the Manta

I have refused for years to ride the coasters at Busch Gardens- the Alpengeist, Apollo’s Chariot, Griffon. But there we were at SeaWorld standing beneath the riders on this thing called the “Manta” with everyone around me commenting on “how smooth ” it is etc etc blah blah. So maybe it was the heat (94?) but I decided I would ride it but it had to be right then and there before I lost my courage. There were the usual warnings about back pain, pregnancies (no chance there!) and a little scarier prohibitions against people wearing prostheses- what was that all about!!! Will my grandson was just tall enough to be able to ride and Luke was willing so we walked through the cool tunnel leaning to the ride. Amazing- no time to back off. In a heartbeat I was locked into it and tilting facedown then going up very slowly  -high enough to have a panoramic view of central Florida if I weren’t so terrified- and then all the way down twisting and turning and upside down with me screaming OMG! for 2 minutes before returning to terra firma. So I can now say I did it and have the photo to prove it. What next -hang gliding??