Pink Heals my hometown

Before I start on today, I forgot to add this picture from yesterday.  As we were up at Advocate Good Shepherd in Barrington yesterday, we met a Mom and her daughter, Haley.  Haley, as you can see from the photo below, was just diagnosed with brain cancer.  A very rare form of brain cancer.  The Mom told us less than 4% of all brain tumors are of this type.

"No one fights alone"

It's a great sentiment.  I don't know if it's "owned" by anyone, but it really addresses something we do, whether intentional or not. 

We support.

We love.

We care.

Go team Haley, indeed.  It's a team we should all join.

On to today.  

As I tried to fill in some of the open dates in the Illinois portion of this year's tour, I thought about this area right away.  And my first thoughts, truth be told, were that the towns were too small to support an effort like this.  But then, I thought of last year and how great our days in Baltic and McLaughlin SD were and I thought, why not?  

And then, I thought of my nephew, Kevin and his wife, Cori.  Cori lost her Mom to cancer a couple years ago.  And, I thought Cori might feel pretty passionate about something like a Tour stop.

So I made a phone call.  And I gave them a brief (vocabulary alert!) synopsis of what we do.  And I gave them the website.  And I told them to search YouTube.  

And they were all in.

Now, mind you, this all happened in the space of about three weeks.  In between their jobs and a family vacation (maybe two) they put together a great day.  Between the towns of Genoa and Burlington we did two static displays and four home visits.  The folks from the Genoa-Kingston Fire Rescue District escorted us into, throughout and out of town and to all four home visits which included

Grandma Tessie, shown here telling my guy Chuck how she used to live in Winston-Salem, NC in his still district (Fire Dept. term)

And Carol, shown here between her daughter and hubby.  The really cool thing about Carol's visit was...

The Genoa-Kingston High School marching band taking part in the visit.  It was great!  Except for afterwards when some crabby, old man yelled at them because they weren't "making music"

I couldn't help myself. 

As we left Genoa, we got picked up by Burlington Fire and they led us into town and briefly around town ending up at The Oasis gas station.

I think the best part of the day, for me personally, was when we set up in Burlington (town motto "We're so small, we don't even have a Wikipedia page").  It kind of gave me a "local boy makes good" feel and it was really nice.  

Saw some people I haven't seen in a long time, met some new people had some killer pizza (I'm afraid I'm going to ruin Vickkkki, Chuck and Eddie.  After the pizza they've eaten up here, they'll throw that crap they call pizza back home in to street), some really great, home-made pulled pork (that's health food, right?) and a really spectacular (an under-used word imho) Fat Elvis ice cream.  That's right, you heard me, Fat Elvis.  Banana ice cream, peanut butter swirls and chocolate chunks.  

Two scoops baby.

Pink Heals!

Peace

Day whatever it is (I don't want to turn this into "NIghtline")

Here we are... 

I've been home for almost a week now, trying to settle back into the non-road routine.  I still miss being on tour, still miss being with those guys, but it's good to be back home.  I miss the knuckleheads (an ABSOLUTE term of endearment) at work (most of them were off Wednesday when I went back, are they trying to tell me something?) and can't wait to see them all again.  

I wanted to go back out (still do) and I was looking at the first week or 10 days of October, but my real-life calendar wouldn't allow it.  Work commitments, home commitments and the like.  

Stuff happens.

I was really looking forward to it too, SoCal to PHX had a nice vibe to it, travel-wise.  Dave also talked about trying to put together a "town hall meeting" tour this winter.  Traveling across the south for 6 or 8 weeks meeting with small groups of people to explain what we want to accomplish with this movement.  He said he's not sure if he'll be up for going back on the road like that in between this year's tour and next year's.  It's quite a grind, especially for him being out from start to finish.  I want to be a part of that, in addition to going on tour next year and trying to start a chapter here.  I think the experience of going out and sitting in on, and speaking to, groups like that would be invaluable for me.

As people have asked me about my experience on tour, I always tell them the Baltic, SD story.  The one about the couple on the motorcycle.  Here now, to enhance that story, thanks to my guy Mike from FL, is a picture of the lady with the sign.  It's a little blurry and a tad distorted due to raindrops on the window, but you can see and read the sign pretty well...

Cool, no?

***Teaser Alert***

I have one more (at least one more) tour related post coming up here, hopefully tomorrow, but as soon as I get the ok.  I just got a sneak peak of it a little bit ago and it turned out really nice.  Waiting for final approval from the authority types, but once they ok it, I'll write a little something and post a link.  

I think regular readers (both of you) will enjoy it.  

Off to do real life type stuff for now, as always...

Pink Heals!

Peace

Day 16 PPS (or is it PSS) (I forget...)

I was all set to sit down and fire out a September 11th post, I really was.  I'm not usually one to keep bringing it up but for some reason, today, it felt right for me to comment about it.  Maybe to kind of swing my posts back to a more political type rambling instead of the pink updates journal it's been while I was on tour.

That changed when I got home and checked the mail.

There was an envelope, addressed to me, with a return address from McLaughlin, SD.  As you may recall (geez I hope you recall, I just wrote about it a week ago) that was a small town in northwestern South Dakota that we visited on tour.  The town where John rode the bull.  Yeah, that town.  

I opened the envelope and found a copy of the local newspaper with a huge picture of us on the front page and three more full color pages of us inside.  It included a post-it note saying-

"Thanks for making the stop here memorable for everyone."

And it was signed by (I think) the fire chief's wife.

Holy crap.

What an awesome town.  

I fired off my second ever Letter to the Editor and pasted it below.  I redacted my own name only

Editor

Corson/Sioux County News-Messenger

P.O. Box 788

McLaughlin, South Dakota 57642

September 11, 2012

To the Editor,

I’ve addressed this to the “Editor” and while that may be technically correct, it’s not accurate.  This letter is more to the amazing people of McLaughlin, South Dakota.

Thank You.

My name is ********** and I was one of the drivers that pulled in to your town on September 3rd.  The reception we got, from the very beginning at Dallas’ farm through the escort out of town, was nothing short of remarkable.  We talked about it for days after.  

I grew up in a small (population 500 or so) rural town in northern Illinois, surrounded by cornfields.  I’m familiar with the type of folks that live in and around a town like McLaughlin, and while I wasn’t surprised at the warm reception we got from you, it was, without doubt, one of the high points of my time on tour.  My impression of McLaughlin and her residents was confirmed today when I went to the mailbox and found a copy of the local paper with a note that said... 

“Thanks for making the stop here memorable for everyone”

I’m sure I can speak for all the drivers when I say; please be assured, you all made the stop memorable for us.

Thanks again for your kindness. 

Sincerely,

**********

It's one of the places I hope I never forget.  

Pink Heals!

Peace.

Day 15 (this time for sure)

Leonard and I just got in to our hotel in Boise, Idaho (state motto "you'll never find cheaper potatoes") but the tour (we're officially done) is staying in Mountain Home, Idaho (state motto "famous potatoes, and nothing else") getting ready for an event tomorrow in Middleton, Idaho (state motto "we also grow beets") a small town on the outskirts of Boise, Idaho (state motto "pay no attention to the radioactive waste"). 

But Leonard and I are done.

We'll head to the airport early tomorrow.  He flies out at 7:30, I leave at 1:15.  well, maybe I'll hang out at the hotel for a little while, but I'm meeting one of our relief guys, Denver at the airport to give him the lowdown on the bus.  After Mike from FL went home, I took over the role of Dave's assistant/bus driver for a few days, so I'll go over the vehicle's quirks with big D.

I miss it already.  I miss the spontaneity of the tour, never really knowing what we're going to do until just before we do it.  I miss the guys, those that left and those we left.  I miss the people we met.  Even the guy that honked at us and yelled at us to move cause we were blocking his driveway during a home visit. 

No, really.  He yelled at us, three pink fire engines and a big pink tour bus, and told us to move so he could get out of his driveway.  Never mind his neighbor with cancer, he had somewhere to be.  Right.  Now. 

Sigh.

I will always remember some things.  Always.  Last year, it was my first ever event, outside of Bakersfield that will stay with me forever.  This year, out of all the amazing things I saw and did, the one thing that will stick with me forever was the ride from Baltic, SD back to our hotel in Sioux Falls, SD and seeing Theresa and her husband ride by on their motorcycle and Theresa holding the hand made sign that said "THANK YOU".

If you know me, you know I'm not often at a loss for words, but that left me speechless and almost left me a sobbing mass driving down the highway. 

And I'll never forget that moment, ever.

On to today's events...

We set up in the parking lot of the hotel we stayed in and ended up doing pretty ok in t-shirt sales for a spur-of-the-moment thing.  Plus we met several local women that were fired up that nothing happened here to make this event a big deal.  Two years from now, when the tour is back in this part of the country, Idaho Falls will be a VERY big deal, I'll bet.

The drive to Mountain Home was pretty uneventful except for near the end when a semi nearly ran us off the road while we were climbing a hill.  Both vehicles were struggling up the incline, he was in the left, we were in the right.  As we climbed, he slowed more and merged in front of us.  No biggie, right?  Well, he decided he needed to get on the right shoulder and he hit the brakes HARD before he cleared our lane.  I missed him by a foot or two. 

And, finally, our last installment of "meet your Pink Heals Tour drivers"  except, he's not technically a driver...  tonight, we meet Dave!

Here's Dave in McLaughlin, SD sitting on Rhino after John showed us all how it was done.  He looks like he's having second thoughts, no? 

Here's another action shot of Dave...

Now, bear in mind, that he's on tour for three to four months so even the mundane stuff has to get done out on the road.  We had some time to spare and one of the ladies that stopped to see us today worked in a salon, Dave needed a haircut so she got him in. 

But those pictures were me having a little fun at his expense.  He is absolutely dedicated to this cause and he inspires me, and many others, to work our fannies off to make this thing a reality.  He's a lot of fun to travel with, we laugh a lot, but when it's time to get stuff done, there's no question who we take our leads from.  Dave is THE MAN in so many respects and I'm proud to call him my friend.  Thanks for bringing me into the fold, buddy, call me anytime for anythinig.

OK, I'm done for the evening.  By this time tomorrow night I should be home.

But I'm planning on carrying the momentum of the tour into my writing (you lucky people) so I'll be here more regularly.  But always remember...

Pink Heals!

Peace.



 

Day 10 version 2.0 (civilization is not over-rated)

We're in Billings!

I never thought I'd be excited to say that.  

I've decided discretion is the better part of blah, blah, blah and I'm not going to rip Miles City, MT (I know, I know, but hey they have to live there.  We were just passing through). OK I feel better.

We left Pierre (French for "I told you we should've turned left at Portland") just at sunrise

and headed up to McLaughlin, SD.  We got there an hour early (bouncing back and forth over the time zone change) so we hung out with some of the local folks on their ranch.  A ranch which, by the way, houses bulls used on the Pro Rodeo circuit... Can you guess where we're going with this?

Yes!  It's another episode in the continuing saga of "Mommy what's that man doing to those cows"

 Now that his ride has been selected...

Despite our pleading, they wouldn't open the chute and let John really ride Rhino.  That's probably for the best.  It's never dull with John on tour.

We were paraded into to McLaughlin (population 683) by the local Fire Department and it was awesome.  A good percentage of the town was out cheering us on as the FD led us to the local high school.  We met with the residents, had several people sign our trucks and then went in to the school for refreshments.

Dave got everyone fired up about the program, something he's very good at, and after an hour or so, we headed up to North Dakota (state motto - "You betcha we're not part of Canada, eh?) arriving in Bismarck (no, it really is named after the pastry) around 3:00 or maybe 2:00 because I swear we were back and forth between Mountain and Central time zones about 48 times.  Plus we had no cell signal for basically the whole trip.  That was an odd feeling.

Our hosts in Bismarck (look it up, I'm not joking) took us to two home visits.  Well, a home visit and a work visit.  The woman at the work visit was upset we were coming to town and she couldn't get off work.  So Tracey, the local chapter president, brought us to "K's" work.  She had no clue.  

It.  Rocked.

Here you can see Duane from NC leading her to Vivian, the local chapter's engine, so she could sign as a survivor.  She was thrilled.  We did another home visit, supporting Tracey's aunt as she fights a cancer that has metastized.  What an amazing spirit this woman has.  Our next stop was a static display in a parking lot.  We had a really nice turnout there and sold a bunch of shirts to keep fuel in the trucks.

Lastly, we gave Mia and her Mom a ride home.  Mia beat brain cancer, quite an achievement for a little girl.  She grinned from ear to ear when I asked her if she wanted to drive and kept that grin as our fleet pulled away after we dropped them off at home.

Heading west to Montana (state motto "South Dakota gets their dust from here) we got to see an awesome sunset

to go with the beautiful sunrise we saw yesterday morning.  

In our ongoing "Meet your Pink Heals Tour driver" series, I originally planned to write about Duane from NC today, since he left for home this morning.  But at the ranch outside McLaughlin this happened...

Meet Leonard from Michigan.  He's a deputy working in Corrections in real life.  I like him anyway.  He's also a volunteer firefighter in Southwestern MI.  Subtle humor, good patience and intestinal issues are what I'll always remember about Leonard.  Plus he's going to do the upholstery for us if we ever find an engine for our Pink Heals chapter...

OK, I think that's the full roundup from yesterday (did I mention I don't care for Miles City, MT?).  Also?  Bismarck probably isn't really named after the pastry.  But it should be because it's a lovely pastry.  

I'll be back later for an update on today.

Pink Heals!

Peace.

Day 9 (I feel like registering to vote in South Dakota)

Well today was... interesting. 

Welcome to the Pink Heals Tour, where we're kind of like Blanche ("we have always depended on the kindness of strangers.") DuBois.  Leslie has a loose belt and this fine gentleman climbed up to take a look and see if he could be of service.  Despite his best efforts, Leslie's belt is still loose, but we had no issues with it today.

We left Aberdeen around 8:30.  Saw a lot of farm land including sunflower fields, a first for me.

We made our way west and then south to Pierre (French for "holy crap it's windy here") and got into town around 11:30.  We were met by an engine from Pierre FD (side note, Pierre Fire Department is all volunteer.  Nobody stays at the station, they all come from home.  For real.  The state capitol.  Color me surprised) and (don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking volunteers.  I'm just surprised) we were escorted to a large, Arkansas based, we sell everything on the planet, store (hold the endorsement opportunities, I'll pass) and we set up in the parking lot.

Met some nice people there, did a few home visits and then went on to the local dragstrip for a quick (see what I did there?) event.

But if you know me, you know I'm not a big racing guy.  It was cool, but it wasn't well organized from our perspective and I was ready to go about 15 minutes after we got there...

So instead of rambling on about nothing of consequence, I've decided to turn the rest of this into the first installment of "meet your Pink Heals Tour driver" effort.

Meet John, he's from 

He's also a famous movie star

That's him (a younger, hairier, him) on the right (in uniform) with Helen Hunt in a scene from "Twister"  We tell people all the time he's famous.  I also tell people he's my dad, even though he's less than 10 years older than I am.  John is a genuinely nice guy, and he makes me laugh.  He's also really good at interacting with people.  He's got that Okie drawl and I'm never quite sure if he's trying to pull a fast one or not... Here's John entertaining us -

Stay tuned for more installments of "meet your Pink Heals Tour driver"

Tomorrow we head up to McLaughlin, SD then we cross in to North Dakota (no offense South Dakotarians, but THANK GOD!) and head to Bismarck (a lovely pastry) and then to Miles City, MT where we'll spend the night.  Yikes.  Lotta windshield time tomorrow.

Pink Heals!

Peace

Day 8 (still in South Dakota)

My second week on tour started with a 2 hour drive up to Aberdeen.  Not quite butt numbing, but it teetered on the brink.  The scenery was nice.  It ranged from corn to cattle with the occasional (VERY occasional) small (REALLY small.  Like, population 52) town sprinkled in.  But, I had some traveling companions, so I was fine.

Hey, don't judge me, they're delicious.  Plus they have a candy shell so they melt in your mouth, not in your hand (endorsement opportunities available, again, I'm just sayin).  

We got in to Aderdeen (famous for... OK, I was going to go all snarky here, but there's actually a lot of famous people from here, including the guy that wrote "The Wizard of Oz', a former U.S. Senator and a baseball Hall of Famer.  Who knew?) and pulled into the airport.  We got in a little early, so our escorts weren't there yet.

I climbed into the tour bus A.) to talk to Mike and Dave and B.) to sign a helmet.  

Stephen Hensley, a retired Captain from the Hampton (Va.) Fire Department, was supposed to go on tour with us last year.  He passed away suddenly in April of 2011.  In addition to his FD service he was a Vietnam vet, an Army Ranger that received numerous commendations.  I never met him, but as regulars around here know, I have some experience with sudden loss, and I had been thinking of what I wanted to write for a couple days.  Of course I didn't want to write a novel, just something brief and to the point for his family.

Rest easy Cap.  And may Peace be with You.

We moved on (via parade) to our first stop and joined in with two local fire departments, Aberdeen city and Aberdeen rural as well as the local CareFlight crew, for a "look at the trucks" kind of thing.  

I'd just like to back up a second here and note that I've never gone faster in a parade than these people up here go.  I mean like "geez wait for me" fast.  Like, if NASCAR had a "parade while on crack" fast.

Anyway.  Just like the last couple days, pretty much all the people we met up here were just awesome.  I think though, the high point today was a tshirt I saw.  It really kinda prioritizes what I assume women go through when they're fighting cancer...

Kinda sums it up, no?

Off to Pierre tomorrow (pronounced Peer)(no, really, I'm not joking)(seriously... Peer)(don't ask me why, I don't know) which is the state capitol.  As of now, we're only busy from noon to 4 tomorrow.  Of course we were supposed to be done before 7:00 tonight and we didn't get back til after 9:00.  That's ok though, like I said before, we'd rather be busy.  

Plus I've got clean laundry, so...

Pink Heals!

Peace

Day 7 (half way there for me and for the tour)

I came on tour a week ago tomorrow.  I have been here for seven days and I have seven left.  Dave is already calling me a quitter and I'm already wondering if I can fit another few days out on the road the first week of October...

We all had breakfast this morning at our hotel, with Willette and her family.  What great people they are.  The people we meet on tour are truly one of the best parts of this job.  We left Sioux Falls this morning and drove north to Watertown, a little more than an hour and a half away. 

No trucks ran out of fuel!!!

I've never been to South Dakota (state motto "we have more flies per capita than anywhere else") before, so I didn't really know what to expect as far as scenery.  But it was kind of nice.  Very rural, but heading up I-29 was nice.

We got in to Watertown and were met at our hotel by Tori, a 7 year survivior and a pretty sweet, very dynamic woman who is absolutely passionate about taking care of the women in her community. 

She worked us like dogs.

And that is a very good thing.

When we're on the road like this, we all want to be busy.  We all want to do home visits, hospital visits, work events or whatever.  We belong to the communities and people that bring us in. 

Let me take a few minutes to explain just how amazing the people up here are with an example...

As I said, I've been on the road now for seven days.  Seven very busy days.  I haven't had time to do laundry yet.  Now, mind you, I didn't have to go commando just yet (TMI for some, but hey, I want you people to understand what we do) but I was within days of that.  I asked the lady if they had laundry facilities and she said they did.  One of the other drivers, actually ALL of the other drivers, had laundry needs of varying degrees too.  The hotel has one washer and one dryer.  We have to be out and on the road in 30 minutes. 

Do you smell what I'm stepping in here?

I came outside and asked Tori and the FD's Battalion Chief if there was a laundromat close by and the Chief said there was one on the other side of town.  He then said to bag up our laundry and he'd take it to the firehouse and make sure it got done.

We did, he did and it did.

How amazing is that?  Cause, I'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't have done that.  I might have offered up the Wolf's services to do their laundry, but there's no way I would've done that.

Like I said though, we worked for it.  We did two parades, a hospital visit, two home visits and then this afternoon we set up near the Redlin Art Center and some local dignitaries spoke, including Tori

And Dave

And we sold t-shirts (that's how we keep the trucks on the road) and talked to people about how important it is to keep the money in the community where it's raised and all the other thing we do.  And as I walked around the trucks at one of the events, with people that wanted to sign, I saw this for the first time.  I think it's my favorite so far...

We leave in the morning for Aberdeen for twelve hours worth of events.  I'm not sure what exactly, but it'll be tough for them to beat what we've seen in Baltic and Watertown.

Pink Heals!

Peace