Day 10 - Chattanooga & Valdosta

Well, let's see.  We woke up in Chattanooga, Tennessee ... Or really danged close to it but still wound up missing the turn and heading right on into Georgia.  Sigh.  So one u-turn and a set of directions from the locals, and we found the station.

Of course when we go there, they were out on a call.  This was just not boding well for us, ya know?

So we set about doing a "While you were out" photo op.  We were discussing the pros and cons of leaving a goodie bag hanging on their door handle.  (These days you want to be careful about leaving any package somewhere that you haven't made prior arrangements about.  We might be looking for a perfect media avenue, but having them show up because we left a package and the city calls out their forces to handle it ... Bad media idea.  So we did not leave the bag.)

We were writing out the "Sorry we missed ya" note and were about to stick it in the front door when we saw someone.  Woo Hoo!

Finally, a contact for Chattanooga!  What a good guy.  He even went in and got a shirt on for the photo op.  Way to rep, big guy!

He shared a story with us about a young boy who has been a real Hero to the firefighters, and will likely join their ranks one day.  It is so good to hear these stories.  Hope to get to meet this kid one day, sounds like he's got his head on right!

But it was off again ... Valdosta awaited.

Unfortunately we were not able to make a solid contact with them due to every planet in the universe aligning against us.  By the time we got to VPD, the Chief was on his way home, and call me funny, but it didn't seem like a good idea to call him back.  So the guys still at the station stepped in and did our photos.  Thanks, Guys!

Figured since we were there we'd head on over to the FD.  The guys were getting ready for dinner, and dang did that smell outstanding!  Can't beat most firehouse food, gotta tell ya!  This was no exception.

While the chef readied their meal we took advantage of the onsite crew by getting them outside for a quick photo op.

We really liked the firefighters here in Valdosta, very friendly and a great sense of humor is always a plus on the road.

But we had to get back on the road and get down to Florida, so we made sure to leave them some goodies, and we were off!

Hope to see some good rep for our Valdosta ... and Chattanooga Troops ... when the shirt drive gets under way!

Y'all take care!

lj