, and the fact that a car is now driving next to you on this bridge. I clung to the stroller for dear life as if it could save me from something. My kids ran up and down this bridge without care. Every little shake or shudder made my heart skip just a little. I felt sweaty and did NOT want to look down… but I HAD to. We were 1,000+ feet up and wanted to somehow conquer this fear, that certainly did not work. I just wanted to get to the other side without ‘rocking the bridge’. Once we reached the other side I saw one of the ‘sky coaster’ things that crazy people like to show off on… you know the ones… where your strapped in, it pulls you up a few hundred feet, then you pull your own rip cord…. and you just fall/swing back and forth. I recall seeing a picture where someone actually ‘messed’ themselves on there. There was one of those on the side of this gorge. WHAT? No thank you. We finally made the trek back across the bridge to safety to collect what was left of my senility.

This year we drove to California and we made a stop at the Grand Canyon. Not to demean little girls, but I turned into one. We went out on the little ledge thing with a safety fence and took some pictures to prove I was there. I noticed a ledge to the left of us where there was NO safety fence… but that did not stop some people. There was a small crowd of people close to the edge snapping photos, one guy even leaping into the air to get the ‘perfect’ shot. I was barely peering over the edge with stretched arms grasping the safety fence which is about 2 feet from the edge. My daughter is under the safety bar with my wife and they’re looking over…. I just can’t do it. I don’t know how you can get over a fear of heights. Evidentally it’s not forcing yourself to look down when you’re up there.

Last Novemeber I fell off of a 4 ft. ladder. So, now I’m scared of even low heights.

I had to trim the trees over the roof… took forever even with a tree saw that stretched out 8 ft. I was worried about the acorns on the roof becoming the ball bearings that deliver me to the ground, so I kept my legs tense for stability. Not all heights worry me… I flew in an airplane awhile back. It was just different, until coming down into Greensboro when the pilot had to dip the wings. The horizon I had been checking had been replaced by ground. I wasn’t sure what was going on, I had to ask someone without appearing freightened. I made it and we didn’t crash. I look forward to flying again sometime. Until then I will keep my feet planted on the ground.