Day Three - Tallahassee and Chiefland

Day three dawned on us in Tallahassee.  We had an early morning run with the Tallahassee PD, Marshals, into the Fire Department Headquarters.  Two of our runners are Tallahassee FD and two are Tallahassee PD.  As we ran in, it was truly awesome to see everyone out supporting us, which we needed, all of us by then were running on tired legs, on low energy and no sleep.

When we arrived we presented the head of the Tallahassee Fire Department a flag that had been flown over a Marine Base.  He was so touched that it humbled us.  After the run in, we met the firefighters and police, and yours truly was allowed to slide down the fire pole with the firefighters!  It was AWESOME!

Then it came time to hit the road again.  We had to catch up with the "Night" Team to transition our runners.  Well, I didn't realize when we got in the caravan, two police cars and our chase vehicle how much we needed to catch up in a short time.  Therefore, I had the next groups of runners in the minivan, and I was sandwiched between the police vehicles and we hit the road.  Preface to this, I have now officially driven a mini-van twice, and this time puts the other to shame.  We were going around 95 miles an hour down the road.  Wow, talk about an adrenaline rush for an hour!!!

When we caught up with them, we started our shifts, by then we had lost the cold weather and found the heat.  Whew, it was a bit toasty.  When the mileage was in, we set up the Budweiser Bus in our hotel parking lot (we couldn't get in the rooms until midnight, so we had time to kill!) and we started our cookout with the "Night" Team.  We had a shrimp boil and beer.  What a great time with close friends!  Truly amazing. 

Also, with it being the last night on the road, everyone was all geared up and we all ended up staying up for later than planned on.  Needless to say, by Day Four we were exhausted, but so incredibly pumped!  One thing that I found interesting.  For the past few years, we have stayed at the same hotel in Chiefland.  The owner is an immigrant and is probably one of the most patriotic people I have ever met.  He comes out every year, gives us money and always gets emotional.  Freedom isn't free, it is bought with the blood and sacrifice of our armed forces.  God Bless.

JCP