Fun with the Fairfax Forty

Dinner time found us in Fairfax County ... Great place to be!!!  Remember ... RULE #1:  If you are invited to stay for a meal with the first responders, and time allows, you do it.  It is usually great food and it is always great company.  No exception here!

Besides, how can you not feel warm & fuzzy, when the big reader board at the station has a welcome message on it for all to see.  Nice touch!

I had been to this station before.  Last year, JeeNee and I visited this house before it was even opened.  They asked us to come back this time, and I'm glad I was able ot, and share it for the first time, with Kathy and Kelly.

This is a beautiful house, they have done it justice.  The equipment is shiny and new, and plentiful, and it is filled with some truly fun people!  They are ornery, too ... which we like.

While we took group shots, an extra house member showed up, standing taller than all the rest.  We were surprised that they would have such a hirsute member.  Who knew?  lol  So we did the pictures and had to rock the glasses.

The magnet on the hood of the car was signed when one of the guys asked if he could sign the car.  Now Hertz has been pretty accommodating, letting us put stickers on the car itself this time.  But we thought that might be taking advantage of their generosity to H2H.  So we let him sign the tire and assured them they would be the only ones allowed to do so.  He had lots of supervision accomplishing the task.  And in the end, he did a great job, and they were indeed the only ones to sign the rig.

So we all went inside for a great dinner and dessert ... but the hijinks were just beginning in Fairfax. 

RULE #5: Never leave your Mascots unattended in the station.

There is a reason for this.  So, dinner was done.  We were sitting back relaxing, and visiting, when the overhead speakers came on.

"Rookie Bear is missing!  Please help in the search for Rookie Bear."  Kathy, Kelly, & I just looked at each other and laughed.  The firefighters were laughing and obviously in cahoots with each other in this effort.

Now this house is huge, and Rookie is a small guy.  So they gave us hints.  they advised us to go back in our memory through the tour they had given us when we first got there.

So, logic told us to go to the hose tower first.  It was like playing with the kids in school.  They were creative and a lot of fun ... not that Rookie might agree.  hehe

Poor Rookie!  ROFL!  We looked up and sure enough, there he was - hanging from the hoses, several floors up!  He was vacuum sealed in a clear plastic bag, with the message "I want to be a HazMat Tech" on yellow tape around his left leg.  There was a small C02 bottle in with him so he could breath.  You have to love these guys!  Of course, one of them suggested it was Chubaka that did it.  But who knows when RULE #5 is broken.  Sigh ... LOL

Rumor has it that Kelly went on at least one call that night, but by this time time the road was catching up with me, and after doing late night journal/photo editing, I was out like a light.  Kathy was sawing small zzz's, getting beauty sleep, so I don't think she rode either.

We were all happy with the visit, and looking forward to the next morning when there was a surprise for us.  All we'd been told was to be ready in the morning, and we'd have breakfast when we got there.  Joel had sent an earlier email asking if any of us were afraid of heights, so we didn't want to tell him we had been in the 118 foot bucket in Holland, Michigan.  Didn't want to spoil any plans, ya know ...

To be continued ...

lj & the road crew