CRAZY BRIDGE JUMPIN' FOOLS - Bridge Day Saturday

(10/12/2005)

By Bob Weaver The 26th year of Bridge Day is expected to draw up to 200,000 spectators this Saturday to the New River Gorge at Fayetteville. It is the largest extreme sports event in the world, held at the second longest single-arch span in the world and among the second highest bridge in the USA. Organizers are keeping a close eye on the weather after snow, sleet and high winds slowed the crowd last year. At least 400 BASE jumpers and 250 rappellers are scheduled to be a part of this years event. It brings a media spotlight on the whole state and people come to the event from all over the United States as well as other parts of the world. Photo courtesy of www.officialbridgeday.com (Hur Herald Photo) Visitors can get a taste of Southern West Virginia's finest cuisine, but there are dozens of other activities besides eating. Still missed is poetry reciting Five Dollar Frank, who lifted thousands of customers into the air over the years in his old plane for that paltry five-dollar sum, from which he got his name. FAA officials can rest easy Saturday. He'll no longer fly his craft under the Gorge Bridge or land it on the four-lane nearby to make repairs. We'll miss his feisty lectures on politicians. He was tired of them throwing roadblocks in his flight of freedom. (Hur Herald Photo) We'll miss his heart-stopping sense of humor when he would clutch his chest at 1500 feet above the gorge, and ask a newcomer "Can you fly this thing?"

Hur Herald ®from Sunny Cal The information on these pages, to the extent the law allows, remains the exclusive property of Bob Weaver and Dianne Weaver The Hur Herald. All information may be freely used but must not be sold or used in any type of commercial endeavor, or used on any web site without the express permission of the owners ©Bob and Dianne Weaver, The Hur Herald, 1999, 2000, 2001