Jahommie's Haven>Shockwave>My View>Brett's View>Ride Operator's View
The giant archway gleamed brightly in the sun above us as we walked into the Six Flags Great America Amusement Park.
"Hey Johnny," Brett said enthusiastically, "Lets go hit up that new ride, Shockwave." I glanced over at this new attraction. The sheer height of this enormous stomach-wrencher was something to marvel at.
Hesitantly I responded, "Ummmm...Well, I've never actually gone upside down on a roller coaster before...Why don't we try something a little less intimidating?"
"Come on dude, you're gonna have to try it eventually. Besides, the lines are shortest right after opening...by 11:00 the wait will surely be over an hour. What do you say?"
Nervously I responded, "Alright man, whatever you say."
Twenty minutes later we were strapped in and ready to conquer that beast. My breathing had increased quite a bit. I had that same knot in my stomach that I get before an important track race. "Click," the safety belt snapped into place, holding me tightly against the back of the seat.
The wheels screeched as our carts train moved forward and started up the incline. Underneath our train sounded the clanging of carts rolling up the track. As we climbed higher, the rest of the park came into full view. The people below us became tiny dots all clumped together.
A nauseous feeling formed inside my stomach. Lets just say that the cheese omelet and bacon strips weren't sitting too pretty. Upon reaching the top, our whole train came slowed to almost a complete stop.
"Whoosh," the momentum of the front cart pulled the whole train downward. I gripped tightly to the metal barrier holding me in place. The whole rest of the park was a complete blur. All that mattered was the here and now. The thought of death crossed my mind more than once. Up and around we went, making our way through two large successive loops. A momentary sigh of relief came over me as the track leveled out. This soon dissipated as the series of tight loops, they call the corkscrew, came into view. While winding round and round, I lost complete sense of orientation. Up or down, at this point it didn't really matter.
"Chshhhh," our train halted to a slow roll. As we coasted in I could make out the vague image of our the loading platform.
"Ugh," I placed one hand on my stomach and one over my mouth.
"Snap" the metal bars securing us snapped open. I stumbled over to the ledge. The contents of my breakfast went hurling over the railing to the grasses below.
Next: Brett's View