we watched all of this as it unfolded. nick wallenda joins me as well. a hop, skip and a jump at the end. from sarasota, home of the flying wallendas. glad it went well for you. so am i. martha: how was it up there? you know what? there was a bit more wind than i was hoping for. i m being told gusts up to 35 miles an hour. martha: wow. and a steady wind around 25 to 30 miles an hour. so a little more than i had hoped for but, all is well that ends well. here i am talking to you this morning. martha: yeah. you know i guess the biggest question i have watch you do this, how do you maintain the focus? and what do you do inside your head? what is your practice when you feel like you re losing that focus? you know, this is something that i ve done my entire life. i started walking the wire at the age of two. i m 34 now. for 32 years i ve been walking a wire. so something that becomes very natural to me. it actually becomes dangerous at times because you can become so complacent
bill: live to the hill. this gun hearing will get underway in about eight minutes time. we re told it is one of the most attended hearings that many reporters in washington can remember. in part because the astronaut mark kelly is there and his wife gabby gifford will appear as well. she was a surprise add to the list about two hours ago. she fired off this tweet a moment ago. heading to the senate for a hearing on gun violence. thanks to senator leahy and chuck grassley, the other senator, for starting this conversation. we ll track the headlines out of that smart hearing here on america s newsroom . martha: for something completely different for you. he calls himself, the king of the wire. this is why daredevil nick wallenda, walking the high wire 200 feet above the highway in sarasota, florida, untethered yesterday.
that it is second nature. that is when something will come up to bite you. whether a gust of wind or a cable moving underneath your feet so. those are the things that help me keep my focus are when those things happen, a gust of wind or something. it is kind of a wake-up call, saying hey, you re up on a wire and you need to be careful. martha: what is the scariest moment you ve had? i would say the scariest moment i had when i was breaking a world record in newark, new jersey, on a bicycle on a wire. the record was for distance. it was 235 feet across. there was a large dip in the middle of the wire. on the way uphill the back wheel started to spin. i sort of, didn t so much lose balance and didn t know what i would do in order to get in. ended up backing to get momentum to make it all the way. that was probably the scariest moment in my career. martha: sarasota obviously has a lot of meaning for , doesn t it? it does. this where i was born and raised. this is about the community.