FoleyParent
18-07-2010, 16:03
“Gotta love the people in FIRST” was the first thing my son (alum of team 910 and now college mentor) said as he climbed back into our minivan that was off on the shoulder of northbound I-69.
The story behind the quote….
A wheel locked up on the family owned truck hauling our robot and pit stuff back to Michigan after IRI this weekend. We (minivan with 7 of us) also pulled over shortly after the Indiana state trooper did. I am sure we made a curious site: State trooper car, flashing lights and 10 people with matching blue tie-dyed shirts on the roadside :) It was not 10 minutes before another car full of FIRSTers returning from IRI pulled over to see if they could help. They were from Fighting Pi, team 1718. It seems, another Fighting Pi car had driven by first (too late to stop), but called back to another car behind them, so that they could stop. And so they did… :)
“Gotta love the people in FIRST!” followed by him saying “That’s why I love FIRST!” It is so true, it is the people involved in FIRST that make it what it is.
And the rest of the story (just in case you are curious)…
As it turned out, we were able to let team 1718 continue on their way home. We had 2 other cars about 30 minutes ahead of us who shuffled some people around so that only one of them had to turn around to pick up the stranded. The kids in the truck returned home to Michigan. But our parents, whose truck now rests in a Ford dealership’s parking lot, are getting to see a little more of northeast Indiana than they had originally planned on. Hopefully their truck can be repaired and they can return home on Monday.
No matter the trouble, IRI is always worth the trip!
The story behind the quote….
A wheel locked up on the family owned truck hauling our robot and pit stuff back to Michigan after IRI this weekend. We (minivan with 7 of us) also pulled over shortly after the Indiana state trooper did. I am sure we made a curious site: State trooper car, flashing lights and 10 people with matching blue tie-dyed shirts on the roadside :) It was not 10 minutes before another car full of FIRSTers returning from IRI pulled over to see if they could help. They were from Fighting Pi, team 1718. It seems, another Fighting Pi car had driven by first (too late to stop), but called back to another car behind them, so that they could stop. And so they did… :)
“Gotta love the people in FIRST!” followed by him saying “That’s why I love FIRST!” It is so true, it is the people involved in FIRST that make it what it is.
And the rest of the story (just in case you are curious)…
As it turned out, we were able to let team 1718 continue on their way home. We had 2 other cars about 30 minutes ahead of us who shuffled some people around so that only one of them had to turn around to pick up the stranded. The kids in the truck returned home to Michigan. But our parents, whose truck now rests in a Ford dealership’s parking lot, are getting to see a little more of northeast Indiana than they had originally planned on. Hopefully their truck can be repaired and they can return home on Monday.
No matter the trouble, IRI is always worth the trip!