Subj: Panama
City, Florida
Date: 5/8/2003 6:56:40 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: kbwalk@mymailstation.com
Howdy Everyone!
I left South Walton County and headed over to Panama City Beach,
where I stayed at the fire station there. That evening they fixed a great
supper of grilled chicken, rice, vegetables, and corn on the cob. The next
day I headed out for Panama City.
Panama City has five fire stations in town, and I had contacted the
Fire Chief a few days ago. He had already said I was welcome to stay, so I
was heading for the main station in Panama City. When I arrived there,
they showed me around. Chief Prater introduced me to Mary Lou who works in
the office, and I really enjoyed visiting with her. I mentioned that I'd
like to contact some of the schools and give talks the next day, and she got on
the phone and made some calls for me. Almost immediately she had 3
different schools lined up for me to give talks at, and today I visited Bay High
School, Rosenwald Middle School, and Jenks Middle School. The students
seemed really interested in what I was saying, and they really had a lot of
questions. I enjoy it when there's a lot of discussion going on about
epilepsy. It was a pretty busy day, and Mary Lou was hauling me back and
forth to these schools. She also called up a radio station for me to visit
with, and a couple more fire stations on down the road. One of the fire
stations she called for me to stay at is located right on Tyndall Air Force
Base. The fire station there said sure, but first she'd have to get me
cleared onto the base. That was not quite as easy, and we still don't have
an answer yet. But she made several calls for me, and they know I'm coming
-- but we're just not sure if they'll let me on or not. Hopefully it'll
all work out.
A really funny incident happened last night. First of all
there was a house on fire (that's not funny.) All the trucks from this
station went out, and I was the only one here. I was upstairs sitting in a
recliner and watching TV. After awhile, I heard a truck drive into the bay
and park. I just figured it was them returning, and didn't think anything
about it. Actually though, plenty of fire trucks had responded to the
call, and because there were enough there, one of the trucks from Station 4 came
here to cover Station 1 while everyone else was gone. When the 3 guys from
Station 4 drove in, they saw my cart parked there in the bay and immediately
became suspicious. They figured that when everyone left, someone else had
moved in. Meanwhile, I was still upstairs when someone came up and entered
into the room. I immediately knew I was in trouble because I didn't know
who he was, and he didn't know who I was. I knew I had a lot of explaining
to do.
So I told him my story and said that I really truly was suppose to
be here that night, and he seemed pretty skeptical, but also interested. I
went downstairs with him to meet the others, and when we got downstairs he
exclaimed "Look what I found!" It was really kindof funny,
because the other guys gave me this
who-the-heck-is-that-and-what's-she-doing-here kind of a look, and I had to tell
my story all over again. I showed them my map, and handed them a brochure,
and after awhile they seemed pretty comfortable about it all. But there at
first I was pretty nervous that they were going to send me out packing! It
all worked out really well, and after everyone else returned they really got a
kick out of my story. So the joke for today was that I almost got booted
out of Station 1 by firefighters from Station 4! It was a close call, I'm
tellin' ya.
Y'all have a great day and a fun weekend and a happy Mothers Day.
KB
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