Breakfast in the lounge at the Ralston Fire Station had a bit of unexpected international flair Saturday morning.
While the fare remained the usual pancakes, bacon and eggs, the Ralston Volunteer Fire Department firefighters and emergency medical personnel on duty were joined by a brother and sister in service who had traveled halfway around the world and were gradually making their way across the United States to raise money for charities in the United Kingdom.
Last Tuesday, Jayne Putland and Adrian Davis of Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Services flew into San Francisco with the goal of making it to New York City in 18 days in an effort to raise £2,000 (about $3,300) for Cancer Research UK, the Firefighters Charity and the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
"We dropped in with just a backpack and no real plan," Davis said. "But we've found all of the people we've met along the way to be helpful and interested in what we're doing. It's neat that the little town of Ralston here can be a part of it."
In just five days, Putland and Davis had made it to Ralston, putting them well ahead of the schedule they'd roughly scratched out upon landing in California.
After braving the Western mountains and deserts with the help of other small town fire departments, who provided rides from station to station, Putland and Davis were hoping for a respite from the blistering temperatures of mid-July. But upon reaching Denver last Thursday and then Nebraska on Friday, they saw the heating trend was quickly becoming the norm, not a comforting climate, as the two were both dressed in full bunker gear.
"We'd been wearing our full kit for a few of the days," Putland said. "But after we felt the full effect of that heat, we decided maybe we'd just go with our trousers."
After waking up Friday morning in Hershey, Putland and Davis pressed on to Kearney — where they visited the Nebraska Firefighters Museum and Memorial — and then to York.
"It was hot," Putland said. "We started to wonder, 'How can it possibly get cool around here?'"
The heat notwithstanding, Putland and Davis made their way through Nebraska with a new motivation.
"They called Friday looking for a place where they could get a good Nebraska steak," RVFD Chief Kyle Ienn said. "We had just the place for them. We said, 'Yeah, we can get you a steak.'"
By the time the weary and sweaty travelers rolled into Ralston Friday evening, reservations had been made at Anthony's Restaurant at 72nd and F streets and the welcome wagon was preparing to make the rounds
Despite some trouble deciphering accents on both sides, Putland and Davis said the wait staff and the kitchen at Anthony's delivered.
"You hear a lot about great steaks whenever you mention Nebraska to anyone," Davis said. "I wanted to try one of these Nebraska steaks and Anthony's did not disappoint. Great steak. Just what I was hoping for."
"Delicious," Putland agreed and she relayed her review back home via Twitter, where colleagues are following their moves — sometimes through places they've never heard of — with each passing mile.
"We've got a lot of people back home following us on Twitter, texting us," she said. "A lot of them will text us and say, 'Where are you?' and sometimes, if we're on the road, I'll write back, 'I do not know.' But that's all part of the fun."
After dinner, Putland and Davis spent the evening swapping stories and comparing equipment with RVFD members Shane Conelly, Theresa Pratt, Lawrence Springston and Charlie Wilkins before beginning the next leg of their journey to Des Moines, hitching a ride with Springston and Wilkins.
"It's been a lot of fun," Wilkins said. "Getting over some of the differences in terminology, you see that the job, a lot of the process, they're the exact same."
After Des Moines, Putland and Davis would be on to Chicago and from there, traversing the rest of the nation's midsection to New York, where they hope to link up with one of the world's most renowned fire departments on Aug. 3.
Davis said the trip has been full of excitement and even though hanging out with the Fire Department of New York is seen as the culminating portion of the 18-day excursion, everything in between is really what he was after.
"We really hope to see New York and spend some time with them there," he said. "But this has really been about seeing the real America. So far, I think we've done quite well. Ralston has been a great piece of that for us."
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