The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we will ask you a question or provide a topic, and you will talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
QUESTION: What’s the riskiest thing you’ve ever done? (skydive, drive over 100, bungee jump, etc.)
Talk about it….
Being born.
When I was young and stupid worked refinery field construction in 1975. Walked across an 10 inch diameter pipeline 45 feet in the air and refilled a tank with basically kitty litter without a dust mask. Looking back, wonder how I survived.
Twenty plus years ago after a fatality became hypervigilant.
Marriage.
Walking at 2 am in Oakland looking for gasoline.
Not sure I can think of several. Living on a kibbutz in the Golan Height with Syria just being less than a mile away. Although there were no mans land, and UN soldiers. Once out in the field picking apples, some Israeli jets got too close to Syria and they were shot at. The next summer my friends and I hitchhiked through Europe, arrived on a ship from Iceland to Edinburgh, then hitchhiked through England, Northern France, Belgium, Holland and up to Denmark. My girl friend and I got a ride from 2 middle eastern gentlemen, spoke English well, a doctor and an engineer, but they drove like a bat out of hell. Drove the wrong way on a bridge that was one way, just saying “we believe in Allah”. When I was young I was very impulsive. Once when I had a date we got into an argument, and I asked him to stop the car, and I got out. This when was an au pair in Westport Ct. we were up in the hills, not a lot of houses or traffic and a few miles from town, but I got out and started to walk towards town, it was late at night and pitch dark. I think he came back and picked me up. As a teenager in Denmark, I went into a train where my friends were, usually that train stops at that town for 15 minutes, I had left my bike by the station building, I just wanted to chat with my friends (could have used a cell phone) then all of sudden the train starts to slowly move. I ran to the door and jumped off the slowly moving train banged my knee on the cement otherwise okay. I was more worried about my bike and myself.
Hanne, I always enjoy reading your mini biographies,
you’ve had quite an adventurous life. The farthest I
ever hitchhiked was from San Francisco to Sausalito.
In Vietnam, when I volunteered for door gunner duty.
Flying in a Huey and being shot at was scary, and risky.
Dawg, you have the respect and admiration of this old bubblehead.
Dawg, Thank you for you comment. As I get older, life is not so exciting, but I’m lucky to have so many wonderful memories.
What you did sounds very risky and scary. I had several friends that was in Vietnam, some of them would write me, and after they got back tell me stories. Thank you for your service.
Wow! Talk about risky! That was one of the riskiest jobs during that war (along with being a tunnel rat) I believe. Thanks for your service!
Yes right confess to a risky occurrence I did and be arrested and grilled over it even after statute of limitations has well passed.
While in Puerto Rico (2014), our Daughter & Hubby took us to Zipline. They were there for his 2-year assignment with the Coast Guards. I almost got caught 50ft away from the end, to of one of the 17 zip sections, because I wasn’t heavy enough and slowed down to a crawl. Mind you, it was 300ft up from the ground. The Guide Person had me ride with him on the last run, since it was really long and didn’t want me to get stuck. I don’t like heights and will never do that again.
I cut off those mattress tags.
HAJ ( High Altitude Jump) in a wingsuit over the island of Maui in 2019. A complete RUSH that overwhelms the senses to a point of almost passing out. The air temperature, speed, and height was something I’ll never forget and I’m grateful for a Gopro video my cousin took of us. I stopped both skydiving and using a wingsuit in 2022.
A married woman.
Eating at Rocco’s recently!
Drive over 100? Just did that last week on I10 (in the desert), and with the newer car, felt like doing 65, so not tremendously risky. As I look back, I really did not take anything I would consider risky. Perhaps the biggest “chance” I/we took was moving from the midwest to this area for a job, with no family here, nor any real knowledge of the state. Just one day in 2 feet of snow in negative temperatures, and 2 weeks later, moving to a new state.
Buried the needle on the NY Thruway late at night so it was over 120 MPH. That was long before I knew tires had speed limit ratings in the numbers.coded on the side wall. Now I tell all young drivers. Also skydived solo, peeked over the edge of half Dome from its top (instant vertigo), visited the Tiger Temple in Thailand (closed in 2015) and skied double black diamond runs before I was capable.
Went parachuting when I was 24. This was when you could jump by yourself, not strapped to someone. Took a morning class about what to do if your chute doesn’t deploy and how to land. Jumped in the afternoon. My chute didn’t deploy completely but they had told me what to do and it worked. I figured if I was going to die I didn’t want to be old at 25.
I once jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. It was a tandem jump, and we were coming down fast after the chute deployed. The instructor yelled at me to dig in my heels when we hit the ground. It ended well for us, but 4 months later at the same place a young lady and her tandem instructor lost their lives when the chute failed. Very sad and sobering.
I used to say that I couldn’t understand why anyone would jump out of a perfectly good airplane, until I was informed that there was no such thing as a perfectly good airplane.
Nevertheless, I grew up about a mile from a skydiving port, and at least twice during my high school years, someone’s chute would fail to open, and they crashed through the roof of a nearby home. It’s no accident that I ended up in the submarine service instead of the Air Force.
I hopped a moving freight train once and rode it a few miles..
Taking a job in Oakland! Had gun pointed at me twice and two carjacking attempts in my first 2 years working there.
Paradise Camp Fire
That and Dawg’s story about Vietnam, sounds truly scary and risky. Most of the other stories don’t compare.
Ask me again in four years when the statute of limitations is in effect. No sense paying a lawyer if you won’t follow their counsel. 🙃
My life is too valuable to risk.
… I take measured risks – with personal safety in mind. Its gotta go REALLY, REALLY wrong for something bad to happen.
Parachuting, 3 SWAT dynamic room entries, a simple vehicle impound where, unbeknownst to me, the passenger was armed and had me cold but decided not to murder me and more vehicle pursuits and foot bails than I can remember.
Jumping took the most intestinal fortitude because I knew it was coming. The one that caused me the most consternation was the armed passenger because I wasn’t in control and my life depended on someone else’s mercy.
Moved from where I was raised and knew everyone to a new area with an 18 mo. old and no job.
I guess I could add coming to the US. I was barely 22, and didn’t know much English. I had to wait a few months, in my native Denmark, for my green card, I was so excited. Then after I got on the plane in Copenhagen, it hit me. I was leaving everything behind, parents, other family weather, many friends, so besides being excited about my new adventure I also got a little scared. Since I been here ever since, (although several trip back to Denmark one even for several months) it obviously worked out.
It’s a tie- Either crawling between the collapsed decks of the Cypress structure looking for crushed vehicles and hoping to find survivors all while there were aftershocks shaking the structure or working the Oakland Hills firestorm. Both were high pucker factor events and I was grateful when we were done. Lots of other memorable and scary incidents but those two rise to the top.
A long time ago I was with a group of friends hiking around the brickyard on the Carquinez strait when a standing freight train started to move. Well, I jumped on and a buddy did but the train picked up speed and we were off! The train didn’t stop until we hit Oakland. By then, the fog had rolled in and a t-shirt and jeans just wasn’t doing it, brr! We made our way out of the rail yards and ended up at the Oakland Greyhound station. Had to use a pay phone to call my brother in SF to come get us.
Never again.
A group of us had a lease on 7,000 acres near the Russian River / Bodega Bay area (camping, hunting, fishing, etc.) and a Ranger & his family had a house and lived on the property. We were “Deputized” while on our property as felons, etc. on the run from LE would frequent the heavily wooded rural area to hide out. (There’s still a woman’s body in the area that was disposed of that was never found). We all carried then and I happened across 2 guys poaching deer I didn’t recognize and asked to see their membership cards – all friendly like – they got all nervous and a bit loud and they asked to see my card, I said sure – showed them asked them again where’s their cards (it’s something we were all asked to do to verify they the person was allowed on the property) One of the guys “brandished” a 357 Ruger…. I allowed them to see my Colt 45 SAA … they backed off and left pretty quickly…. could have been a statistic and nobody would ever have heard about it ….
Vietnam, not that I had a choice.
Being shot at, dodging incoming
mortars, and rockets.
That was all the danger I can handle for this life…….Thank you
Stayed in America.