High Life
The
Flying Wallendas have an
historical record going back to 1780 as a travelling circus troupe specializing in aerial performances.
One of the Wallendas -- Mario -- was involved in an accident that killed two members of the Flying Wallendas and left Mario Wallenda paralyzed from the waist down.
He held several positions -- worked in a Contact Lens lab until retirement, he has done woodcaving, lapidary, RC Airplanes. All boring...
He wants to go back up on the wire again.
Hendersonville News has the story:
bq.
A Flying Wallenda returns to high wire
Using a seat on a pulley, a handful of young men hoisted Mario Wallenda from his wheelchair to a high wire 40 feet above the ground.
bq. Up on the wire sat Wallenda's "sky cycle," a two-wheeled, motor-powered contraption that he was about to ride across the wire. Down below, his friends and family watched in silence.
And his reason:
bq. Asked why it's worth the risk to go back onto the high wire, Wallenda will give a different answer every time.
bq. First, he'll say that he has nothing else to do but putter around in his garden. Then, he'll say that he's gotten to the age where he does not care anymore. He'll also say that he thought it would be cool, that's all.
bq. Wallenda doesn't really expect noncircus people, or "towners," as he calls them, to understand.
bq. "It's an adrenaline high," he said.
bq. He savored the rush of performing -- "It was more fun than a barrel of monkeywomen."
Heh...
Posted by DaveH at January 23, 2005 12:50 PM