54 Trips Around the Sun

Starting out on any endeavor can prove to have a hiccup or two, so goes my foray into the realm of the blogger. So much to do and so little time. My intended daily journal of our 2013 road trip has been, shall we say sporadic at best. Time to catch things up...

Day 7, 8, 9, 10 ~ We rolled in to Morgantown West VA to attend the IAFF Motorcycle Group National Rally which was held in conjunction with the Mountainfest Motorcycle and Music extravaganza. We hold our rally in different locations each year and firefighters from across the U.S. and Canadia come together for a few days of riding, camaraderie, and all around good times. This years rally was dedicated to the memory of Brother Jim Judd who died while riding home from last years rally in Butte Montana.

We had a scare on the first day of our rally when Dave Dobbs had a bit of a mishap that put his bike in the Triple S Harley Davidson shop for some mostly "cosmetic" repairs after Dave had to put his big red baby down hard on the street. Dave also had some "cosmetic" damage done to his person. Mostly road rash but I'm pretty sure I could see the bone in his pinky finger. Dave's "cosmetic" damage won't be quite so easy to repair, that's just the way he looks.

During the rally we took a really cool day ride through the hill country of West VA and also lead the Parade of Motorcycles through downtown Morgantown as the Grand Marshals.

Who doesn't LOVE a parade?

The Mountainfest had all the usual rally things, vendors with all sorts of stuff that you just can't live without, music including Fog Hat, Three Dog Night and Joan Jett, food and scantily clad girls that are the same age as my youngest daughter (put in that context it kinda puts you off but at least they weren't MY daughter) serving ice cold beer... ya know, rally stuff.

All too soon the rally ended and we made the good byes and wished each other safe journeys as we headed back to our respective parts of the continent.

Day 11 ~ Drove 600ish miles through CORN COUNTRY. We saw lots and lots of corn (Ohio, Indiana to Urbana Illinois). Spent the night in a Walmart parking lot.

Day 12 ~ Drove another 600ish miles through CORN COUNTRY. We again saw lots and lots of corn as w ran through Illinois and Iowa before we pulled in to the KOA in Sioux Falls South Dakota.

Day 13 ~ Nice day running across the prairie of South Dakota with a stop at Wall Drug. If you ever find yourself running across I-90 this place is not to be missed. You won't forget because the signs for Wall Drug start popping up on the roadside about 600 miles away.

Other than some over long days on the road through corn country the road trip has been "pretty good alright" with the exception of trying to get the dogs on some sort of schedule with their need for a potty break. We think that when they start farting (Ollie mostly) that the movement is imminent so we pull over and go for a walk-about. More often than not nothing occurs. so off we go again wondering if he's just gonna let loose while on the road.

We made it in to Deadwood for the night. Kristie has declared that she thinks Deadwood is pretty OK.

Day 14 ~ I woke today in Deadwood South Dakota on my 54th birthday WAY TOO EARLY due in large part to all my early rising friends that posted up their Facebook shoutouts wishing me a happy day. I really can't complain since I have become one of those old guys that is up with the sun most every day anyway. Today, just BEFORE sunrise, as I lay in my snug little sleeping loft in Mondo the Magic Bus (our RV) my phone alerted that I had a new message and then another, and another andanotherandanotherandanotherandanother...

Now, my phone usually doesn't go into a manic message mode unless there is a major fire or other incident at the FFD that requires an all hands response to duty. My first thought was that I was missing some good action back home. After about the 20th little whistle that alerts me that I have an incoming text I got out of bed and went downstairs to check my phone. Pretty awesome to have so many people from all across the country wishing me a happy birthday. Thanks all. I also got to talk to my mom and my sister, Liz who called to express their birthday wishes as well.

We are making the run from Deadwood SD to Cody WY where we will spend the night in a post up position for our four day visit to Yellowstone.

Day 15 ~ We took highway 16 (Sweet 16) over the Big Horn Mountains through some pretty spetacular scenary. The gal at the RV park in Cody where we were headed for the night was very concerned that we were going to attempt the drive from Deadwood to Cody in a single day. I'm not sure what she was worried about. Yeah there were some pretty steep climbs and downgrades but Mondo handled things just fine.

Birthday dinner for me in Cody and topped off with a chocolate dipped cone at Dairy Queen as my birthday dessert celebration.

Storms, Low Hanging Branches and McGuyver to the Rescue

Day 4 ~ Part Duex

Rolled in to Sevierville TN right at dusk to visit with Chad and Peri and their 27 dogs (really it's ONLY 10).

They have recently loaded up all their stuff and moved from Flagstaff to Tennessee. They found what may be the most perfect-little-house-in-the-state-that-could-also-run-a-moonshine-still-and never-get-caught. They have not one but two creeks running through their property which is tucked waywaywayway back in the woods up the hollow (holler for all you southerners).

We got the grand tour and Kristie got to see her first ever lightning bugs and then it was time for a great little dinner with grilled kabobs and corn on the cob.

Day 5 ~ No rush morning. Visited with Peri while Chad got to work. He is still with Flagstaff Medical Center and working remotely from his home office as is Peri as well.

Once we got on the road the day was going along great as we drove through the hills of West Virginia. The heavens opened up and we had some torrential rains come down for awhile but by mid afternoon things were clearing up.

We had a plan to make a short day of it and layover for a day in whichever campground that Miss Kristie found for us. The choice of the day was (and I'm not making this up) Cooter's Cabins and Campin'. Kristie had called them and the guy (Cooter?) had assured her that our oversized rig would fit just fine. This turned out to be a HUGE mistake resulting in a few things:

1) Instead of staying two days at Cooter's Cabins and Campin' we got to spend an unplanned night in the parking lot of the Fayetteville WV Wal Mart where...

2) Due to the low hanging branches on the road in to Cooter's Cabins and Campin' we took out the roof top vent for my refrigerator and two other vent covers leaving large openings in the roof of the Magic Bus (as Kristie calls our RV) so...

3) I got to show off my unbelievable awesome McGuyver skills as I had to do some serious makeshift repairs to get things water tight again due to the threat of heavy rain overnight (whicg proved to be an accurate forecast). I went through plans A, B and C but by the time I got to plan D the resulting repair job was nothing short of spectacular. A word to the wise that I adhere to religiously.

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES EVEREVEREVER GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT GORILLA TAPE IN YOUR REPAIR KIT!

Day 6 ~ it rained all night but things looked to be nice and dry in the areas of damage so continuing with the results of our ill fated foray in to Cooter's Cabins and Campin'...

4) We got to spend the first few hours of DAY 6 at American Campers, a great little RV sales and repair shop in Bradley WV where Frank and Gary took great care of us and made the permanent repairs to the Magic Bus getting us back on the road by noon. I'm pretty sure my truly mindblowingly fantastic repair job would have lasted for the entirity of our remaining 25 days on the road but for the sake of Kristie's peace of mind we left a couple of hundred fun tickets in the care of Frank an Gary and they sent us out as good as new.

We then rolled up the highway a little way (36 miles) to pull in for the day/night at the Mountain Lake Campground at Summersville WV. This is a beautiful spot and we knew we would regret that we were only here for one night.

Of course it would too much to ask that there wasn't a little bit of drama so as I pulled in to our assigned spot I had to find that little boggy area on the side of the road and procede to get the Magic Bus just a little stuck. Nothing bad but it took my heavy duty tow strap and an assist from the park owner in his pick up truck to get me UN-stuck and settled in for the day.

Now it was time to unwind a little. Lunch, beer, nap, take a walk, meet the neighbors, dinner, take a walk, beer, settle down for a good night sleep, listen to the rain come down... zzzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzzz...

Rolling East ~ Day 1 through 4

Day 1 - Didn't roll out of Flagstaff until well after noon. I had wanted to get as far as Tucumcari NM but it was just getting too late.

We spent the night in the P-lot of the Route 66 Casino west of the ABQ.

Day 2 - was a LONG day on the road. We ran from ABQ NM to Shawnee OK. Started with a great breakfast at Wecks on Coors but then is was a long day on the road.

My lovely bride was maybe a little "testy" by the end of the day as we pulled up at the free RV Parking at the Fire Lake Grand Casino in Shawnee OK.

Day 3 - Off at the Crack of Noon. Today was Kristie Day... All decisions about where to stop for the day were hers. She discovered the Allstays app that lets her look up pretty much every campground along the route. She now has the job of finding our overnight stops. I think this will work out fine.

Day 4 dawns as we get ready to roll from just outside of Memphis, TN.

We had a crazy storm here last night with rain, hail, lightning... sounds kinda like what was going on in Flagstaff last night. Also it is NOT a DRY heat here in Forest City Arkansas!

Kristie Koontz Manning has encountered some southern wildlife. Toads, Texas speed bumps (read several dead armadillos on the side of the road), mosquitoes, and last night... AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!! A TICK!

I am pretty sure we won't be moving to the south any time soon.

On the road early (after a thorough check for TICKS) to go visit our friends Chad and Peri in Sevierville TN.

Crying in the Produce Aisle... It Must be the Onions

On July 4th, I was on duty for the first half of our usual 48 tour. We work 48 hours on and then have 96 hours off.

My crew and I had gone to the grocery store to shop for the food we would eat over those two days (lunch, dinner, breakfast, lunch and dinner). During our time in the store we were approached several times by other shoppers who wanted to express their condolences to us regarding the loss of our brother firefighters in Yarnell. I am always humbled when I have someone come up to me and thank us for our service to the community. In my mind I am just doing my job, but with the recent tragedy I was feeling just a bit more pride in what my fellow firefighters and I do for the citizens we are sworn to serve.

On this day we also had two older women that seemed to be shopping on the same aisles as us as we went through the store. At one point they approached me and, as had happened a number of times that day, and said "Captain, my sister and I really want you to know how much it means to us that we have brave young men such as you there to protect us". I thanked her and her sister and told them it was our privilege to serve them. The woman started to cry and said "We really want to do something to help the families of those boys that died".

There was nothing else I could do but stand there in the produce aisle and hug this complete stranger as she cried on my shoulder for several minutes while other shoppers just stopped and watched the scene.

After a time she apologized and said she just felt so overwhelmed by grief over what had happened and that she felt especially bad about the families of the fallen firefighters. I told her I understood and that we appreciated her support. I was also able to tell her that there are a number of charities that will help in these situations so I told her about the 100 Club, an organization that is set up to assist the families when a firefighter or police officer dies in the line of duty. (www.100club.org)

She again thanked us for what we do and my crew and I went on about our shopping.

As we went up to the check out counter the tones went off on my radio for a motor vehicle accident just down the street. We pushed our cart over to the customer service desk and jogged out to our truck to respond. This particular Fry's grocery store is very close to our fire station and all of the crews (3 shifts) do their shopping here. The store personnel have become accustomed to our sudden departures and will push our cart into the walk in cooler to keep our food fresh until we return after completing our emergency run.

We went to the call, which turned out to be a minor "fender bender" and then returned to the store about 30 minutes later. The store manager saw us coming in the front door and called for a clerk to bring out our shopping cart.

The groceries had been bagged and there was a note taped to a receipt on the bags. It was from the women that had stopped me in the store.

The note said: "Thank you firemen for all that you do."

They had paid for our groceries ($65).

The manager then handed me an envelope. In it was a $100 bill. The manager told us that the women had insited on paying for our food and told him to give us the $100. They told him "Those boys will get the money to where it needs to go."

The store manager then handed me another envelope containing another $120. He told us that several other other shoppers had given him the cash when they saw the two women explaining to the store manager that they wanted to pay for our groceries their donation with him.as well. 

Now I am a big, strong, tough guy but I suddenly was having a difficult time seeing. I must have had somthing in my eyes because they were watering like crazy.

I have been a firefighter for over 35 years and as a part of my job I have dealt with alot of tragedy and pain. As I like to think of it, we show up to help when you are having a very bad day. The danger personal risk is always there. It is a part of the job, but it is never easy when things go bad.

On 9-11-01 I lost 343 brother and sister firefighters. Just last month I attended the funeral of a young (23 years old) Phoenix Firefighter who was killed in the line of duty and on Tuesday I will attend the memorial in Prescott. Since that day in Yarnell there have been at least two firefighters (that I know of) that have died in the line of duty.

All in all I have developed a pretty tough hide but when I drop this envelope of donated money into the 100 Club collection box that will be set up at the memorial I will likely have tears in my eyes and will be thinking of the sacrifice that was made, the families they've left behind and the woman that cried on my shoulder in the produce aisle.

 

 

Sad Day in the Firefighter Community

July 1st. 2013

 

It is a very sad day here in Arizona and in my community of firefighter brothers and sisters.

You have probably all heard the news stories about the 19 young firefighters from the Granite Mountain Hot Shots that lost their lives on June 30th, 2013 while fighting the Yarnell Hill fire in south of Prescott Arizona.


Granite Mountain Hot Shots - Rest in Peace
God Speed Brothers ~ We'll take it from here.

Please keep the families, friends and loved ones of these young men, boys really, in your thoughts and prayers.

I have been a firefighter my entire adult life and started out working as a Hot Shot on my 18th birthday. 35 years later I am still on the job and my heart is breaking for the thought of these young lives that have been so tragically snuffed out. I knew several of these lost souls and their families personaly.

Also keep all the families that have lost their homes and all of their possessions during this tragic incident. My sister-in-law and her husband were amoung those who have lost everything.

Please support your local firefighters as they put their lives on the line every day to protect you and your family.