On Thursday, April 23, the team assembled at 6:00 am for breakfast. Then we headed to Fresno Airport to pick up the trucks. The procedure was to go to a particular gate where we were expected. When we sounded the horn, airport security would come out, open the gate and we would follow the security "Follow Me" vehicle across the aprons, past various aircraft and back to the area where the trucks were secured for the night. The drivers would warm up the trucks and when ready, follow the security vehicle back to the gate.
Our destination today was John Muir Elementary where four presentations were scheduled for groups ranging from kindergarten to sixth grade. This was a fun stop for the team. Not only were the kids interested and enthusiastic, BUT they all wanted our autographs on the posters and books that were handed out! They were great!
The whole day, it had been threatening to rain, but our resident meteorologist firmly said, "It will not rain until we finish here." At the end of the day, we had signed the last autographs, loaded up the trucks and were just closing the doors, and the sky let loose! It was pouring rain! The trucks had to get moving fast, as they were parked on the grassy area of the playground, and didn't want to have a problem in the soft ground.
We returned the trucks to the Fresno Airport and returned to the hotel before meeting for dinner at 6:30 pm. At dinner, it was always a good time to talk about how the day went, share special moments we experienced with the kids and talk about what was to come the next day. And the next day was something to talk about! We had 1800 kids waiting for us.
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