Homeward bound

No subtlety, no snark, I'm officially a quitter. 

I'm heading north out of Indy, riding the rails. I'd probably have Steve Goodman's "City of New Orleans" rolling through my brain, but Gary Clark Jr. is pushing every other musical choice out of the way. If you're not familiar, I highly recommend him. 

I always thought O'Hare was the best place ever to people watch. It may still be, but I promise you, the train station in downtown Indianapolis gives it a run for the money. 

Very ummmm interesting clientele there. 

To say the least. 

Amtrak made a lot of sense for the return trip. It's about a quarter of the cost to fly back and will only add a couple hours to the trip compared to flying. The cheapest airfare included a layover in Detroit. 

Like I said, no brainer. 

And the best part?  Regular readers will no doubt remember the type of person that usually sits next to me when I travel. 

You do remember, right?  

You don't?

C'mon. Think for a second. 

Think Washington DC trip.   

Yes!

Except, this time it's a rather ample woman. With her own 32 oz fountain beverage (diet, I'm sure) and a gleaming new copy of Life magazine "The Most Notorious Scandals in American History "

How can that not be riveting?

Also?  She appears to be blissfully unaware of the auto-dim feature on her smartphone as she's illuminating half of the train car. 

On the plus side, at least she seems pleasant enough. I just caught a glimpse of a woman that looks like she failed her screen test for "Orange is the New Black" but liked the look and decided to rock it all out. All 350 pounds of her. 

I find the Side Show Bob hairstyle compliments her look perfectly. 

I'm not gonna lie, she scares me a little. 

And by "a little" I mean given the option to walk past her to go to the dining car I'd rather walk through the worst neighborhood of the most crime-ridden city you can think of. 

At midnight. 

With hundreds hanging out of my pockets. 

Pulling a neon sign that says "I'm a pacifist"

However, having said that, the urge for caffeine is strong. I think I'm going to go for it. 

If my family finds this draft, please post it for me.  

Moving right along...

Yesterday, if you haven't figured that out already, marked the end of this year's adventures in Pink Heals Touring.  Which is always a bittersweet time imho.  I really do enjoy being out on a road trip with the guys, how could you not?  I haven't met a bad one yet (full disclosure, in my time on the road there have been a couple I wouldn't choose to socialize with but it's a really small number) and most are just outstanding (truth!) human beings that I wish I saw more of.  

It's always good to go (be) home.  Especially when you get a reception like this...

Ok, since I'm not even sure the video is going to work, it may not even make the final cut which also means this might not make any sense.  

So let's just say my little (she's not really little) poochie was happy to see me after three weeks.  Tip of the hat to the Oldest One and the Heir to the Throne for taking such good care of her, they always do, and also to one of the neighbors who spoils her rotten when Sophie visits.  It's the kind of love and attention you just can't get when you have to board your animals and no matter how good a place it may be, there's no substitute for an actual home.    

Alright, now that I'm completely off track, let me just wrap up by saying thanks to everyone for everything, especially the people I met for the first time out on tour, the people with whom I renewed an acquaintance with for the last three weeks, the people we visited (every one of you changed our lives whether you realize it or not), my family for putting up with this nonsense every year and last, but certainly not least to the guys I traveled with this time around.   Vin, Rodman, Don, Ray, Mikey, Sean, (Geez I feel like I missed someone) and, of course, Dave.  You guys all helped to make three weeks of mayhem out on the road in to something none of us will forget soon and I'm grateful to each of you for the gifts you brought out on tour.

Thanks brothers.

Peace.

Reigning Princess

Yesterday was kind of a break in the action.  We had a couple events on behalf of one the newest chapters, Central Illinois, in the afternoon/evening so the morning was free.  We got to sleep in!

I made it all the way to 6:18 

woohoo.  

On the plus side, I found a lovely little locally owned coffee shop in downtown Urbana and enjoyed coffee and free Wifi to craft yesterday's work of art.  I'm here again today too.  Cool old building with tin ceilings and 8" heart of pine wood floors.  Of course when it was built I'm sure they never envisioned aging hipsters and college students sipping latte's and listening to new age music, but hey, any port in the storm, right?

So as to yesterday.  The events weren't spectacular, but you can't hit a homer every time, you know?  And, one of the things we do on tour is to help promote chapters, so I think we definitely helped in that regard.  We also took part in the ceremony put together for C IL's first fire truck, soon to be a pink one, donated by the Rantoul FD and that was nice.

But here's the thing about yesterday.  Two of the families involved in the chapter had their kids with us for one or two of our days here in the CU area.  Four little girls, cute as buttons and as sweet as can be.  But there was something more about them that struck me personally and almost immediately.

One of the little girls bore a striking resemblance to the Blond Child.  And another looked so much like the Reigning Princess that, last night, at dinner, when I showed her Mom a recent picture of the RP, her first thought was to wonder where HER daughter had gotten that outfit.  The really funny thing though was that, although the younger daughter also looked a little like the RP, her personality was spot on.  So much so, that about 20 minutes after meeting me, the littlest one came sprinting across the sidewalk and launched herself at me, arms raised, looking for a hug.  

Exactly like the RP does.

The Reigning Princess stole my heart right from the first time I saw her and she knows it, lol.  This is not to imply any kind of favoritism with the grandkids either.  They all have their own truly unique characteristics and each of them charms me in their own way.  Maybe it's a "first granddaughter" kind of thing with the RP, I'm not sure, but that little girl has a special place in my heart and always will.  

So to see these little ones running around the last couple days brought many smiles to my face.  

Many memories too.

Some good, some sad, all cherished.

I'm debating if I want to put pictures up here of my new friends.  I didn't think about it last night while I was hanging out with their parents, so I didn't ask their permission.  But it's not like this mess gets a lot of traffic either.  The only people that would recognize any similarities are my kids and a handful of friends.  

Moving on...

Tomorrow's day includes getting on the road by 6:15 for the two plus hour drive to suburban Indy for day chock full of stuff around Leslie's home town.  

The person, not the truck.

Leslie Hulce was from Fishers, IN and the tour will be there Friday and Saturday.  I'm looking forward to seeing her sister Lisa again and meeting her Mom.  I've been in contact with them since we got Leslie and they've always been very sweet.  I'm so glad we got the opportunity to bring the tour back to town.

One of the events scheduled for us on Friday is a concert.  The headliner is...

Wait for it...

...

...

Eddie Money!!!

Sigh.

I guess Meat Loaf was busy...

Lastly and for the record, Mike is a quitter.  We're taking him to the train station today, his time on tour is done.  Mike's jump on board this particular crazy train was completely spontaneous and a lot of fun for all of us.  He's a really good kid and he did great on tour.  He produced some lovely works of art yesterday, but more than that for the last week he's produced many fond memories and good vibes for a bunch of people that had no clue how loved they were by people they had never met before and may well never see again.  Whether he realizes it or not, they gave back to him as much as he gave out.  He's a good kid and I wish him much success in whatever he chooses to do...

Of course, I'll never tell him that.  Instead, I'll continue to call him a quitter.

It's what we do.

Peace.

Champaign. I think...

I have to say right up front, we've all been really impressed with the reception we've recieved to this point in central Illinois.   Two days in and both days have been filled with warm, welcoming people, support from the local FD's and firefighters and various local support groups.  And some great visits.

Like this one.

I mentioned it briefly in my last post, while waiting for a table for dinner at Black Dog Smoke and Ale House I got a text from my friend Melissa back in DG.  She asked if I could do her a favor.  Gladly, I told her, but I'm downstate.  She said that actually plays in to the favor.  As it turns out, Melissa's best friend Kelly is a charge nurse in the ED at Carle down here in CU (localspeak for Champaign Urbana) and a dear friend and coworker of Kelly's, Sarah, just finished with Chemo for breast cancer.  Could we do a work visit for her?  

Well, who am I to say no?

I asked Melissa to give my number to Kelly, Kelly called me, and before we were seated at our table (the wait was a bit on the long side, but still) we had a surprise work visit set up to honor Sarah and Kelly started working on getting us in to the Carle Cancer Center, something the FD tried to do, but got stonewalled on.  That's not uncommon btw.  And in no way a reflection on the efforts of the Champaign FD, Chief Ludwig is a huge supporter of Pink Heals, having spent seven years at Memphis FD and seeing what Todd Conklin does over there.  And we really were impressed with the support the guys on shift gave us today. 

But back to the visit.  

We explained the scenario, how it came to be, to Chief Ludwig at our morning meeting with the FD and he allowed two on duty companies, an engine and a ladder, to come with us for the visit.  Kelly took care of EVERY. THING.  The woman is a force!  Security had cleared spots for us by the ambulance bay, she even got a construction crew to delay pouring concrete for an hour and a half so we could pull this off.  

That's no small feat.

We pulled up to find around 50-60 friends and supporters of Sarah's waiting for us.  As we got everyone in place, Kelly went in to find Sarah and this (sorry, I couldn't get rid of the ad) is a small sample of how it went.  Great visit!  Kelly, you rock!  Melissa, thanks so much for connecting us!

But that's not how the day started.

WCIA (either a hat tip the to Central Illinois Area or the worst example of a "secret" government agency conducting a covert operation) brought a crew (slogan, "Watch us.  Because we're watching you") to do a couple live spots on the local TV morning show.  The reporter, Jasmine Anderson, did a really nice job, asked relevant questions, and after we finished wrote a very touching note to her grandmother on our vehicles.

The remainder of the day involved a few different stops, a little back and forth across town, and ended with all of us attending the Village Council meeting.  The Mayor presented us with a Proclamation naming yesterday "Pink Heals Initiative Day" in Champaign.  A really nice thing.  She handed me the microphone to say a few words (I know, a few words? From Me?) and as I started in to mention how great our reception was, I got a little rambley (Me? Ramble? With a mic in my hand? Huh.) and proceeded to tell everyone there and watching on local cable access how great I thought Springfield would do with their own chapter.

Do you see the slight problem there?

I'm thanking the Village Council and assorted members of the community including about a dozen members of the FD and the Fire Chief that Springfield is a wonderful town.  

While standing in Champaign.

D'OH!!!

Everyone there was very gracious, thankfully, although the rest of the night young Michael kept throwing Springfield at me.  

Rotten kid.

Not really.

I mean, yes, he kept throwing it at me, but he's not really rotten.  

Maybe a jerk.

But not rotten.

I think.

Peace

Yaay, it's Laundry Day!

Here we (that's the royal we, I'm actually sitting by myself) are, in the lobby of our home for the next four nights in beautiful Champaign, Illinois.  It's 10:00, we just got back from dinner (I highly recommend Black Dog Smoke and Ale House) and I just started my laundry.

This actually qualifies as a laundry emergency, since I used my last clean pair of socks, clean t-shirt and clean boxers (successfully installed again I might add) today (I guess there's no "might", I did literally add that) and if I don't do laundry tonight, well, let's just say tomorrow might take an ugly turn.

I think I'm being interviewed in the morning by the local morning news gig about why the Tour is in town.  So, you see, clean shorts (and boxers) and shirts are kind of an essential part of my morning.  Plus we're meeting the Village Council and Mayor tomorrow so... while I might be able to get away with that in DG, my plan is to wear pants that don't smell like feet.

Always thinking about others, that's me.

As I write this, Sean is trying to teach Don the wonders of his smart phone.  I really am trying hard not to eavesdrop, they're far enough away from me that I can't hear them but I know that's what Sean is trying to do.  Don is not what I would describe as "tech-savvy"  and I don't say that to slam him, I genuinely love Don.  I think it's a generational thing.  He's got me by quite a few years and while technology is not always my friend, I don't think Don has ever made it's acquaintance.  

This was a day of teaching, as it turns out.  Dave, if you're reading this, close your eyes...

We finished up our day and as we were getting ready to drive to our hotel, the kid asked if he could drive the engine around the parking lot.  If you had seen the look on his face, the pleading "I promise I'll never ask for another present if you just get me this" expression, well, you would have caved too.  I yelled at him that he'd better not hit anything and Ray took him for a tour of the (unoccupied except by us) parking lot.  He had to make a three point turn to et started and he reminded Sean and I of a 90 year-old man trying to back his car out of a parking place at the mall.  Three points devolved into 14 or 15 but he didn't hit anything and that's all that matters.  The grin on his face as he came around the corner towards Sean and I was a megawatt gleam that could probably guide ships at sea.  

It made his day (a plus) but now he's convinced he's an expert (a negative, he's not, sorry to break it to you kid) apparatus driver.

Ok Dave, you can open your eyes again.

Today was one of those days that got thrown together pretty last minute, but ended up surprisingly good.  Through the fault of no one in particular, this stop kind of fell through the cracks locally until a few days ago.  We were in Bartlett when I got a call from the President of Bloomington Local 49 asking me what we needed and what we usually do and how do we do it.  I met John last spring at the AFFI Legislative Conference through a mutual friend and I liked him right from the start.  Today just confirmed for me on a couple different levels what a good dude he is.  

John got us parked in front of the local Kroger store for a few hours, set up two home visits and got us to the local Cancer Center for three hours.  All in about two days.  As far as the other level, well, some things just need to stay where they are and not see the light of day.  

But John is a standup guy.

Long, busy day tomorrow, including a last minute, surprise work visit.  I got a call from a friend from DG while we were waiting to be seated at the restaurant tonight.  Melissa grew up down this way and asked me if we could do this for a friend of her bestie.  

Well, of course we can.  

I told her to give her friend my number and we'd work out the details.  Done deal.  We all know the best part of what we do is the home/work visits and we'll do them every chance we get.  Especially when they're surprise visits.  

We drove by the location we'll be visiting on the way back from dinner and sized up what we can do, we're gonna rock this one out of the park.  

Is that mixing metaphors?  I feel like it is, but it feels kind of ok too.  

Hmmm.

Sigh.  Time to go fold my laundry.  

I miss having people do that for me 

Peace

An Army travels on it's stomach... or something.

Well, I started jotting down notes on today this morning and "somebody" forgot to save them.  It was really good too, probably the best stuff I've ever written.  In my entire life.  

Not really.

Besides the day took kind of a turn anyway.  More on that later.

For starters, we got on the road around 6:30 this morning, which allowed us to take the scenic (no snark here, it's really beautiful) drive up Illinois Route 2 from Dixon (still the boyhood home of the worst president ever) to Rockford.  

Once we got into town, we dropped the vehicles off at one of the firehouses and went over to a wonderful restaurant called the Stockholm Inn.  We were treated to breakfast (emphasis on treated, this place is amazing) by the Rockford FD and we all loved it.  

Let me just go on record here and say I love maple syrup.  I mean, appropriately, of course. I don't put it on everything, only pancakes or french toast, but I typically will not waver when presented with choices from the world of syrup.  

Stockholm Inn blows that little foible of mine out. of. the. water.  Let me just say one word to you.

Lingonberries.

If you've never experienced them on pancakes, you're cheating yourself.  And your stomach.  Besides, it's a Swedish restaurant, and as the old saying goes, when in Sweden, do as the Swedes do.  I think that's how it goes anyway.

Speaking of which, lest you think my stomach is the primary organ that moves me, let me tell you a little about my heart.

It broke a little today.

After breakfast, we were escorted to Swedish American Hospital Cancer Center for a static display.  A really great parade that included about 20 motorcycles, a couple cars from the Rockford PD, truck 5 and a chief officer from Rockford FD and the local chapter of PH (shout out to Marcy Johnson and her people!) led us to Swede's for the event.  There was a pretty good crowd there and we were very well received.

We also had two home visits set for the day.

I want to tell you about the second one.

As we were driving in to town this morning, Marcy called to tell me that the woman we were supposed to visit this afternoon had passed away last Friday.  The family asked if we would still stop by however, as this was something Susie was really looking forward to.  Well, of course we would.  I got on the radio and told Don, Sean, Ray and Mike what had happened.  This stop just sounded like the kind of thing that, if we hadn't known about it beforehand would have been very difficult for us to deal with emotionally.  

I don't care why you take part in something like what we do, if you're not emotionally invested, you won't last because it just isn't for you.  Having said that, if you let your emotions get the best of you every time, you won't make it either.  You'll be too much of a wreck to function.

So by giving ourselves a little heads up, we can prevent losing it in front of everyone.

As we pulled onto the street, I saw a crowd of people and announced it to the guys.  

I had no idea how big it was.

There had to have been, literally, 200 people out on the street and in the front yards of several homes.

We got out and gathered together and met Mike and his kids.  I shot a little video for the PH page and took my place in line to hug them.  I said something to Mike and his kids about how there were thousands of people they had never and would never meet sending them strength and love and to please keep that in mind over the days and weeks ahead.  

And we moved to the side so everyone in the convoy could hug them.  I asked one of the guys if he had a marker, trying to focus on the task at hand, and he had one.  He handed it to me.  I could see in his face the emotion was getting to him.  So I took the marker from him.  And as I started to tell the guys what we would be doing next, I heard my voice break.

And I felt a tear well up in my eyes.  

Just like now, as I write this.

I did my best to recompose myself.

Just like now, as I write this.

And we moved to Mike and his kids to escort them to the trucks so they could sign.  Don moved up and walked with Mike, our Mikey walked with the daughter and I walked with the son.  I told them that right now these trucks aren't ours, they belong to them and to take as long as they like to write as much or as little as they wanted to, to memorialize their Mom.  

As I stood back and watched over the daughter's shoulder while she wrote, I had to fight back the tears.  

I lost.

But I did my best to pull myself together and, I think, pulled it off.  

As Mike and his kids were pulled in another direction, for more pictures and hugs from friends and neighbors I had a chance to reflect on August of 2006 and I knew I wanted an opportunity to speak to Mike alone, away from the crowd, to try and share some of what I learned with him.  

As this was all spinning around my brain, someone came up to me and asked if they could buy some t-shirts from us.  They appreciated what we were doing for the family and wanted to thank us.  I told them we'd be happy to help them, but that the family comes first and until they're taken care of, until we've done everything we can do for them at this visit, we won't sell shirts.  

I found Mike, and as he finished with a photo op, I asked him if I could speak to him for a minute and took him to the bus.  I wanted the chance to speak to him uninterrupted and this was it.  

I sat down with him and told him that I had lost my wife nine years ago.  The circumstance was different, but that I'd learned a few things about grief and I wanted to share my thoughts with him.  I told him to make sure and take time for himself, that even though he needed to be strong for his kids, he needed to let his own feelings out from time to time.  I told him too, that in my opinion, grief was a lot like being a recovering alcoholic and to take one step at a time.  And I told him to never let someone tell him there was a finite time to grieve.  

About this time his kids came on the bus and joined us.  I told them that in the years I had been traveling with Pink Heals I had done hundreds of these home visits and that this was, by far, the biggest crowd I had ever experienced.  I told them that it was a testament to the love and respect everyone had for them and for their Mom.  That brought a brief smile to their faces.

After they left the bus, we opened it up for anyone that wanted to get a shirt or hat.  I decided to sell from inside the bus rather than set up the tables.  We've done that before, if the crowd is going to be smallish it's easier this way.  

Sean rang up the purchases, I pulled stock and Ray acted as the doorman since the bus gets crowded quickly.  We were in there for over an hour.  

I've never seen anything like it.

I think we sold more stuff at this home visit than we did at our display.  

I was stunned.  

I think now, almost four hours after we left Mike and his kids, I'm finally coming to terms with my emotions.  This one hit me and it hit me hard.  

And that's ok.

Peace.

PS.  kudos to the Oldest One and the Heir to the Throne.  They came out today to see us at Swede's and ended up going on the home visits with us.  And they did great.  I'm very proud of them both and I'm so fortunate to have them.  I always say I feel like my life has been blessed, no matter the adversity we may have faced and today reinforced that.

Again, Peace.

RAWK Falls

Long day today.

It's currently 10:51 PM and I'm sitting on the lobby of our hotel in lovely Dixon, Illinois (boyhood home of the worst president this country has known) having concluded a long but by and large good day.  

I figured I'd come down to the lobby rather than bother my roomie, Ray from Kokomo (can you guess the favorite vowel of the founding father of that town?) Indiana with the nonsense you're about to read.

So, where to begin?

How about this?  Less than a mile out of our hotel in Elgin, Don comes on the radio with "Joel there's smoke pouring out of the back of this thing"

Not a good start.

We got over on the shoulder and got  out to see what the problem might be.  The air brakes locked up.  

Of course they did.

There's a direct correlation with Dave going home for a few days of R&R and one of the vehicles breaking down.  Long story short, it was a relatively easy fix (huge props to Rockford FD for the repair) and although Don was stuck on I-90 in Elgin for a few hours and had to miss the home visits, he joined up with us around 5:00 tonight, in time to grab some food and finish off our day in Rock Falls.  

I think I set some kind of personal record tonight.  Between 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM I spoke with the local news paper reporter, a television reporter from the Quad Cities and two local radio reporters.  

Apparently I need to obtain many leather-bound books and make my apartment smell of rich mahogany.

From a bill paying perspective, we moved a lot of t-shirts and hats.  But the most important  part is that we met a lot of great people.  We gave a lot of hugs, helped correct someone else's faux pas and generally felt and shared a lot of love.

That's kind of one of the recurring themes I talk about when I'm interviewed for information about the tour.  Love.  It should be so simple.  If we spent more time focusing on love and the things that draw us together, we wouldn't spend so much time focusing on hatred and the things that divide us.  

That's probably far too simplistic of an idea but Geez Louise, why can't we at least try it for a while.  I love Steve Earle, always have, and one of his songs has the line 
"I don't remember learning how to hate in Sunday School"
and man it just makes so much sense.  I think by and large Rock Falls "gets it" but they still connect themselves to an event that rhymes with Belay for Fife and the large corporate charity that runs those events stopped giving money to everything but research.  

That's right, they stopped supporting the social services and support services for people fighting for their lives.  The skeptic in me thinks they did that because it's harder to trace money given to research.  I don't know...   

Ok, here's what I do know.  Sleeping Beauty is now on the TV here in the lobby.  I don't know why, so don't even ask.  

Also?  I'm tired.  And I stink.  I desperately need a shower.  It was a tad on the warm and humid side here in Illinois (that's not a complaint btw, I'll take this over winter EVERY day) and even though I didn't get in the gear today, I still managed to work up a good sweat.  I don't think I would've hugged me today, so kudos to the ladies that braved my funk towards the end of the evening.

And, on that note, I bid you

Peace

Lighten up Frances

When the Oldest One was significantly younger (though still the Oldest One)(obvs) she played softball.  For quite a few years, up until, I think high school.  And on one of her last teams, R. was the head coach and I was the assistant coach.  

The Oldest One was the catcher (oddly enough, the Heir to the Throne is a catcher now) and the pitcher was R's daughter M.  The Dragon Lady (btw, I don't really feel that way about the kids mother, but it's a catchy name that I stole from a dear friend) and I were, obviously, at every game as was R's wife P.  They were great people, we hung out together a little bit, but as often happens, after the girls grew up we fell out of touch with each other.  

The last time I saw R and P was about fifteen years ago, just a brief passing at the gas station in Burlington.  

That was the last time.

Until today.

While I was working with some local contacts to set up the events for today, one of the emails mentioned a home visit.  Regular readers will know what these consist of; a coupe guys get dressed up join pink turnout gear and we pull up to a house with lights and sirens and give a lot of hugs.  And sometimes flowers.

As I read the email regarding the home visit, P's name was on it.

The problem, according to the email, was that the original time for the visit wouldn't work for them.  They had previous commitments today and the afternoon was out.

The email asked if I could call P and see if there was anything we could do.

So I did.  How could I not make this home visit happen?

I called P yesterday, and when she answered, I identified myself.

Her response?

"Who is this?"

I laughed, gave her my name again and told her why I was calling.  This time she recognized my name and we had a really nice, if brief, chat.  And we rescheduled the home visit for 11:30 today.

It was really great.

P, R and M were all there, we took a bunch of pictures, gave many hugs, and did everything we could do to brighten the day for a family that's had better ones.  P is in her second go round against breast cancer and R was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  So they both really appreciated the visit.

The other two events were at the local hospitals and they were pretty awesome too.  Especially the second one.  Sean, Don and Mike got dressed and went in to the treatment area to visit with some of the patients that weren't able to come out and see them, all three of the guys said it was extremely emotional and they were visibly touched by what they experienced inside.

Me?  I got to chat with a beauty queen.  So yeah, that's a win in my book...

The Boy Child and the Beatle Baby (he's not a baby anymore, lol) came by for a visit as did my local niece (with her ADORABLE daughter) and nephew (thanks for buying a shirt, sorry I didn't get a chance to say bye) and that's always pretty cool.

All in all a pretty good day.  It would have been ideal if we could have sold more t-shirts, (got to keep fuel in the trucks) but we'll work a little harder this weekend and hope for the best.

Ok, about the title.  When the girls played softball, M would occasionally get in to trouble on the mound.  She was a pretty darn good pitcher, but stuff happens, you know?  R would go out to the mound to try and get her focused, light a fire under her.  And usually it would work.  

But not always.  Sometimes it would have the opposite effect and you could see the pissed off look on her face.  So, to break the tension and to try and get her to relax, I'd yell to her from the dugout

"Lighten up Frances!"

A great line from the movie Stripes and invariably she'd loosen up and find the strike zone again.  

Pretty great day today.

Peace

Bartlett is a wonderful town

Ok, Yesterday was kind of a weak effort on my part.  It was late, nothing great happened and I hadn't posted the day before so I figured I'd better throw some kind of slop out there.

And that's exactly what I produced...

So let's kick this one off with a bang.

I put my boxers on backwards Monday.

That got your attention, didn't it?

I'm rarely shy about poking fun at stupid things other people do, so it's only fair that I take shots at myself when I qualify.  And I did just that with my own personal wardrobe malfunction.

Also?  That's not the first time I've done that...  I didn't realize it (duh, nobody intentionally wears their boxers backwards) at the time, and the only way you discover something like that comes about when you have to, well, uhhh, you know... use the facilities.  This results in, for the uninitiated, in an awkward moment standing at the urinal.  Your reach in for something that you know is there and should be within easy reach and... there's no there there, so to speak.  I mean, the fly portion of the boxers is supposed to be right there in the front for easy access to your business.  And when the boxers are in an other than optimum position, well, you end up grabbing fabric.  This complicates things, at least momentarily, and results in a lot more finagling than a man usually has to go through at your standard urinal (why on earth does "urinal" autocorrect to "unreal"?) and the extra maneuvering involved in a situation like this occasionally draws sideways glances from one's neighbors. 

Well then.

Today was the third year in a row we made a stop in Bartlett and my guy, Stevie B. and his guys put together a really stellar day for us.  They made us out to be kind of a big deal and did a great job spreading the word around town.  We had maybe eight or ten people come up to say hi and /or take pictures with us because they'd seen us in the years past and wanted to see us again.  

This, btw, is awesome.

Dave and I talked about how great it was to see so many members of the FD there helping out and I can only attribute it to a strong working relationship between the firefighters union and the FD administration (looking in your general direction DG) because the Chiefs were all there too.  And they fully support what the guys in the local are trying to build in the community.  I don't know if Steve picked up on what Dave is trying to evolve Pink Heals into, but he's got the town headed in that direction, whether he realizes it or not.  Getting the local merchants on board with supporting their goal of helping the community is a big part of what Bartlett is doing and it showed today.  

Plus today was good because it had a little taste of the "Joel's Pink Heals Homecoming Portion of the Tour" too.  I've known the Chief, Mike Falese, for almost 25 years and I have a lot of respect for him, one of the company officers I've known since high school (Jesus that was a long time ago Jeff) and I saw the husband of one of my nieces (Morgan, I warned him he'd better know your size...) so that's always nice.

The not so nice part came when one of the afore mentioned return visitors told me she had just had a biopsy done this morning and was waiting to hear the results.  

Please keep a positive thought for her if you're so inclined.  Or even if you're not.  Send her a little positivity anyway because it's the right thing to do.

We added two drivers today, Sean from AZ and Ray from IN, so I'm only going to say nice things (snark alert) about those two states from here on out.  

Probably. 

But they both seem like good guys.

Oh bonus!!!  I had been telling Dave a few days ago I had hoped one of our events would have a massage chair booth because my back and neck have been bothering me lately.  Mid event he walked up to me and told me to come with him.  We walked about 50 feet, stopped, and he told me to turn to my right...

A MASSAGE CHAIR!!!

One of the local chiropractors had set up shop at the event for the day and he hooked me up.  Thanks Doc, you were awesome.  You too Dave.

Uhhhhhhh what else???

Oh yeah, I talked to Tommy P. today and I promised him one last Vinnie story.  So here goes.

One of the guys we met while he was out with us had, shall we say, a penchant for going in to great detail as he gave us a tour of the area where we met him.  It wasn't so much that he had a fondness for big words (that would be me) but more that he would take, for example, 15 minutes to describe something that most would find needed no more than two of three minutes.  

This does not generally go with with the Great Vincenzo.  Although I had to admit the guy, while very nice and completely genuine, kind of got on my nerves a little too.  

So because of this man's ability to irritate Vin, I did everything I could to make sure he rode with Vinnie if we went somewhere and that he sat very near to him if we went out to eat.

Hey somebody's got to keep him in check, right?

Ok, I feel a little bit better about this one.

And always remember, Chicks still dig Vin.

Peace

Random thoughts from the last couple of days

Yesterday was a catch-up day.  We got some maintenance work done on the trucks, each of us did laundry, picked up some odds and ends supplies and kind of chilled.  Today started with a trip to the airport to pick up Don Hayworth from Kansas.  Don's a great guy, I went on tour with him a couple years ago and he's a lot of fun to tour with.  

This evening we went to a car show in Plainfield (I learned something about this town a couple days ago but I'm probably going to sit on that news) that was, well, interesting.  They set us up next to the kids from School of Rock (a movie that always makes me laugh.  It's not quite Shawshank, where I HAVE to watch it when I stumble across it, but I like it) and they were really awesome.  The crowd disappointed me, but the kids didn't seem to mind so...

Also while at the car show, I ran in to one of the coppers from DG and his family.  I shamelessly harassed him and urged his kids to tell him they wanted hats and shirts from us.  It worked.  Thanks Todd!

Since I'm feeling a distinct lack of snark in the above couple of paragraphs, let me try this.

I was watching the news this morning and two things caught my attention.  

1.) While discussing the prison break of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the newscaster referenced statement from Mexican authorities who said, and I quote, "El Chapo must've had help."

Really?  You mean he didn't excavate and remove over 3,000 tons of dirt to dig a tunnel from his cell to an abandoned house a mile away all by himself?  Huh.  Help.  Gosh, I wonder what alerted them to that?

2.) While discussing the storms that swept through Illinois yesterday and last night, it was reported that a greenhouse was damaged by hail.

Let me say that one again.

A greenhouse was damaged by hail.

Greenhouse.

Hail.

Wow.

Have you ever heard the expression "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"?  Now, I know it's a metaphor and not a literal statement, but to me, a greenhouse getting damaged by hail is not the kind of thing that I expect to hear on a major market news outlet.  How is that news?  Why not report a story about people aging every year?  Or people driving cars on streets?  I've traveled around a lot of the country with the PHT and I've watched some small town news stations that really make me shake my head.  And I always thought to myself how fortunate I was to get my news from a city like Chicago.  

I may have to rethink that one...

Tomorrow we're out of our casino hotel (I fought the temptation) and off to Bartlett for an event.  Three nights in Elgin with an event there on Friday.  

OK, I've sat on this long enough.  As it turns out Plainfield was a gathering point of sorts for the Klan back in the day. This was brought to my attention by one of my loyal readers who grew up in the area and told me that there were "incidents" as recently as the 1990's.  I had no idea.  

Don't get me wrong, I don't really know anyone from there, and with the way the population has exploded (according to Wikipedia from 4,500 in 1990 to 13,000 in 2000 to over 37,000 in 2007. Based on estimates created by the village and state government, Plainfield's population could grow to 62,000 by 2030 ) I'm sure there are many fine residents now, heck it's even the home of Melissa McCarthy, but still.  That's, like, two things that have shaken my faith in the Chicago metropolitan area in the last few days...

I'm not sure what to make of that.

I need to find more snark.

Peace.

Summertime

Ok, here's the thing.  When I commented on the hotel in South Bend, I was operating under the assumption they comped our rooms, so I kind of soft pedaled the conditions there.

I was wrong.

Talking to Dave on the way for coffee yesterday morning he told me they charged us $79 per room for the night.  True, that was a deep discount (Yikes) these rooms were not worthy of what they charge.  I can't even comprehend how much they soak people when the Local collegiate football team is playing a home game.  

As we pulled into the parking lot, I thought it looked like a pretty nice place.  And it was. Until  we went to the portion of the property where our rooms were.  The further we walked form the lobby, the more the conditions deteriorated.  

And we walked a loooonnnnggg way to our rooms.  No bullet holes, no chalk outlines, but holy moley, what a difference between the (slight exaggeration alert) elegant entrance and the (slight exaggeration alert) trailer park we stayed in. The first room I walked in to still had a "Do Not Disturb" tag hanging on the door.  No problem, right? That happens sometimes.  In my times spent in hotels I've watched housekeeping staff do their thing and almost always they have a list of rooms that have been vacated.  Apparently this fine establishment has never discovered that concept because the room hadn't been touched.  One bed had been tossed, there were multiple (multiple?) bags (yes, multiple) of garbage and empty booze bottles.  We called the front desk and they gave me a different room in the (of course)  same section.  At least this one had been visited by housekeeping.  I think.  I kind of take for granted that hotels have cable TV and many channels from which to choose.  Silly me.  Why is it that when you have 20 or so total channels four of them are home shopping channels?  Who looks at that and says "Yes, I think that will satisfy our customer base"?  Did I mention the black mold growing in my shower?  No?  Oh yes, a lovely little bit of flora over my head just to make me feel like I was in a truly natural state.  That's not one of Indiana's state slogans btw.  Somebody has it but, I don't remember who.  

Probably a far more sophisticated state.  Arkansas maybe.

So, I've spoken here in the past about the problems with touring in my part of the country, the follow ups happen far more frequently and the sad news always seems to outweigh the good.  But here's a bit of the good, because I'm nothing of not a slice of Mr. Positive meets Little Mary Sunshine.

Jerry and Eden brought the kids to see Vin and I last night at our event in Shorewood.  Vin and I were partners for 8 years, more than I worked with any one person in my time at the FD.  Jerry (and Kevin) are both in the 2 spot with 6 years as partners.  I actually met Eden first, she used to work at GSH, but I've known these two for awhile now and they rate among my favorite people on the planet.  And their kids are just heart melters.

Two quick stories before I wrap this mother up.  

For the longest time G was really shy around me, even though Eden brought the kids to the firehouse from the start and I've always been "Uncle" Joel to them.  But she started to warm up a few years ago and now usually greets me with a huge smile and an even bigger hug. So when she ran up to my with her arms up and her face all lit up, well, how can that not make you smile?  A little later on I was walking over to checkout something the J-town chapter was doing and I saw the kids had gotten their faces painted.  O had a Batman mask painted on his face.  

I said "Hi Batman" and put my hand up for a high five.

He said "I'm not Batman, I'm O and I had my face painted"

A literal LOL moment.

So since it's Sunday and, at least in theory, summertime, I thought I send you out this way.

I'm a sucker for Harriet Wheeler's voice and the pop sensibilities of the band.

Sue me.  If you don't like it, write your own blog.

Peace

Nice day for a drive

We had no stops today, we traveled from Aurora, OH (IO) to South Bend, IN and tomorrow we head to the greater Joliet, IL area for a few days.  

That doesn't mean we didn't do anything, quite the contrary.  We inventoried half of the bus, the second half will get done in the morning.  

Woohoo!

It's actually not that hard to do (especially since Rodney did it and not me) but it is time consuming.  

The drive itself was only (only?) 230 miles or so but it did feel like it was longer than that.  We got in to our hotel a couple hours ago, took the vehicles over to the local firehouse (hat tip to Dave Cherrone veteran tour driver for the hook up!) and the fellas there helped us wash all three.

So how do I fill the space here when we do relatively little?

Just you wait...

Let me start by saying congrats and I'm so very happy for two of my favorite people on. the. planet.  Courtney and Kevin.  They finally, after four years of dealing with the headaches and bureaucracy of a governmental body (DCFS) announced the adoption of a child they fostered for four years.  Welcoming Gabby to their clan, even though she was a part of it from day one, gave such joy to them, and the people that love them, that there really are no words other than YES!!!  

I often tell Court that I love her like one of my own, to the extent that her ring and text tones are the same ones I use for all of the kids.  The fact that she often times sends baked goods has absolutely no bearing (well, it doesn't hurt but, you know...) on my feelings for Court and Kevin.  They've had a lot to deal with over the last four years and I'm glad they finally got a little good news.

Which brings me to the converse.  I need to choose my words very carefully here and I won't (obviously) use any names or anything to identify anyone because all I have to go on is speculation, mine and others, and my gut feelings (which often are spot on) for this.  Over the course of the last week we had the opportunity to interact with a family with a profoundly disabled child.  They were connected to an event we attended by a third party, an event for another person, but they were asked to be a part of it as well.  They exhibited very demanding behavior the entire time, as though the child's disability entitled them to treatment above and beyond the kindnesses that were shown to them.  As an example, they were provided with a hotel room for a night, gratis.  They asked for a second night.  Since they drove for three hours to attend the event, the organizer thought it was a fair request and made it happen.  They then asked for third night.  Just because.  The entire time we interacted with them, their attitude was "where is ours?".  I don't suspect there's any abuse going on, but they never seemed interested in what was best for the child, only what they could get.  Now, let me just say here that I have never had to walk in their shoes, and I can't imagine what types of hardships dealing with the child's disabilities on a daily basis would present, but I'd like to think I would be more concerned with my child's best interests than my own.

*climbs down off soapbox*

Now about Vinnie.

We stopped at the hotel bar for an adult beverage when we got back to the hotel and he started whining because I hadn't written about him lately so consider this your Vinnie update.  Actually, in typical Vinnie fashion, we were walking back out to the vehicles after stopping for a super-mega global Pacific Northwest based, coffee based beverage conglomerate (sponsorship opportunities still available) when an OH(IO) Highway Patrol car pulled up.  With a female officer.  

Guess who started chatting her up???

She got out and posed for a picture with Vin and Rodman, check out the Pink Heals Tour Facebook page for the pic.

This evening promises to be interesting.  The place we're staying has, apparently, a local youth sports tournament of some sort to thank for the majority of it's bookings.  There are a bunch of young kids running around the property and there was a cluster of about 30 adults enjoying adult beverages not too far from my room.  Soundproofing is, also apparently, not one of the things this fine establishment is known for.  Just sayin...  However they comped us for three rooms, so I'm not going to bitch about it (anymore) because it was very cool of them to do that on short notice.  

Ahem.  Downers Grove, I'm looking in your general direction here...

Lastly (I think) what can I say about Indiana that hasn't already been said?

How about this... when we hit the border, the sign proclaimed it to be the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln and I said to myself "Self" I said "isn't Indiana also the birthplace of the Klan?"

I wonder why they don't have that on the sign?

Also Indiana is now the home to the First Church of Cannabis, thanks to their obviously well though out, lucid, Religious Freedom Law (because, you know, Murica!!!)

I didn't see that on the sign either.

Peace

Near Miss...

Excuse the cheap literary ploy, but it IS sort of true.  Last night I realized I had no more clean shorts.  I went down to the front desk to ask if there was a guest laundry on the property.  There was not, I was told.  The desk clerk did, however, say that if I called housekeeping, they could make arrangements to get my laundry done.  So I went back to my room, called housekeeping (via the front desk I might add) and found out all I needed to do was bring my clothes to the front desk (theme alert!) and they'd handle it.  The turnaround time would be about an hour, but he didn't know the cost.  So, I dutifully packed up my dirty laundry, went BACK down to the front desk and left what, I'm fairly certain, was the foulest little bundle the young lady at the front desk had handled in quite some time.  

"How much does this cost?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, but my supervisor comes in at 9:00 AM (this was about 10:00 last night) and she can let you know."

Golly gee this was so easy!

I got up early this morning, and was sitting downstairs having a cup of coffee with Vinnie and I told him about my laundry adventure.  I decided to go ask the lady now at the front desk if she knew the cost.

She pulled out a binder from behind the desk (apparently last night's clerk couldn't be bothered) flipped through a couple pages and told me it would be about $35.00

For my laundry.

I asked for my bag of nasty, found a laundromat five miles away and $5.50 later I had clean clothes.

Moving right along...

I really felt bad for Tawny, Chrissy and Jessica today.  They were the ones primarily responsible for setting up yesterday and today's events.  And after spending ten years working on W5kfC, I have an appreciation for how hard it is to pull off a successful fundraiser.  These girls worked their butts off, Tawny working from 1,000 miles (shameless self-promotion alert!) away in LA.  Yes, Tawny now lives in Orange Beach, AL having moved there from OH (IO) a few years ago.  Regular readers of this wonderful piece of literary gymnastics may recall a tour driver named (shameless self-promotion in 3...2...1...) Eddie Mac who also hails from LA and, of course, they know each other.  Shout out to my guy Eddie!!!  I love you buddy, hope to see you soon.

Now, where was I?

Oh yeah, the weather the last two days sucked.  That's a little known meteorological term btw.  Sucked.  For real.  As in "The isobars are packed tight and that will create conditions that, tomorrow we'll look back and say 'well, THAT weather certainly sucked'" followed closely by a short "vacation" for the weather person that uttered the line.

It rained almost nonstop today, a day that included two home visits and what was intended to be a fun day of outdoor activities at a small private park for Amy and her family and friends and anyone that wanted to come out and support her.  The weather really suppressed attendance.  But a good time was still had by all.  It even featured an emotional Vincenzo as he presented flowers to Amy.  He likes to play the big tough guy, but he's an old softie and I, for one, am only too happy to show that side of him.

Love you, my friend!

As of now, tomorrow (Friday, I may time this to publish in the morning vs tonight) looks to be a pretty easy travel day.  When I came upstairs, Dave was trying to make plans for a stay in South Bend, IN (home of an institution of higher learning that holds no particular charm for me) but if that falls through we'll drive to Joliet.  Either way a pretty laid back day.  Our next event isn't until Saturday evening, so hijinks may ensue.

Stay tuned faithful readers...

Peace