- 2/9/2008 9:18:24 PMRoller coasters and RussiaI remember the first time I ever went to Six Flags Great America in Gurney Illinois. I had seen commercials of the roller coasters there and they looked very exciting.
As we approached the park on the highway, one of the first things we noticed was the roller coaster tracks and how high they were. Periodically we could see a coaster flash past with people raising their hands in the air. When we entered the park, we could immediately hear the screams of the people on the rides. My family and I walked around for a while before we settled on the first coaster ride.
The ride is called the Demon now but when I was there, it was called the "Turn of the Century". I can still remember the sounds of the coaster on the tracks and people screaming. We got in line. I was very nervous and not sure if I really wanted to go on the ride. My dad convinced me that it was going to be fun. Before too long, there was a line of people behind us and we were on our way to the front.
Zigging and zagging, we moved along. Foot by foot, inch by inch. At times, I forgot that I was in a line waiting to get on the scariest ride of my life. As we moved closer, we came to a sign with a picture of the Tasmanian Devil that indicated how tall you must be to ride. I met the minimum requirement. "Well", I thought. "There's not much I can do to get out of this now."
We continued to move forward towards the loading dock. We climbed stairs, turned corners and climbed more stairs. The ride began to sound different, louder. You could hear noises that you couldn't hear before: clicking, clacking, and clunking metallic sounds. Finally you moved into position where you could see the roller coaster car with riders getting off and new people getting on. The exiting riders "seemed" to be ok. For a moment, I thought I could smell the scent of puke wafting in the air. Perhaps it was just my imagination.
The ride attendants would escort the new rider to the appropriate car, push them into the proper position and lower the harness. Of course this meant that the line moved forward again and we now got a much better view of the ride. Then the people directly in front of us got on the ride and there was nothing between me and track.
The next coaster car came rolling in and the people got off. The ride attendant looked at me and said, "come on". By this time, I was a little numb. They could have guided me almost anywhere. There was no where else to go except on the ride. I walked to the car they directed me to, sat me down and they dropped the harness over me. The harness was a huge piece of padded iron bar that came down over each of my shoulders and crossed over my abdomen. There is no way I could fall out of the car much less move. I heard the "click" of the metal and I knew I was in... permanently.
The car lurched, and began to roll forward. "Ka-Chunk!". We slowly rolled towards the first hill and I could hear the track chain engage with the coaster. The chain pulled us up, up, up. Before long, the car was well on it's way climbing the first hill. It was so steep that I was nearly flat on my back. The higher we climbed, the more of the park I could see. That's when I felt the first sensation of vomit threatening. My stomach began to talk to me with gurgle sounds. "Helloooo", it was saying. "I'm not sure what's going on but I'm not to happy about it..."
We got to the top of the hill and the coaster began to make a wide sweeping turn to the left. As the first cars began to disappear in front of me, I could feel their weight pulling me as my car began to accelerate. Oh boy. I held on to the harness as tight as I could and closed one eye.
In a nutshell, that is how I feel right now.
