The Fire Wife

We have this odd transitionary time.  Between school getting out (June 8) and Hot going to his summer schedule (end of June).  Hot's summer schedule is ten days on, four days off, 9am-6pm.  Later in the summer he rarely gets 4 days (or any days) off. 

So we were just getting in the swing of things..... figuring out how to get the kids to daycare, getting my 40/week in, run errands, figure out a summer menu, make a bucket list of summer projects.... and Hot went on the national dispatch roster on Thursday.

Summers at our house have a different language.  Everything is in military time.  Hot says things like, "Copy that.  I'll tie in with you at 1800."  To "tie in" is to meet up.....  you tie into the fire line someone is digging. 

Summers mean never knowing what Hot will be doing.  Thank the beegeebus for cell phones. 

No dispatch came on Friday.  No dispatch came on Saturday.  Sunday his pal called to wish him Happy Father's Day.  They hung up, his pal called back and told him he was just kidding and they indeed were dispatched...... TO GEORGIA.

Georgia?!?!  Am I being punk'd?

Yes... the land of the Suwanee River and these guys.  I'm partial to Joe Collins because he looks (and often acts) a little like my dad.  My dad is greyer and much less prone to anything that might include an encounter iwth an alligator.... although he has had a few run-ins with rattlesnakes.

So off goes my guy.  He snagged all the cash I had on hand, grabbed the ipod and all the various chargers and had to stop at Target for some unmentionables.  Hot and two crewmembers, traveling as part of a 5 engine and one chase vehicle convoy.  17 guys in all. 

Driving.

To Georgia.

The plan was to get to Rapid City the first night.  They left about 13:00.  Do you know how FAR it is to Rapid City?  You can drive 8 hours from here and still be in Montana.  They got in about 01:00. 

Then off the second day to St. Louis, in theory.  The reality was the Misouri is out of her banks and they had to take detours around detours in areas they didn't know. 

Are you with me so far?  Fire.  Flood.  So why not add....

Tornados.

Yes.  They were stopped (really, why stop?  Just keep moving away.....) by a tornado warning in Shelby, Iowa for the second night. 

In a very classy hotel.  With the scent of air freshener covering the odor of decaying bodies.  But no place to put a quarter to make the bed vibrate so it couldn't be that classy, right?

They were rolling by 06:00 this morning and they all still liked each other.