Sooooo, we think we're keeping from hurting Joel's feelings by not sharing the high ladder visit. Duh!
Joel got me again. And I should have known. Last year he said we were going to stop down for a visit to the fire boat ... he didn't say we were going out on the fire boat. We had a blast then, and I should have known that he didn't just have a ladder in mind. lol
So we followed John from 40, over to the County of Fairfax Police Helicopter Unit!!! No way!.
Before we went up, we were treated to a great breakfast made for us all, by the flight crew. Who knew they could cook, too?! So now before we were to go up, we had full bellies. So, I got ready ... 2 Dramamine! I'd been a flight attendant, so fixed wings were no issue ... but just the thought of helicopters made me queasy.
Kathy and Kelly were ready to go, though they made sure to have the lil bags handy.
And so we were up and away. And it was the smoothest, coolest flight I have ever experienced! The smiles and expressions on Kathy & Kelly's faces registered that they felt the same.
We wore headsets, and as we flew over the Potomac, and the monuments, and so much more, it was all done in a very professional manner with the coolest guide you could imagine. As something would come up, the pilot or the co-pilot would advise us what was about to appear on either side of the craft.
We snapped photos that we will cherish forever, and for parts of it, I videotaped. As the tour was going on, and the tape rolled, all I could think of was how cool this was going to be to see the sights and hear the narration with the whir of the blades overhead.
When I was able to view the footage I felt like a complete idiot. lol I had not realized that the narration was happening inside the headset. Yet another Duh! But hey, the footage is way cool anyway!
And the Dramamine worked great, although I don't think I needed it, in retrospect. The flight was so much smoother than you would ever imagine a helicopter would ride. So it was all good.
We landed after the flight, but there was a little "oopsy" for Rookie and he was somehow a victim of a rail landing on his midsection under the helicopter. Oh no, Mr Bill!
Luckily the crew was right there over him. They pulled him into the bird and flew him off to Fairfax General for treatment. We don't know what happened for the period he was away from us, and we were aware of RULE #5 ... but hey, they're pros, right?
We had to head over to the first of our visits on "Fairfax Day", but we were assured that Rookie would join us after he was treated.
Fairfax Local 2068 had arranged our visit, and had a full day planned. We were looking forward to it after doing much the same last year. You get to visit a lot of the houses and meet a lot of their folks ... and I have never met one I didn't really like! That still holds true, by the way! (Fore all 3 of us)
So it was that our first house was 29, where media was set up. Fairfax Fox 5's Sarah Simmons did a great job, though it did seem it was mostly about me. As Kathy said, this time the Mom in the story was her ... as her son is deployed to Guantanamo, and mine is home now. Credit should go where it is due! ( ;
Kathy and Kelly should both get a lot more notice and credit for all of the hard work they did behind the scenes to make this the successful tour it was. Sadly, it is my mug in most of the pictures, since they were the ones with the cameras. And you hear my view of the tour, as I write the journal. But never doubt that this was a team making this all happen!
Kelly did most of the photographs you are viewing, she was our rear window gal - making sure I didn't cut anyone off, or make a bad move that would have gotten us hurt. Kathy was the one who made all the calls to the departments across the country to get the stops set up, and was responsible for dealing with difficult navigation situations while I was freaking out in the big city interchanges. Kathy also took photos, and stood in for me for a couple stops when I was just too out of it to make sense (More about this in a minute).
I want to thank them both for all of their hard work, and for putting up with my random crankiness ass the miles got long. They are both troopers and should be applauded!!!
Meanwhile, back at the 29's ... It was an interesting arrival. As we pulled in to the rear of the station, the helicopter flew low-level, overhead. Apparently though, no one had told the station that this was going to happen. So the bay doors were wide open, the bay was spic & span clean with long tables cloth draped and covered with beautiful Local 2068 signed by all of their members. (Can you see this one coming?)
Firefighters came out to see what was going on. It was raining lightly and the blades whipped up the leaves and dirt from outside to the inside. Firefighters inside ran to keep the tablecloths from flying away, and brush away the leaves. As they watched the chopper, the side window opened, and Rookie flew earthbound, landing with a thud. Luckily, the C02 bottle broke his fall.
The firefighters looked both confused and bemused seeing this small package tossed out by the police with a message about wanting to be a HazMat tech. We explained all as we did the presentation.
This was the second of three "Eagle Honors" this year. And they earned it. Fairfax has really stepped up ... as did the first recipient, another FFD, Framingham FD.
This was also the stop where we met up with Joe from AOL Journals Editors. They had been working with us to get the fixes done on this Journal, and we truly appreciate all they did to make this work for us, so that you can still cut & paste your photos. Thank you Joe, you rock! BTW, Joe did a write up in his Journal as well, hopefully he'll add the link to it in the message block. Hint, hint. ( ;
Of all of the Fairfax stops, this group was by far the most reserved. Probably because of the onsite media. Firefighters get grief for getting caught on camera as it is, and when you throw us into the mix, you know they're gonna get ribbed more for it. Don't mistake that for disinterest, or that they didn't play with us. They were great, and we respect the way they handled themselves! Salute!
A quick lunch, (a few yawns) and we were off to the next stop! Thank you guys for making the official presentation stop, perfect!
lj & the road crew
**The link for the news story is ... http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=3BCDC7CB727E76B8BC4E719F2CD93334?contentId=3389079&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1
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