I was scouting new kayaking locations. One lake had me drive along a paved road yet without guardrails and next to an edge - go over and die.

When I was younger, those kinds of things were no problem, especially in the cars I used to drive back them (ie - 300zx).

Now, I get chills in my balls and they tense up. Part of it, I think, is that I don't really trust the truck yet (reminder - I've always had cars that were low to the ground with aftermarket suspensions - my first truck and it sits rather high).

But I think that's only part of it. I think I'm actually scared of going over the edge. I've never really been afraid of heights (I'm more scared of heights where I'm sure I'd get badly injured but survive rather than heights in which I know I wouldn't survive a fall).

Hope this isn't the start of a trend.

Comes from experience. The young can't imagine what they haven't seen.

Not scared of going over the edge and die is stupid.

Scared of going over the edge and die is normal.

I broke my back being young, dumb and pretty careless on Mt. Hood when in my 20’s. Now at 47 with two fusions and constant pain, I wish I had been a little more “scared.”

Sometimes, the difference between bravery and stupidity is whether you lived to tell the tale.

Interesting subject. Similar but in the same ballpark here.

I used to be a Volunteer Firefighter and then later Paid On-Call in my twenties through my late 30's, haven't done that since 1990.

Roofs and ladders were no big deal back then. Today, no thanks. I've lost all desire to go up more than six feet painting a wall let alone atop the roof.

Don't we have quarterly threads about people falling to their death taking selfies on high ledges and cliffs and such? They're usually young.

Congrats! You made it past that phase! Fear of death when it can happen only inches away doesn't make one a sissy, it makes one aware.

quote:

(reminder - I've always had cars that were low to the ground with aftermarket suspensions - my first truck and it sits rather high).

Different heighth, different feel (ever so slightly more of a swaying sensation, would be my WAG).

It's called experience and wisdom.

Thanks guys. I like the way you guys view this. .

I did quite a bit when I was younger that I wont' do now.

Learning is not a mistake nor does it make one a "sissy." It means that you're intelligent enough to evolve.

Hard for me to relate--I've always been a "sissy" (never did much that was dangerous).

flashguy

I recently had a very similar experience on the trike. I found a turn-out and went home. I REALLY did not want to end up over the edge on my back with a heavy trike on top of me, but maybe I'm just a puss.

Interesting about how you feel about your truck.

When I am in my truck I feel safer than when in any other vehicle I own. My truck has always got me out of any bad situation and has never failed to get me home safe.

Never liked heights when I was young. I actually can tolerate it a bit more now. Maybe because I can't see so well as to realize what exactly it is that i'd be hitting when terminal velocity goes to zero. No waves of vertigo sweeping up and making me dizzy and unbalanced. But I've never been fully comfortable with it. It was worse when I was younger and working in my past life.

I harbor similar feelings about them tall, tall trucks and SUVs. First time I drove one I realized pretty quickly that they aren't nearly as tossable as a Vette or 911. Getting one up unintentionally on two wheels is not a warm and fuzzy moment.

I still hate ladders, especially with remembrances of climbing those straight vertical access ladders with no safety cage to surround one's self as I climb up on the way to roof hatches with no step off staging platform at the top. Nothing like getting to the top 30 feet above the concrete floor below and discovering a stuck lock release lever. Plus it's usually kind of dark up that high, where said ladder is situated in some utility or warehouse room well above the level of the minimal lights pointing down at the floor and not up to the underside of the roof where I be. What's a headlamp? Can I buy a hardhat with one? Damn.

Yeah those situations certainly didn't help with keeping the fear of falling at bay.

Then there was the times ON the roof or floor at an as-yet-to-be-completed high-rise tower. Nothing like being called out to the edge of the 27th floor with no walls but a single yellow rope 'barrier' to keep a person from going 'splat' all that way down. Then being asked to peer over the edge at some 'situation' with the edge of the slab because such and such subcontractor isn't happy with what he has to fasten his window system to. Or peering down the unfinished elevator shaft at the 32nd floor at some problem the elevator subcontractor brings up, and being unable to see the bottom due to the complete darkness all that way down below.

Yeah I readily admit that I don't miss those kinds of field visits. A high-rise steelworker I would've never made, that's for certain.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
Hard for me to relate--I've always been a "sissy" (never did much that was dangerous).

flashguy

Ha;don't beleave him This man has got hand cannons that will scare the hell out of you if he lets you shoot them.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
death wish hiking trail...

^^^^^
Nope nope nope.

I had the same issue last September in Yellowstone. Driving some of those roads with no barriers and raining had me puckered up. The idiots driving rented motorhomes didn't help any. I had one come around a blind corner halfway into my lane. Fortunately, my lane was on the wall side but unfortunately my right mirror took a hit from one of the fiberglass snow stakes as I moved over.

I can relate. I grew up with motorcycles, I stopped riding when I was 21 or so, no other reason than starting a family $$$. I used to ride up the PCH with nothing but silkies and shoes, not a care in the world.

When I was 41 I bought a bike, scared the crap out of me to ride again. The first thought that went through my mind was Holy Crap! There's nothing between me and the road.

Maturing, self preservation.