Jeff's Day One Report

This is Jeff's day one report that he sent me by email.... Thursday, January 15, 2009 Time-16:15 WE ARE ON THE ROAD!!!!!!!!!!! We are a touch late from our original estimate of getting on the road by 06:00 this morning. Due to some technical issues we were forced to start at a later time. If it weren’t for our dedicated crew of workers it would have been a lot later. I have to say thanks to Ed Henning from Central Pierce Fire and Rescue for all of the time he put in trying to get our rigs on the road. He has spent the last four days fabricating a tow hitch to the engine and the front of the truck. Thanks Ed!!

We have a convoy of 4 rigs that will hopefully take us all the way down to Guatemala and be useful to our firefighter friends for years to come. In front we have a 1979 Ford Fire Engine donated by East Pierce Fire and Rescue currently being driven by Eduardo and accompanied by me. Really close behind us we are towing a 1979 Chevy pickup truck also donated by East Pierce. We are a slow moving convoy since the lead engine only travels at around 50 mph. So far we’ve only had a small amount of communication in our rig due to the overwhelming sound of the engine and my poor Spanish translations.

Behind us are Wyatt and Sean driving the 1981 Chevy Van also donated by East Pierce Fire and Rescue. It comes equipped with an assortment of snacks and drinks, plus a flat spot to lie down during those long days of driving. From what the boys tell me there isn’t a lot of heat in the rig either. Brrrrrrrrr!!!

Bringing up the rear we have a 1982 E-One Pumper donated by the University Place Fire Department with Chris in the Drivers seat.

We have had a generous offer from Maria Palensky for dinner and a place to warm up for about an hour. Since we got such a late start our goal for tonight will be around Eugene Oregon. Should be a good Drive and I’ll let you know what we had for dinner.

Dinner was excellent, chicken, rice, and fresh greens paired with the finest bottle of……….water. Dang, I wish it was paired with something else. It was a wonderful meal prepare to perfection. The drive to the house was very foggy and slow but worth the time.

We made it down, just north of Eugene where we will stop for the night at a rest stop.
It is cold and Foggy but the driving, the hitch and all else went without a problem.

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