Storms over Mechanicsville

The night of the 15th found me in Mechanicsville, OH, with the last fingers of Hurricane Ike speeding across the sky. I stopped a guy on a rider mower to ask him for some water, and ended up getting offered a place to stay for the night - Fred, as it turned out, was the assistant chief of the local fire department as well as a fount of knowledge about the township and its history.


It was a stroke of luck, because the wind was picking up and threatened to turn violent as it started getting dark. Fred met me at the fire house and called Glenn, the chief, to get the OK for me to crash in the conference room. A half hour later, the winds were whipping around 60 mph and the calls started coming in from the dispatcher. Volunteers raced up in their pickups, suited up, and rolled out in the fire trucks to deal with downed trees, downed power lines, and fires from the combination of the two. The power went off in the station itself not long after that. It was a blessing to be inside that night - I don't think my tent would have survived long outside.


Chief Glenn, ready to roll out.


Many thanks to the guys (and at least one gal) of the Mechanicsville VFD for their hospitality. Stop on through if you're ever in the area.