Austin, Jerry, and Sadie started the morning off with a live interview on Fox 59 Indianapolis. Austin talked about his sculpting and Jerry & Sadie did a quick demonstration. Next stop for us was the Indianapolis State Capitol Building and we had great attendance from current and retired arson dog handlers. Richard Howard and K-9 Shadow came from the Evansville (Indiana) Fire Department, Todd Jordan and K-9 Ninja came from the Anderson (Indiana) Fire Department, and we even had two retired arson dog handlers who attended; Jesse Storey and Roger Griffin. We also had several news stations in attendance.
We then headed out for our next stop in Columbus, OH. When we arrived the first thing that we saw was an old fire truck sitting in the training lot at the Ohio Fire Academy. Austin was giddy when he saw that. It was actually owned and driven by local State Farm Agent. Just as amazing were the number of current and retired arson dog handler in attendance. We had Steve Claytor and K-9 Rudy from Green Township (Ohio) Fire Department, Kevin Bakley and K-9 Murphy from the Strongsville (Ohio) Fire Department, and several arson/bomb detection dogs from the State of Ohio and the City of Columbus (Dodger and Paz). We also had retired arson dog handler Steven Gallagher attend. Steve worked his K-9 Winchester for the Chillicothe Fire Department for a decade until Winchester passed away last year. State Farm VPA Susan Krieger spoke on behalf of State Farm and then Ohio Representative Michael Stinziano presented us with a state proclamation for bringing the NFDM through Ohio. Epic!
Check out this picture – you know the monument is realistic when an arson dog butt sniffs the dog statue to see if it is real!
I went to bed early after we got to the hotel. Everyone else went to find a place to do laundry. It was refreshing to actually get more than 5 hours of sleep for a change because we had all been getting to bed late and waking up early. Half way through this trip but we all still love each other.
Dont forget the truck drivers vicky and windell proudly negotiating the streets of large cities to honor all who love and respect our country God Bless America