In which I have much to say...

Long strange few days since I was last here.  We spent two days in Elgin, which I must say, was kind of nice, being kind of my hometown and all.  I didn't live in Elgin, but that was where we went for shopping etc. when I was a kid so...

The first day we spent a little time at St. Joseph's Hospital, a little time at Sherman Hospital and a little more time at SpringHill Gymnastics where we attempted to surprise Rebekah and a little time at City Hall where we attempted to surprise Cindy.  I say "attempted" because both women figured something was fishy when 
A.) Rebekah was driving to work for a "mandatory meeting" and she saw her parents car at the local Starbucks.  Her parents live 30 miles away.  There are approximately 462 Starbucks between where Mom & Dad live and where Rebekah works. Why were they at THIS one?

B.) Cindy was at work and randomly walked from her department to another in City Hall, happened to look out the window and saw HER Mom & Dad sitting on a bench in front of City Hall.

C.) WHAT THE HELL ELGIN, WHAT'S A GROUP OF GUYS DRESSED IN PINK HAVE TO DO TO SURPRISE SOMEONE!?!?

Apparently we can't tell parents.

Because our first stop on Saturday was to see Moira and WOOHOO! we surprised her!

It. Was. Great. 

Here we see Eddie from LA (Lower Alabama) and Chuck from NC (plain, old North Carolina) showing Moira a little love.  One of her friends was there and she asked one of the guys why Elgin didn't have it's own pink fire truck.

Then, we went and saw Mary Ann.  This one was never intended to be a surprise, and that's ok btw, we just like it when a surprise visit is actually, you know, a surprise.  Mary Ann must be a pretty awesome lady, she had a ton of friends and neighbors there, but the thing that struck me was when she posed for a picture with the kids, about a dozen of them, from the neighborhood.  Nothing unusual about that, you say?

Wrong.

The kids were all boys between 8 and 12 years old.  The fact that they all WANTED to pose with her spoke volumes to me about the kind of person she must be.  And I told her how cool I thought that was.

Her we see Eddie and Chuck again, doing what they do best.

Here's a sad acknowledgement I have to make.  For two years, I've told these ladies, as I hug them, that "I've been told I'm the best hugger on the tour" and it usually brings a laugh and occasionally some form of agreement.

The truth?

BOTH of these guys are better.  I've been watching them for the last three days on tour, these guys are doing work.  That's a good thing, btw.  

So after our home visits on Saturday, we went to both branches of the public library in Elgin and had a really nice time at both places.  Particularly at the Rakow branch.  We saw several survivors that asked us why Elgin didn't have it's own pink fire truck.  If I were a betting man, I'd bet that by this time next year, Elgin will have it's own pink fire truck.  And maybe a pink police car too.  

As we were wrapping up our visit at the library, a couple of the Elgin FD guys were sitting inside the tour bus, talking with us.  I asked the BC if we could swing by the firehouse after we finished so we could hose off some of the road grime.  He said absolutely, no problem at all, just tell us what you need.  

We pulled around to the back of the station and one of the guys pulled out four vehicles so we could pull inside and, with the help of three of the guys, we washed all four of our girls.  And toweled them dry.  Really awesome of them to help, they didn't need to but we sure appreciated their efforts.  We kept telling them to go sit down, we could do it, but they all busted their butts to help us.

So, on to this morning.  We were getting ready to leave, about 10 minutes before we were supposed to pull out, and a large pack of people, eight women and one man, came toward us from the front door of the hotel.  They asked what we were about and who we were.  So we told them, the Readers Digest (google it) condensed version.  And they told us they were brother and sisters, originally from Green Bay, WI but now from all over the country, and they were in town because one of their sisters had passed away at 1:00 this morning.  

From cancer.

Why this hotel?

Why this week?

Sometimes I really wonder... 

This is John, the brother, singing "Amazing Grace" acapella, his wonderful voice relating pure emotion.  It was one of the coolest things I've experienced in a long while.  I don't know if it will be my take-away from this year, but it's a strong contender.  Chuck is shooting video in this picture.  If I can put it up here, I will.   

In looking through the pictures I chose for today's entry, it seems to be a little Chuck-centric, so maybe we'll do a kick -off of an old favorite.  No, really, somebody MUST like it. 

I think.

Screw it, I like it and I'm the guy writing it so suck it up people.

Meet Chuck.  Twice so far people have seen him and thought he was me.  Seriously.  I mean, it's true we're both tall, bald and strikingly handsome, but just look at that mustache.  It doesn't look ANYTHING like mine.  SMDH.  Anyway, Chuck is from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  

Is that one town or two?  Maybe I should Wikipedia it... Nah, some other time.  No offense to all you Winston-Salemites out there reading this though, keep reading!  I used to LOVE your tobacco products! 

But back to Chuck... really great guy and as I mentioned earlier, a stellar hugger, just stellar!  He's president of the Triad Chapter.  No it's not the Chinese mob, you're thinking of that really stupid Mel Gibson movie.

No the other one.

No the other one.

No the other one.

No the other one.

You know "hubba hubba" bang smash pow

Yeah, that one.

Anyway, great dude, I really enjoy working with him.

No, Chuck!  Mel Gibson is a tool.

Here's an example.  While we're working our event today, he comes up to me and asks me where "a town" is (intentionally leaving the town out cause it may lead to a surprise visit down the road) and I told him it's very near where we'll be soon.  He said he'd gotten a phone call from someone at his chapter in NC, regarding a 22 month-old fighting the same type of cancer the little girl Chuck's pink fire truck was named after.  I reached out to one of our guys up here and told him the story and now we're reaching out to the family to try and arrange a visit.  

Chuck "gets it" and that, to me, is high praise, indeed.  

Here we see Chuck posing with Elsa.  She was here with her person and we all took a liking to her.  Elsa and her person too.  

Last thing for the night.

I've come to the realization I can't eat like I used to.  For years I was one of the fortunate ones that could eat anything and not gain weight.  Hey I didn't ask for it, blame Andy & Ellie, it's their fault, not mine.  Anyway, I told myself this year on tour I was going to make a conscious effort to eat smarter.  More salads, less garbage.

And then, tonight, in the hotel convenience center...

I saw...

This...

COME ON!!!

Life is not fair.

But it's damn tasty.

Pink Heals!

Peace