OOpps...I am a sub today!

OMG... this morning was defiantly a “blog” day! My morning started out GREAT! I woke up before the alarm, I had breakfast with my daughter then got into the shower. When I got out to the shower my phone was ringing...me” hello” work “ are you coming in today?”  me “ yes...but it is late start.” work , “ no it isn’t.. how soon can you get here!”  

You see like many families we sitting down at the beginning of every month and we pull out our calendars. Everyone reads off to me what we have going on and I consolidate it to one calendar and post on the fridge. Well in the process of doing this I forgot to mention to my family that the district may have a late start for students but the staff & bus drivers have to still go in at regular time! That is why I was late for my own route today. But that is just the beginning!  here is how the rest went.

So I got to work an hour later than I usually do and they hand me a Route Sheet ( this is what our wonderful office staff puts together for sub drivers) this Route sheet has all the info on it about the one route...like regular driver, stop times, school, etc.  This is one reason I am not a sub driver anymore...I hate not knowing where I am going and trying to read a paper while driving plus student management.. ugh!  

Ok back to the story....So they give me the sheet and I realize this is a “special needs” route.  which means small bus that will have 10 or less students. No biggie right? well these buses are hard to see out of because that are built like a van that just crashed through a box! Well I shook it off since if was my fault for being late right? ..lol! I start the route and head to the first of 5 apartment complexes that are on the route sheet. I pull in and look at the building that I am suppose to be picking up 2 students. The building is being remodeled! Nobody can live here and all I see are men caring building materials. I look around and ask a few other adults and nobody knows anything... great this is starting off perfect! so I continue to the next stop hoping for better luck when “base calls” ...” are you near John’s stop?” I respond “ I don’t even have that name on my sheet”...base “ you are right. well they live at “blah blah” “ I think to myself, ( do I have a pen and paper ready to write this down? or am I just suppose to memorize that while I am driving around this apartment complex maze? ) My response “ I am looking for this address and I there is no name for the child on the sheet. Plus I am supposed to turn Left at a unNamed road?”  Now remember this is all being said on our radios for the WHOLE district to hear!  At that time, another driver pulled up and told me who & where I should be going...while the person at base is giving me more direction from their end...Geeze! I had to have the other driver tell the car behind me to back up so I could turn around and go where I supposed to go. I continue to the next apartment complex that was next to the one I was already in... did I mention Apartment Maze??? ok just checking. I pick up 2 students their and they direct me back to the other Apt complex to pick up the one I missed. I finally go out of this maze and proceeded to cross the street into the next Apt maze. this is the one that “base” instructed me to go to that wasn't even on my sheet. I pull up and there is other special need bus already there picking up. I think great? they are picking up my student... sure enough! I had a parent walk a student over to me and I ask them if their student was going to my school for drop off. They said “no” and yelled at the other parent that just put her student on the wrong bus...lol! So we did an instant switch and proceeded to our next stop. Well I tried to...when reading the sheet it says ( and I quote) T/A ( turn around) Unnamed RD then L/ Fern st and R/ Unnamed Rd. ..this is were I just laughed , because I am what they call a seasoned driver. meaning I have been driving for this district for 10 yrs! With that experience I could figure out where I was supposed to go from the rest of the information. But what if I was a completely new person to the area and to bus driving? LMAO!!! 

I just shoot my head and kept driving. At this moment base informs me that I don't’ meed to stop at the next stop or the last one...thank goodness since I am already 5 mins late to the next one!  I then pull into my 4th apt complex and look for building I. I circle around looking for it.....I see all the other buildings like H, J, k, L, N, Q but no I! WTH?! So I circle around again... at this point one of the kids says, “ did you turn the wrong way again?” LOL..I say “ nope, but this is a good time to sing “ the wheels on the bus go round and round”  and they broke into song!  I never did find the building or the student.. I guess their parents took them after calling base and them informing the parent that I was a “sub” .  I was now off to my last stop and yet another apt complex with HUGE speed bumps! I told the students on the bus to “lift your feet and make a wish every time we go over a speed bump” ..those students are going to have a Very, very , very lucky day!  

The good news is that they made it to school only 5 mins late and safe! 

 I was remind  today that I have got into my own personal “bus driver box” where I only drive my route and am in my comfort zone. I now realize  by doing so, I miss out on these adventurous days of not knowing where I am going, who am I picking up and what can happened on a bus route! 

The First Day Of School!!

This is the moment you all have been waiting for....what was the first day of school like as a bus driver?  Well it started out with “ what am I going to wear?”...lol! You see I planned on riding my motorcycle today because it is suppose to be in the 80’s! So I wanted to wear something warm this morning that still looked good. Ok I got that all picked out jumped on the motorcycle and headed 5 miles on the freeway to “the bus barn”.  I got off the bike, took off all of my gear and walked towards the front door. The first thing I noticed was some animal cut out pictures of a rabbit and such with some saying in quotes. I really didn’t pay a whole lot of attention. so I turned the handle and walked into the TWIIGHT ZONE! it was like I just went back into time and walked into my kindergarden room for the first time. There were “Alice in Wonderland” stuff everywhere!!! with quotes from the movie/book and pictures are all the creatures. so I stopped...went back out the door .... and look at the address. Yep I was in the right place...ok time to continue! From there I moved my blue dot to let everyone know that I had arrived...Yahoo! I then checked my box for any important route changes and notices....and nothing really great to right about. Then came the fun part....opening the driver lounge door! the next thing you hear “ good morning” “ how was your summer” “did they change your route?” “what bus are you in?” ...LOL! 

So from there I walk out to my 40 ft Thomas school bus and continue with my “pre-trip” inspection.  Factoids~ I have 28 seats that fit 3 elementary student at one time and 2 middle/high school students at another. I  will let you do the math on the one, just so you know that is a lot of kids!

After heading out in my bus on my route I pass a couple of my fellow drivers and wave. You see just like Jeep people & motorcycle riders we wave at all fellow bus drivers. the thing is everyone has different style of waves. You have the one finger shoot at you wave, the High Hitler wave and my favorite” clown hand on a spring” wave! you know the one....where the person or kid waves at you so hard that you think their wrist is going to break and that they haven’t seen another person in years. So yes I wave about 20 times  in a 2 hr period at fellow drivers. 

Well ,my high school route and students were about  the same as last year except a few kids that I haven’t seen in 3 years as the attended the wonderful middle school years. But when I got to my elementary route here are a couple of things the kids said as the got on.....” so you decided to take on other year, huh” “ I broke my foot” “ my little brother will be riding tomorrow” “ same seat policy as last year?” “what do you do when we are in school?”...they are so cute and funny! you just have to love them! 

Note to parents...We bus drivers understand your need and want to take your children to school in the first day BUT this makes the roads so clogged with traffic that we are all 5 to 10 minutes late to school for all the other children. Please use what you pay for and conserve energy by carpooling and having your child ride the school bus!

When returning to “the Barn” walk into the drivers lounge and what do I see? Bagels, donuts, cookies and brownies....how do you think we all get the “Bus Driver Butt?!” seriously?! UGH!!

Now to talk about adding heat to the first day of school...you see the bus is a tin can on wheels. Therefore the inside of  a bus is at least 10 degrees hotter than outside. So when your child asks me to turn on the air conditioner, I tell then to put down the window :) But what most new drivers don’t know is that our bus seat is a big sheet of vinyl and makes your legs and butt sweat. so after you have been sitting in the heated bus on vinyl for 2 to 4 hrs...you stand up and looks like you have just wet your pants! So a little tip for you newbies...sit on a bath towel, it works wonders. 

Well, all in all, the day went pretty good. Only 3 students ended up on my bus that were supposed to be on someone else's bus. So I had to make just a few extra stops to get them to the correct place plus my radio knob from up overhead keeps falling off while I was driving hitting me in the head. Yep, just another “first day of school” in the life of a school bus driver!