Dressed up Lil' Cubs, Missing Glasses, The Goose 'stache

From 77° to 90°during the course of the route. This day went from lovely to hot in a hurry. My nick is bothering me a bit today. I'm glad I'll be seeing Kiley tomorrow to have it adjusted. I think the bumpy bus makes it worse. 

The Lil' Cubs kids upstairs were all decked out in Police and Fire Fighter gear and lined up sitting in the window seal. It was a cute little picture, (though we were fast enough to catch them all sitting.)

Everleigh will be riding to Ms. Sharron's until Sep 6th, at which point nobody really know what will happen with her. 

The sunflowers are out and so are the road graders. Both are taking advantage of all that nice moisture while we still have it.

Back at Lil' Cubs in the afternoon, Leanna Hooks asked us to pass along the message that Jeremiah's sun glasses have all disappeared. He's not supposed to be outside without them. She's not sure if they are getting left at school or not coming back from home, but either way, they're all gone.

In other news, up near the college there's some new curb and gutter going in. We've been dodging the construction all week, but it looks like it will be all finished in a few more days.

Ayven's Dad was out on the sidewalk with Shelby to see Ayven off to school. He's sporting the new Goose crew cut & mustache look that is all the rage with the 20-30 somethings right now. It comes from the new Top Gun movie that was released this summer. You've think everyone would be wanting to look like Tom Cruise, but it's Goose that's setting the fashion trends this time.

XC Practice

 

I'm hanging out with Pamela Simpson, Abby Giles and their cross country team this afternoon. They've got a full crew this year with quite a few more runners than they had last year. Pamela likes to take her team out to different locations each Tuesday for a little bit of "hill" practice that her runners can't get around town. This afternoon we are down by Jessica Schmidt's house on 17th Road and Ave Y. There's an access road down there that leads to Brian and Nancy (Pamela's sister) Inwood's property down by the river. 

I got a chuckle out of Pamela's instructions to her runners. "We'll be running down a path through the corn fields. It's not my corn. Don't touch it. Schecter's have cows out in the pasture right now. There's an electric wire fence around them. It's HOT! Don't touch it. I know most of you are smarter than that but I don't want to see anyone daring some city freshman to do touch the live wire." Good times.

In past years I've driven for all of the XC practices, but with Alexis in HS volleyball this year this is the only practice I'm available for. Alexis is actually playing in Sedgwick today, and I was hoping I might be able to catch a stream of her games while the team was out on their run. I spent the entire time unsuccessfully trying to find a live stream that worked. I think I may have even subscribed to some bogus even links that were set up to look like streams of actual high school sporting events. The links required a $1 subscription to "verify location." I tried three times before suspecting it was a scam. I can't believe the effort that hackers put into this. I convincing links to legitimate high school sporting events posted on YouTube every hour the day or so leading up to the event. The name associate with each was different but many of them look middle-eastern. So weird! I'll be canceling my credit card and asking for a new one to be issued in the very new future.

 

I'll be canceling my credit card in the very near future. 

Long-lost Treasure

 I found all kinds of ancient trash on the floor and seats of Bus #29 today. It appears to have been pulled from deep in the corners of the seats, almost like a squirrel got loose in the bus. Among the rubbish I found this treasure: A 1 Place 4-speaker State Debate Medal from 2015.

I posted my find in our Bus Driver group chat. Rick responded, "Are you sure it's not just a scheme to get the buses deep cleaned? My grandpa "planted" a silver dollar in his garden where I was sure to find it while pulling weeks. We never found and more but he had the most weed free garden around." 🤣

Surely someone has been missing this!

I've been seriously baffled at how the trash would have gotten there in that manner and the medal would be right on the seat in plain sight? 🤔 Then it dawned on me. This summer I saw the doors to one of the buses wide open on several occasions. It was the bus on the far right which would have been either #29 or #30. I bet we did have a little squirrel visitor who came and went as he pleased for a little while. How nice of him to help us clean out our nooks and crannies.

Update: The medal has been returned to its rightful owner! I sent to to school with Alexis to give to Mrs. Dutton. If anyone would know who this treasure belonged to it would be Betsy. Apparently, Kacie Wilson has been lamenting her missing medal for years.

Little thoughts on a Typical route.

 Vivian and her friend, Laikyn have become our School Bus Cheerleaders. Their class is usually outside for recess when we pull away with the AM kids. The girls run to the edge of the playground to wave as we drive past. Today the playground was empty. I missed seeing them.

It's hot and humid out today, but I'll take it to keep the rain we've had the past few nights. The skies have been clear but the ground is damp every morning. It's makes a big difference in the amount of dust we have on the dirt roads, and how pleasant the view is as we drive past revived fields. 

The highway construction has begun working on the segment that will connect the new highway to the existing road north of Sterling. Traffic is currently being routed to a temporary road just west of the construction. The speed limit through that section is 30 around the slight bend onto the new road, then a painfully slow 40 mph for a mile or so, then 30 again as the road bends back to the existing road just north of the Alden blacktop. Yesterday we passed an officer who had pulled someone over in that area. If I didn't have cruise control that could easily be me.

Yesterday, Alayna's mom was inside an didn't hear us pull up, or hear Kaci knocking at the door. We finally called her and she waved at us from inside. Today, she was outside waiting for us.

In fact, all of our morning kids were super efficient. We got through the AM route with 10 minutes to spare. Kaci and I parked at the intersection just north of Kallie Gillespie's house and chatted for a little bit before starting the PM.

The Lil' Cubs kids have been out on the playground lately and come running to line up at the gate as the bus approaches. Today we noticed several without backpacks and Jeremiah was missing his cane. The gal who was watching them today said it had been a crazy morning. We waited while Kaci followed her in to retrieve the missing items. 

Ayven had the cutest hairstyle today: Two braids coming up from the back of her head then tied into her ponytail.

We've got quite the crew in the afternoons but more then half of them get on at Lil' Cubs so it goes by quickly.

That plastic console cover that's just to the right of my legs while driving is loose and keeps shifting while driving. I finally took a closer look and realized it was missing the two screws that hold it in place. I sent Jim and Amy a picture of that as well as a few other minor repairs I've noticed the past week. I sat on the bus so long looking at that and filling out my daily paperwork that the alarm went off. I don't know why I have such a hard time remembering that on this bus.

Morning Train, New Student: Amilya, Forgetful Jim

I subbed for Balie this morning.  Her route looks quite a bit like last year, except out-of-district students we used to pick up are being asked to come in to two designated stops. Corvin SanMiguel is one of those.  He was at the access road off Ave S & K-14 ready as de waiting for me.  I asked where Balie normally stops for that pickup today was his first time riding all year and he didn't know. 

Justin Bagby got tall over summer break! That seems to happen to a lot of 8th graders.

I got blocked by a parked train near the  Ethanol plant.  We had to turn around and go around the mile block to get past it.

Maxwell's had their pet pig out to say "Hi" this morning. That thing cracks me up.

There were to families waiting at the new out-of-district stop at the church just past Ave S on 22nd. It's actually a pretty great location for a bus stop. 

Other than that all was business as usual. I did ask Laikyn so say hello to Vivian for me since I didn't get to see her before I left this morning.

 

 

We added a new student to our PreK route. She's a foster child who is staying with Kevin & Ashley Laudermilk and will be dropped off at Lil' Cubs. Lydia called me on Friday to fill me in on a little bit of necessary information. Her birth mom was a student in Sterling at one point and could possibly have current ties here. The Laudermilk's are really concerned that Mom may show up at some point and try to take Amilya, so Kaci will be walking her all the way into little cubs each day. We both have a picture of the mom so we can be on the watch. 

With all of that background I thought maybe today might be a little more eventful, but in all actuality today was pretty routine. Amilya got on like she knew just what to do. Nothing else about the route today was worth noting.   Oh, except that the rain this weekend made a bit difference in reviving the landscape. The vegetation isn't nearly so parched now.

I had a message waiting from Jim confirming that I was not planning to sub for Balie this afternoon. It's Monday so that means I have piano lessons after school, but it takes a bit each year for him to remember that. When I saw I was subbing for Balie today and that she was leaving at 7:00am with the cheerleaders I assumed only an AM sub was needed since I'd already emailed my piano lesson schedule AND given it to everyone at the bus meeting. Yesterday when Balie messaged me the info for her route she mentioned driving in the afternoon and I told her it wasn't me because I had piano. She messaged Jim, who didn't get back to either of us. But then Susan messaged Balie about driving her afternoon route. Then I get this message from Jim today asking if I was planning to drive. I don't quite understand why it has to be so complicated, but hopefully everything is worked out now.

No PreK, Sub for Balie

No PreK today. I subbed for Balie's PM so she could watch Macy's JH sports preview. It was really nice to see the other drivers at the Grade School (Jenny, Brad, Wendy, & Rick who was riding w/ Wendy).  I didn't think sharing a bus with Balie would make that big of a difference but I miss my daily walk and familiar sights on the East side of the Grade School and my daily messages with Wendy.

Balie's route is so much nicer this year.  Shorter route,  shorter bus.  Both are very helpful. I got a huge huge hug from Evelyn Payne. She's got such a cute new hair cut.  I overshot her stop today thinking it was past the trees not before them.  I just smiled big and waved at her confused Grandma, then backed the bus back off to let Evelyn and her cousin off. Grandma and I had a good laugh about that. 

#27 needs some minor repairs.  Torn seats and beveled step tread.

Enough Time for a District Office Stop

 Wednesday, August 24th. 

Alayna's mom came and pulled her off the bus today. She said she was already in town so she might as well pick her up. Since we already fueled the bus yesterday, today we stopped in at the district office. I had paperwork to turn in from last week anyway. Jim is out of the office today, but we really stop in to visit with Amy and Laurie.

Mrs. Anthony always passes through on her way from the Grade School to her Spanish Class. This is her last year of teaching. Kaci was talking with Cindy about how Lynlie is a leader in her classroom, "Future Teachers of America" she likes to call them. We got back to the bus late and were pushing time for the entire PM route.

We drove past the tennis courts and after months and months of having the space cleared and gravel spread, suddenly the concrete is poured and finished! I guess that's what happens when you don't drive past the High School for four days.

Spilled Fuel at the Co-op and Route Updates

 Tuesday, August 23

It's the second day of school. Originally my doctor had a screening scheduled for me on top of my route today but I felt like it would be really unfair to have Jenny drive for me when I didn't quite know what to expect out of my route myself. I rescheduled for another day.

 After what happened yesterday, I spent the morning re-doing the route so that the out-of-town kids were in the middle and the town kids were on either end. I use google maps so it isn't too tricky to move the stops around and see how long to plan for travel between each stop, but I have more stops in the complete route than Google maps allows so I had to split it and just make sure that between the two I was still getting the PM kids to school at the right time. 

Once I had the route settled the way I liked it, I messaged any parents that were affected by the changes by more than a few minutes. I wasn't able to reach anyone at Lil' Cubs but since their morning time was only a few minutes different and their afternoon time was later than they were planning I didn't worry too much about it.

I went ahead and switched Exum and Alayna Maxwell so we could drop Exum off first, then head back to the highway and take the blacktop across Saxman road and over to Maxwell's. That should give us better consistency when there's weather and the roads get really muddy. Plus, the roads are so dry and dusty right now, and that trip across Ave S seemed to take FOREVER yesterday.

I'm really glad I set things up that way. Alayna Maxwell had some sort of appointment today and her mom picked her up. Were were able to take Exum at the time his mom was expecting and then head back to town instead of going out to Maxwell's house. Since we are coming from the other direction to Exum's now, we turned into the driveway then asked his mom if it was possible to pull through on the road that looked like it wrapped around the house. Exum's mom peeked around the house and shook her head regrettably "no," there were toys in the way. I then motioned to the large grassy area in front of us and she happily agreed that we could turn around there every day. It's just the right size and works out really well.  

Not having Alayna gave us a bunch of extra time (after I very clearly told all the parents that our route was really tight this year). I asked what we should do, and she asked if the bus needed to be fueled. We were sitting at about half so we headed down to the Co-op. Kaci headed inside to chat and I swept out the bus while Larry fueled, checked fluids and cleaned the windshield. I decided I'd head to the back and clean up the rear windows. I was in the middle of that when I started to hear splashing and realized the fuel tank was overflowing. Diesel fuel was splashing everywhere, like a grand, expensive water fall. It was all over the bus and all over the blacktop.

 

Back inside, Larry asked me if I needed an electric bicycle. There was a lovely aqua colored once sitting in the middle of the office charging up. He, Vicki, and Kaci chatted about some older guy that I don't know who had just bought it right before he started having dizzy spells and his doctor told him he could ride his bike anymore. Now he cruses around town on a tricycle. I fiddled with a 3D puzzle made out of large nails and metal rings. It baffled me, and Vicki admitted that they had never seen it solved and suspected it couldn't be.

This year I had the route set up to go straight on 6th after picking up Omari, then go over to Broadway taking Ave V, and loop back South to pick up Ayven. Last year's habits got the better of  me and I automatically turned Left on Adams toward Lil' Cubs after Omari got on. We went ahead and stopped at Lil' Cubs then took 7th up and around back to Ayven's on Broadway. I think I'll make that a permanent change. No use fighting something that's working.

There was a big construction mess up on the corner of 7th & Ave V right there by Zimmerman's. It looks like they're getting ready for new sidewalks and curb & gutter. There wasn't much room for us to squeeze by but we made it.

Our timing for arriving at the Grade School for PM came out just about right. Not having that kid out at the sandpit on Sante Fe gives us just enough time for a comfortable route.

First Day PreK 2022-2023

Monday,  August 22, 2022 

It's a nice day for the start of PreK. 

As of this morning I still hadn't finished typing up my route.  I took about an hour this morning to finish that and made a call to Lil' Cubs to verify who would be riding this year and give them their stop times.

At 10:20 I gathered my things and headed out the door, dressed in my new "school clothes." You know,  first day and all. I'm excited for new beginnings.  

Bus #27 is my chariot for the year.  I'm sharing with Balie this year so I don't have to swap buses when the Horse Therapy kids take #21. It will be different not sharing with Wendy,  but we'll see what this new year brings. 

I wanted to give myself a full 30 minutes to re-familiarize myself and go over the bus.  I hadn't really driven #27 for a couple of years. The floors could use a good mopping and seats 3 & 4 on the driver's side have some damage,  but it should be a nice ride for us this year. It's weird to be back to using a manual door and I accidentally set off the alarm,  but I should be able to settle in quickly. 

I got my paperwork in order and carefully adjusted the seat, mirrors, and steering wheel.  I'm determined to be as nice to my aggravated right hip as possible this year. I got my paperwork in order,  posted my route up where I could see it, and pulled up to the school 5 minutes to 11:00.

Kaci was there,  ready and waiting. I handed her a copy of the route and we went over details. Today is the typical not-typical first day.  Many parents will be driving their kids today so they can get pictures.  I won't get a good feel for how the route runs in real time until tomorrow or Monday. 

Before I knew it our new crew was piling out the doors.  I forgot to ask Lydia if she would do name tags on the kids again this year. I was hoping she would stand by the door and tell me who each one was,  but she got tied up talking to a parent and the kids were were not going to wait. I resorted to asked each child their name as they got on.  We wouldn't want to mix up and leave the wrong kid at the wrong house! In all actuality the kids know more than we give them credit for. They are usually pretty got to tell me,  "I'm not Elliot" and "That isn't my house."

Blaise VonVelhuisen is out first stop. We had his brother Kaiser a few years ago. Their mom,  Dani VonV. is working for Cordell Chiropractic so we'll be pulling through the parking lot behind Jacam and letting him off near the back door of Cordell's.