Thursday, June 15, 2006

It was going tp be a very hot day in the Windy City. We decided to head out towards Paige and Donna's daughter Caroline’s new home in Villa Park to see Caroline and the grand children. We had plenty of time to stop by firehouses on the way out there and back. Our first stops were at Franklin Park Stations 1, 3 and 2. They got a run while we were at Station 1. We got photos at Stations 1 and 2, but Engine 3 was not in quarters when we stopped by. Our next stop was at the Schiller Park FD where we caught a reserve engine out inspecting hydrants and got photos of a spare pumper in front of their Station. (Yesterdat I posted a photo of their regular engine at the Bellwood 5th Alarm. The Schiller Park truck was out inspecting. We looked around for it, but we couldn’t find it anyplace nearby.

We headed to the Leyden Township FD and got photos of a very unusual pumper at their station. The LTFD protects a mostly unincorporated area. We did a little shopping for gifts for Paige’s grand kids and then Paige took me to lunch at a great bar-b-que restaurant that I can’t remember the name of. After lunch we visited Caroline and her family at their new home in Villa Park. Caroline took us on a tour of their new home. The kids had a great time playing with water in their shady new back yard on a very warm day.

On the way back we visited Villa Park Stations 3 and 2 getting photos of their apparatus. Old Station 1 is just a storage garage for reserve and specialized apparatus. Then headed to Elmhurst Station 2, the York Township FD, and then Elmhurst Station 1, getting some nice apparatus photos at each station. Our last department for the day was Bensenville and we visited both Stations 1 and 2 and got apparatus photos at each. Almost all of the suburban departments are paid, except for York Township FD, which is a paid call department. All the firefighters were very friendly and most asked where we wanted thge apparatus parked. As it was now getting near dinnertime, we headed back to the Van Vorst home.

When Donna returned from work Paige and Donna took me out to a great remodeled restaurant that they had recently discovered. It was very nice and they had great food. We stopped at the local Dairy Queen near Paiges on the way back home. We had a relaxing evening back at the Van Vorst home and listened to a couple working stills (not near by) on the fire radio.

Your Roving Reporter