1 April ‘09 Wednesday
We read and heard about some really interesting places to visit in Huntsville, Alabama so we set out today to see some of them. The first was a complete surprise, as we didn’t even know that they existed. First off, I guess we have to say that it was because of our GPS that we found them and it was because our GPS had AGAIN taken us on another round-about trip… We were traveling through some back-roads and when finally, on a highway we finally joined up with, we noticed across a large plat of land and through some trees, a “parking lot” full of FIRE TRUCKS… Of course we were on the wrong road to check this out. About a mile further up the road we could take another joining highway back and find out more about these trucks. We had heard about a great tour through a large Fire truck manufacturer and we thought that we might have just fallen onto it. As we pulled closer to the field holding the trucks, we saw that these weren’t new so we hadn’t found the manufacturer, but what had we found? Well you don’t know until you drive up the drive and walk into the office and ask… Louise said that we would probably be graciously asked to leave, but the moment we entered the lobby we were made to feel like long lost “family”. Standing behind a beautiful “desk” (the front end of a fire truck) stood Rachell (Branlett), and Allison (Harris). I kid you not, the moment they heard us ask “what have you got here?” they went into action (like getting the long lost family up to date starting with a cup of coffee, soft drink or water?). In a “nut shell” explanation; Brindlee Mountain fire Apparatus buy, sell, lease, service, and refurbish fire trucks and apparatus relating to the needs of the fire departments around the WORLD. Brindlee buys and resells over 150 used vehicles each year from this location in Alabama. We hadn’t been there but 10 minutes and James Wessel came out and introduced himself to us.
We read and heard about some really interesting places to visit in Huntsville, Alabama so we set out today to see some of them. The first was a complete surprise, as we didn’t even know that they existed. First off, I guess we have to say that it was because of our GPS that we found them and it was because our GPS had AGAIN taken us on another round-about trip… We were traveling through some back-roads and when finally, on a highway we finally joined up with, we noticed across a large plat of land and through some trees, a “parking lot” full of FIRE TRUCKS… Of course we were on the wrong road to check this out. About a mile further up the road we could take another joining highway back and find out more about these trucks. We had heard about a great tour through a large Fire truck manufacturer and we thought that we might have just fallen onto it. As we pulled closer to the field holding the trucks, we saw that these weren’t new so we hadn’t found the manufacturer, but what had we found? Well you don’t know until you drive up the drive and walk into the office and ask… Louise said that we would probably be graciously asked to leave, but the moment we entered the lobby we were made to feel like long lost “family”. Standing behind a beautiful “desk” (the front end of a fire truck) stood Rachell (Branlett), and Allison (Harris). I kid you not, the moment they heard us ask “what have you got here?” they went into action (like getting the long lost family up to date starting with a cup of coffee, soft drink or water?). In a “nut shell” explanation; Brindlee Mountain fire Apparatus buy, sell, lease, service, and refurbish fire trucks and apparatus relating to the needs of the fire departments around the WORLD. Brindlee buys and resells over 150 used vehicles each year from this location in Alabama. We hadn’t been there but 10 minutes and James Wessel came out and introduced himself to us.
The first thing James did was to ask is to have lunch. Unfortunately we had to turn them down because of our limited time, but undeterred; he then personally gave us a tour of the one of the shops and told us the history of his company.
Seven years ago, James found a need following a situation he was in, borrowed some money from his mother to buy his first fire truck in need of refurbishing, and the rest is history. This is quite an operation, small but mighty, all employees feeling like family, and darn proud of their work…you know, a great American dream come true. While out taking a couple of pictures in the yard,
a young man came out to introduce himself and let us know that he and his family are and where Holiday Rambler people…Billy Claunch is the VP of sales, and he like everyone we’ve met today, couldn’t have made our day any better. By the way, the picture of the pumper at the lake was one that I “borrowed” from their web site. More about today tomorrow