The adventure for my fourth trip into the lake begins the night before when I dyed my beard blue – to match my Speedos, naturally. It didn’t end up as dark as I would have liked, but still got the job done. I touched it up a little again the next morning and suited up for the day.
My folks came up for a visit that morning and we got some lunch before heading to the lake. I had pre-checked in the night before and we got there around noon for the 2 o’clock jump. We wandered around a bit before I decided to strip down to my Speedo.
It became quickly apparent that I wasn’t the weirdest person there. Which I think is really saying something.
We staked out a spot neat the lake to get some good photos and I jumped up and down to keep the blood moving. It was 65 degrees out – which is amazing for February but still a little chilly with as much skin as I had exposed.
Finally, it was time. The first wave of jumpers hit the water and I left my folks at the beach with my bag of clothes and headed to the line up.
The moment of truth and I was super excited.
I took a running jump and cannonballed into the 40 degree water.
I surfaced and gasped a few times to try and catch my breath. When I finally had enough breath back, I took a deep one and held it.
Then I did an underwater flip. Why?
Because I’m a badass. Sheesh, how many times do I have to go over that?
I surfaced again and made my way to the ladder. I was a bit in shock as I made my way back to the beach – looking for my folks and my clothes.
Only, they weren’t there.
I wandered back and forth along the beach looking for them – which was a little difficult since I didn’t have my glasses.
I was a uncomfortable for a bit – but quickly air dried. In very little time at all I stopped shivering and wasn’t even cold.
Eventually, Mom tracked me down and said they had gone looking for me – and I’d just missed them.
I found a place to sit and got my warm-up pants and shirt on. I didn’t bother with the changing tent since my speedo was pretty much dry.
We headed out and stopped to get hot chocolate – and a doughnut which I proceeded to dunk in my hot chocolate. We were at Dunkin Doughnuts, after all.
Back to my place and a change of clothes – then out to dinner before they headed back.
Great weather, crazy day, and a pile of fun. I keep trying to recruit people to jump with me, but so far no takers. Even one of my buddies who jumped last year skipped this time – though it was very cool that he came out to watch anyway.
I don’t know if I’ll jump next year – though 5 years would be a nice stopping point.
The best part? I’m pretty much immune to cold for a while afterwards.
Do your worst, Ohio weather – you’ve got nothing on a full body dip in ice water.