Chasing the sunset to Cleveland

Yesterday had been a fairly slow day on the ambulance until an ALS transfer to Cleveland popped up. My partner and I were happy to go, and the only other available crew wasn't dying to make the journey, so we embarked on the three hour trip to the Cleveland Clinic. I'd never been to Ohio before, but I was armed with a GPS and determined to avoid the debacle of my last long-distance transport. About an hour into the trip, I was surprised to see how much light remained, considering how late in the afternoon it was. At the same time I realized that the sun had been setting extremely slowly. Finally I put together the pieces and realized that we were heading west as the sun went down. Chasing the sunset, as it were.

All went well with the transport; traffic was light and we arrived precisely on schedule. Not even Cleveland's crummy roads or the Clinic's bizarre policy of not accepting any patients through the main entrance could get in the way. The return trip was equally smooth, with my partner doing most of the driving on the eastward leg. We got back to headquarters about an hour after the scheduled end of our shift, but I had napped briefly on the way home, so I didn't mind.

This will likely be my last ambulance shift for a few weeks, since I'm trying to pack in the rest of my Clinical III rotations before spring break, but I'm keeping active with standby coverage. I'll be working at the Billy Joel / Elton John concert on Tuesday and then at the Sabres-Stars hockey game on Wednesday. Should be a good week!