Sacramento City Hall, 951 I Street

Steve Cohn, Council Member
Nancy Lopez, Political Action Coordinator
Andrew Rhoades. Property Operations Manager
Scott Yates, Event Organizer
Dave Risley, Police Sergeant
Justin Risley, Police Officer

Sacramento FD, 624 Q Street

Dave Wit, Captain
Patterson CFD
2142 Sperry Ave

Dave Allan, Captain
Ryan Hollowell, FF

We had arrived an hour past midnight, and not a moment to soon. We were exhausted mentally, and physically. Our thoughts were only on a place to sleep, and immediately. We were scheduled to make a presentation of the banner at City Hall by 9am, and that seemed so very close to now. No advance arrangements were made with the FD to be able to stay with them, and especially coming in at this hour. Paige managed to get us a complimentary room at a hotel. We were very lucky to have this room, which is held for VIP’s coming in during the night. Being so late, the night clerk was sure nobody would be arriving after us, and he wanted to help. There was an event at the convention center, so every hotel was booked.

The ringing phone was our alarm clock. I jumped up from a deep sleep ready to go, thinking I was at a Fire Station. It was still dark out, but daylight would be here soon.

Our contact was Scott Yates, and he arranged for us to be at City Hall. He had also done something similar to what we were doing with the banner. He and family members rode their bikes across country as a fundraiser for 9/11. So he was more than understanding, and willing to help us in any way he could with our project. The banner was displayed outside along the front entrance, and the FD and PD were there to assist us. We stayed there until mid afternoon.

The next stop was a long distance drive as well, and we wanted to get as many daylight driving hours in as we could. This part of America was something we were both anxious to see, and it was really so much different from where we been so far.

Along the drive that night, we had seen a sign on the highway for a FD. We exited, and discovered it was a Forestry Fire Department. There were only four firefighters there on the night shift who were so happy that we stopped. We were curious to learn how even way out here they were effected by September 11th. We exchanged stories, and gifts. We learned later on the tour that the one girl firefighter made something that was worn by several other FD across America. It really was amazing how close their brotherhood really is, and how far it stretched. We finished the drive overnight to Portland OR.

ABC/WKXTV CH 10 News, John Larimore, Photojournalist