92 year old celebrates birthday by ziplining

CENTRAL POINT,  Ore. — A Southern Oregon senior is celebrating his birthday with a thrill. Ed Adkins, 92, is soaring to new heights thanks to his friends, family, and Rogue Valley ZipLine Adventure.

“It never even donned on me that I might do it,” Adkins said. “Last year, they wanted me to go on a trip, on a zipline, I says, ‘no, we’ve got too many things to do, so I’ll do it next year.’ Well, I thought they would forget… they didn’t forget, so here I am.”

If you ask him, he’ll tell you he’s not afraid. In fact, adventure and adrenaline are kind of his thing.

“I never thought I’d make it, I thought if I made 65 that’d be pretty good,” Adkins said.

He earned a silver and bronze star for his service in World War II as platoon runner for his Lieutenant.

Adkins recalled, “The runner is supposed to take messages from him to the squads and I asked him, I says, ‘What happened to the other one?’ He says, ‘He got shot.’ I says, ‘I don’t want the job.’ He says, ‘Why do you think you’ve had 13 replacements up here?'”

Despite the apparent odds, Adkinds made it to an age very few do; He still has a job.

“I’ve got a tight schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” Adkins said.

He still makes time to have a little fun.

“I’ve done an awful lot in my life, been an awful lot of places, so why not zipline,” Adkins said.

After letting go and flying through the air, Adkins has a piece of advice.

“I think everybody should have a chance at doing this,” Adkins said.

If you want to take his advice Rogue ValleyZzipLine Adventure is ADA compliant. For more  information, click here.

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