The previous 20 hours were possibly the strangest hours I've ever spent in EMS.
Shift started at 0045. Packed the ambulance with (in additional to the usual accouterments), three coolers of food and beverages, two large backpacks of personal gear, two stoves, and a box of extra supplies.
We then drove to the top of a 14,000 foot tall mountain, where we the only two people for several hours. Usually there are several hundred tourists up there. The visibility was incredible and it was not that cold. We then slept for several hours, before waking up and unpacking our stuff.
We then proceeded to make a pound of bacon on the back bumper. Several Japanese photographers stopped by and put a significant dent in that, before the switch to french toast was made. At this time, the sheik of Qatar arrived at our location in a 1.4 million dollar Porsche. He parked mere feet from our cooking operation and gave us a variety of questionable looks. Also the contrast of a beat up Type II with 250k miles on it next to his car was amazing.
The Pikes Peak Hill Climb then actually started, and we watched them race for a while. Then it started to snow, which it did for an hour. Lightning struck less than 100 yards from the ambulance. We were called to an individual having altitude issues, we arranged for him to be transported by cog railway (a first for me). We went back to listening to Mike Birbiglia and hoping that we wouldn't die. At some point we determined that we had spent 15 straight hours at over 14,000 feet and that was starting to play with my mind a bit (reading my book was tough).
The day concluded with a three hour long traffic jam to drive down the mountain, and the ambulance was probably near catching fire from how steep the road is.
So there's that.
