Fourth of July in Ferndale starts out with fire engine rides for the kids. Actually for me it started out by helping wash the fire engines so that they looked presentable for the rides and later parade. Rides were given on the three big engines, plus this 1923 model that was in service in Ferndale up to the 1950s. Before the rides started, I was offered the chance to drive it, which although I was quite surprised at the offer, I immediately accepted. It has a crank start, but fortunately it was already running when I took over. Clutch on the right, ok. What, the gas pedal is in the middle, and the brake pedal is on the right? That’s going to take some getting used to. Not to mention you sit on the right, and you feel like your sitting on a couch, not in a vehicle. Gear shift is on the right, next to the parking brake. I managed to make a loop down past the Gingerbread, back up to Main via Shaw, and then back to the station without doing any damage to the engine and had a great time doing it. But it gave me a whole new perspective on what people went through migrating cross country in the 1920s. This thing needed some muscle to drive and the vibration and noise was tremendous. I drove it on relatively well paved roads for only about a half mile and it was already tiring.