TAKE THE PLUNGE: BUNGEE JUMPING COMES TO CAPE GIRARDEAU

Have you ever had the desire to plunge head first toward the pavement off a 125-foot platform with nothing but a series of giant rubber bands between you and Splat City?

Then the St. Louis Bungy Jump company has just the thing for the thrill-seeker in you.

Cape Girardeau daredevils will have the chance to plummet head first, 95-feet straight down, and up, and back down, and up again, and down ... .

Big Al's, at 610 S. Kingshighway, will host the St. Louis Bungy Jump Thursday through Saturday from 3 p.m.-midnight.

"It's really a great time," said St. Louis Bungy founder Gary Ross. Ross, a former Green Beret, has jumped more than 100 times himself.

St. Louis Bungy, the oldest bungee jumping company in the Midwest, started in 1990 with hot-air balloon jumps at a site in Wentzville, Mo. It continues to offer balloon jumps, but only in the summer months when morning winds are calm.

The rest of the year, the company uses a 125-foot platform hoisted by a crane. The company has elected to spend this winter at Hidden Valley ski center in St. Louis, open for business on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

So what about the dangers involved with bungee jumping?

"In nearly 5,000 jumps, we've never had an accident," stressed Ross. "There's been a lot of bad press since the accident in Michigan, but there's really no danger involved with using our equipment."

Ross explained that the two recent bungee jumping deaths in Michigan involved improper hookups that could have been spotted with repeated visual checks - checks his company practices.

Although jumpers will have rope burns from time to time, St. Louis Bungy's equipment has never failed.

The company expects to surpass the 5,000 jump mark while in Cape Girardeau. Only 13 people have gone up onto the platform and elected not to jump.

The company is charging $45 per jump during the special event, or $35 with a reservation. Ankle harnesses are $10 extra.

The jump itself is a 95-foot freefall over an air bag inflated below. The jumper is secured in a body harness, attached at the back.

St. Louis Bungy promises no jerk in the rebound from the initial fall.

"Our ropes are designed to stretch to three times their length; the person on it will only pull it out to twice the length," Ross explained. "The transition is so smooth that you really don't know which direction you're going in for a minute."

Each person will be attached to 3, 4 or 5 ropes, depending on the weight of the jumper.

St. Louis Bungy has travelled all over the Midwest and spent a short time in South Padre Island, Texas, last year during the college spring break season.

"We go where there's people," Ross explained. "We try not to travel more than about 200 miles away from St. Louis, because then travel expenses get high."

Do you think you would be "the type" to take that step off a platform suspended way up in the sky?

"There's talkers and there's doers," Ross said. "We get a lot of doers."

Reservations can be made for the event by calling Lori at the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority 339-3393.