It was time for Alex to jump or swing as the case may be. She figured that she had better do it soon because she was starting to get that panicky I'm going to fall in the ravine feeling. Too bad she couldn't close her eyes, but she thought that would be a little bit counterproductive.

Alex thought that giving it a running start would be her best bet. She took the rope into her hands and backed up to what she thought was an appropriate distance. "OK Alex, on three", she said to herself. "One, two, THREE......". Alex started to run as fast as she could which wasn't very fast these days, and as she reached the edge of the ravine, she jumped. (insert petrified scream here) Wrapping her legs around the rope, Alex held on for dear life.

Feeling like she was moving in slow motion, it seemed to take forever for Alex to cross that ravine. Oh oh, one thing she didn't consider was how she was going to land without breaking the aforementioned hip. Nice time to think about that now. Alex saw the other side of the ravine approaching, fast. Funny how time seemed to speed up again just at that moment. As she reaced solid ground, Alex let go of the rope and did her best baseball sliiiiide. Hitting the ground did not feel great, but at least she felt that all of her bones were intact. Getting up slowly, she thought, "Now if I can only make it across the swamp." First, she had to find it.