Getting ready for the trip...

We have had about 40 wheel chairs on hand which we use for the last 5-6 trips courtesy of Apria Home Health Care who donated them for our use on these trips to DC.  They have come in real handy on many of the trips.  It seems everyone starts out on Saturday morning full of vim and vigor, but during the ceremony at The Wall, some of them start to fade and they think the wheel chairs will allow them to get through the day.  Lots of replaced knees, bad hips, bad lungs, and so on.  And sometimes, these come in handy just so they will have a place to sit -- lots of tourists there in the same areas and the benches get taken.

Well this year, we were able to offer three of the Vets who were in the most need of them the use of a motorized scooter for the day.  They sure took advantage of them, zooming here and there.  We had one scooter last year, but were able to come up with three this year due to the generosity of the Dayton VA and Mr. Jim Fortune who donated two of them, and the Winner family, who donated one that their mother had before she passed.  These scooters are ours now to be used on future trips.  They really helped the day go much smoother for the guys.

We had these chairs stored for about a month and needed to keep them charged and in working order.  Well, part of that includes taking them out for a spin every once in a while to put a load on the battery and then recharge them.  In order to do this, I would take each chair out for about a 25 minute spin around the Shelby County Fairgrounds.  Oh, and by the way, in the last sentence I didn't really mean "put a load on them".  I am still in my fighting weight!!  And I am sure some of the folks in the Ag. Center building got a kick out of seeing me zipping around the grounds in these chairs.

It's kinda hard taking a selfie while driving.  Probably some sort of law against this, even if it is shot while test driving a scooter chair.

I managed to get all three of them exercised 4 times each in the two weeks just before the trip.  In fact, Pam even helped me one day.  At least all of them worked and the batteries held up just fine for the whole trip.

Thanks go out to Jim Fortune and to the Winner Family.  Thank you for your support of this trip for our Veterans.

Hooah