Friday OT (Guest Hosted) - Hop on the Bus, Gus

[MeanDean]

Angie gave permission to host this topic after I suggested it in the most recent On That Note thread last night.

What are some of the memorable (good or bad) stories you have from riding the school bus back in your youth? (Of course, the confessional ones are the best!)

And for you town kids who walked to school (in the snow and uphill both ways), let's hear about your (mis)adventures en route.

I'll post mine a bit later.

 

[CYdTracked]

So we lived in the very corner of our rural school district - literally right across the road was another school district as well as about half mile down the road. So we were usually on of the first picked up and last ones dropped off. When we were in elementary the 2 elementary schools were not in the same town as the MS/HS building so we'd get picked up and dropped off early at our school then the bus would pick up kids between that town and the other, drop them off and pick up more kids and head back to the elementary. Kind of the same routine for after school too so we usually had about 45 minutes both before and after school we had to stay at the school before we got back on the bus on top of the time it took to pick up and drop off all the kids before they got to our home. When we went to middle school would probably be on the bus 45-60 minutes each way again because of how far out we lived so was wonderful once I became driving age to be able to drive myself which was a little less than 20 minutes to HS.

Having to be on the bus that long every day I got really good about either taking naps and trying to finish up or get a head start on homework so I had more free time at home. Did have a few interesting moments if the bus driver accidentally knocked over a sign or mailbox while backing up or turning around. One time the driver backed out of a drive too far and put the back wheels into a snow filled ditch and couldn't get out so they had to bring out another bus to get us. We had 1 county road that had a big dip/bump in it so everyone wanted to sit in the far back because when you hit it would bump you up in the air and off your bench which was fun when you were a kid. Probably witnessed a few fights I'm sure but nothing I really remember.

 

[Gonzo]

Never rode a bus to get to school, but rode plenty in my HS days getting to and from football, basketball, track, etc. Not a ton of great stories but one I've always remembered when I was a sophomore dressing up for varsity basketball, one senior who was a pr*ck and a complete loudmouth was picking on one of the juniors who was kind of dorky and quiet, fairly tall but skinny. I was in the seat right across the aisle and the senior was really going after him, calling him names, making fun of his clothes and shoes, being a complete twat. The junior was just taking it, looking ahead, and in his hands was holding onto a Sony walkman and headphones. Finally the senior went and grabbed the walkman and tried taking it. The junior sprung up, grabbed him by his coat's lapel, pushed him onto the floor of the bus right in the aisle, and started wailing on him. Literally beat the hell out of him, probably 6 to 8 punches at least. Didn't say a word, let him go, and went back to his seat. The senior gathered himself up and went back to his seat and just sat there slouched the rest of the drive.

 

[matclone]

We were bused to an old country township school for the 5th and 6th grades. We often sang along with the radio (KIOA)(e.g., "Those Were the Days My Friend"). Of course that was about the age I started noticing girls and they started noticing us. So, music, girls: a powerful combination and memories of songs that went with that.

 

[MeanDean]

Similar to CydTracked, after our small town school got absorbed by a larger one in the neighboring town, the bus rides got multi-legged and longer. Usually we were near the end of the primary route which meant near the last to be picked up and near the last to be dropped off.

A couple years there were DOT orders about the highway limiting weights, so the school bus routes were reversed in the morning to put less weight (fewer kid butts) on the highway. Which meant one of the first picked up and one of the last dropped.

One break was that the route between the towns passed a crossroads very near to our home (about 400 yards.) With a parent's note they would drop us off at the junction and we could walk home from there saving almost an hour of bus ride.

The couple times the weight restriction was in place the bus took a different route on back roads, so that we didn't pass near our house. Those periods was 3+ hours riding the busses every day. I remember how depressing it was to get on the bus in the dark in the morning and get off the bus after dark in the afternoons.

 

[carvers4math]

I was a town kid so all of my bus experience was with school activities.

Our bus broke down in the middle of nowhere after a Friday night basketball game. Of course this was way before cell phones. It was a frigid January night. None of the farm houses in sight had lights on. Finally a woman on her way to work a night shift stopped and took the assistant coach somewhere to call to get them to send another bus. Then we had to go pick up the coach. No one told our parents where we were, so of course mine were ready to call the FBI. One of my brothers was at least smart enough to go drive over by the school and see the cars that were there that belonged to coaches and players and surmise that the bus broke down somewhere. Got home finally around 2:00 in the morning.

They let me do something that I am guessing wouldn’t fly anymore with summer softball games. Sometimes the bus would be leaving during my driver’s ed driving time, so the scary driver’s ed teacher would just let me drive to whatever town the game was at, then take the bus back. He was really pissed though when the girls in the back had been waving at a car full of guys who followed us to the softball field in some town.

 

[CRcyclone6]

Rode the bus to and from school through Jr High. No cool stories other than it sucked being the last one off every single day. We lived four miles in the country and i was rarely home before 5pm when school was out at 330pm. Just in time to milk and other chores. There were probably 15 kids on the bus.

 

[KnappShack]

Not sure if it's a good story, but we had a bus driver that really wasn't all there.

He was missing fingers, but mentally he should've never been allowed to drive children. Some days he was so volatile it was a crap shoot on getting home.

Damn near rolled the bus while pulling over in anger to yank a kid off of the bus and into the ditch.

It was the 80s and this type of **** seemed fairly....normal? Looking back there are a lot of WTF moments

 

[isufrEEk]

Town kid, so a walking home story. In 5th grade, we lived in a hilly part of Southern Iowa. One winter storm left a lot of snow and ice. The sidewalks weren't cleared so I was walking home in the street. In the distance I hear a truck rev it's engine. I turn to see this high schoolers pickup truck speeding toward me. I try to make it off of the slushy street up to the safety of the sidewalk but it was too icy, and I couldn't get any traction, so I finally dove into the ditch and the truck comes by and covers my back with slush. I start to pick myself up and check the damage when I see the truck turn around for another pass. What he didn't get on the first pass, he got on the second.

 

[RLD4ISU]

I went to a very small school. I had a graduating class of 15 and our school district had two buses. I lived in the country, maybe 1/2 a mile from the school and only rode the bus when my sister & I were the first ones dropped off or the last ones picked up.

Bus driver decided he was tired of having to drive a little extra to our driveway and then turn around, so he started stopping at a gravel road next to our house (maybe a 4 block distance) and had us get out there. We always walked in the ditch to get home since there really wasn't a place to walk next to the highway and - honestly - walking along the highway wasn't the safest thing. One day he pulled onto the gravel road, stopped to let us off and three boys older than me stood up and told him to back up and drive the bus into our driveway. He argued with them for awhile, but they refused to back down. He never dropped us off at the gravel road again.

Same bus driver got lost on our way home from a baseball/softball game. He decided to take back roads and by the time we got to familiar territory, we were WAY off. LOL.


My MIL was our boys' bus driver. It wasn't too uncommon to get a "Oops, I drove right past your place. I'm taking the boys home, will feed them dinner and bring them back when I come back to town to do the activity route".

One morning I stopped at the local gas station and the woman working started laughing. She said as she drove by our house that morning, our boys had been beating the crap out of each other while they were waiting for the bus.


Not really a "riding the bus" story, but I remember the guys in my class talked the shop teacher (also a bus driver) to bring the bus into the shop to get the ice off of it. He agreed. They got it de-iced, but then couldn't get the bus back out of the shop. Evidently the weight of the ice had lowered the bus height slightly and when it melted, the bus was touching the top of the ceiling. The guys in shop class ran to other classrooms - literally just busting in the doors during class - and said they needed as many people to hurry down to the shop room and get in the bus! No one asked permission and we just ran out of class (I remember our teacher was yelling at us to get back in the classroom). The other teachers were so ticked off their class had been interrupted. But it worked!

 

[MeanDean]

Another bus story. This was our bus ride to and from Junior High. They had one bus for the Junior High and two for High School. The Junior High bus was always packed, while the High School busses were fairly sparse since some kids drove and some had dropped out.

Our Jr High bus driver was also our neighbor and her kids were our neighborhood kids, which in the country there weren't very many.

The Jr High kids took over and were completely wild and she couldn't do anything to control them. They had the Jr High principal ride the bus a couple times and everyone was good on those days, but as soon as he was gone pandemonium broke out again. I hated that bus ride. One of the kids (remember Junior High!) had a rubber and proceeded to blow it up like a balloon in the front of the bus. I have no idea where that kid is now, but I would guess deceased.

Once in a while our neighbors who had an older sister who sometimes got to drive to school. I was always so glad if I got to ride with them on those few occasions. Coincidentally, it was one of those rides in Spring 1970, the local DJ (KSTT Davenport, I think) announced that the Beatles had broken up.

Several years later, in high school one of the kids had some porn and was showing it around to the girls on the bus. I don't know if he thought that would get him a date or what?

 

[VeloClone]

I went to a very small school. I had a graduating class of 15 and our school district had two buses. I lived in the country, maybe 1/2 a mile from the school and only rode the bus when my sister & I were the first ones dropped off or the last ones picked up.

Bus driver decided he was tired of having to drive a little extra to our driveway and then turn around, so he started stopping at a gravel road next to our house (maybe a 4 block distance) and had us get out there. We always walked in the ditch to get home since there really wasn't a place to walk next to the highway and - honestly - walking along the highway wasn't the safest thing. One day he pulled onto the gravel road, stopped to let us off and three boys older than me stood up and told him to back up and drive the bus into our driveway. He argued with them for awhile, but they refused to back down. He never dropped us off at the gravel road again.

Same bus driver got lost on our way home from a baseball/softball game. He decided to take back roads and by the time we got to familiar territory, we were WAY off. LOL.


My MIL was our boys' bus driver. It wasn't too uncommon to get a "Oops, I drove right past your place. I'm taking the boys home, will feed them dinner and bring them back when I come back to town to do the activity route".

One morning I stopped at the local gas station and the woman working started laughing. She said as she drove by our house that morning, our boys had been beating the crap out of each other while they were waiting for the bus.


Not really a "riding the bus" story, but I remember the guys in my class talked the shop teacher (also a bus driver) to bring the bus into the shop to get the ice off of it. He agreed. They got it de-iced, but then couldn't get the bus back out of the shop. Evidently the weight of the ice had lowered the bus height slightly and when it melted, the bus was touching the top of the ceiling. The guys in shop class ran to other classrooms - literally just busting in the doors during class - and said they needed as many people to hurry down to the shop room and get in the bus! No one asked permission and we just ran out of class (I remember our teacher was yelling at us to get back in the classroom). The other teachers were so ticked off their class had been interrupted. But it worked!

Let air out of the tires.

 

[RLD4ISU]

Let air out of the tires.

No fun in that! LOL

 

[VeloClone]

We lived in a consolidated rural district when I was in elementary school. We lived about a mile and a half out of town and we would be next to last on the bus in the morning and next to last off the bus in the evening so whenever the weather was nice I would jump on the bus in the morning and be to school in five minutes but walk the railroad tracks home in the evening rather than an hour long bus ride. When I did take it home in the winter my friend and I would talk the bus driver into taking the gravel road RR crossing at the end of the route as fast as he could. We would sit in the very last row and get launched into the ceiling when we barrelled over that high RR crossing.

Our superintendent was notorious for not cancelling school for bad weather or cancelling late after buses were already out on their rural routes. School districts all around us would be cancelled but not our district that at the time was one of the largest school districts by area in the state.

Our driveway was pretty long so we couldn't wait in the house and just go out when the bus arrived, we had to wait at the road. One icy morning we were waiting and the bus was late - very late. Finally a bus showed up but it was going the wrong way. A different bus driver picked us up anyway and told us that our bus had slid into the ditch and he was going to pick up all the kids off that bus. We arrived where the bus was and promptly slid in the ditch as well. Finally after that our superintendent decided he should cancel school that day.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

Same as others. Farm kid on the edge of the district. 2nd one on the bus, 2nd from the last off the bus. I logged a lot of hours on Bus #22 (still remember the number).

Best day was the last day of school. Our bus driver allowed us to have a water gun fight on the way home. We were always soaked when we got home. One year, some whiny kid complained about getting a little wet and got our driver into trouble. That was the last water gun fight we had. And that kid never rode the bus again.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

Did any other farm kid have to walk to the highway during snow days because of "emergency bus routes" ? We lived a quarter mile off the paved road and had to make that dark snowy trek up the gravel road on multiple occasions.

Sub-zero temps? check
Dark? pitch dark, check
Walking on the road in the dark? check
Uphill? of course

 

[Donqluione]

I attended a multi-grade "country school" that had grades 1-3, just a few kids in each grade all taught by one teacher, in its last year of operation before all students were bussed to in-town schools.

When I was in third grade my Dad let me get a shotgun, and would drive me and my shotgun to school on fall mornings. The shotgun sat in the corner of the school along with my coat and boots all day, so I could hunt pheasants walking home after school.

 

[cyclones500]

I have a few stories I have to condense & summarize so it isn't too much tl/dr.

As for routes, we had two towns/school facilities in the district, and our bus line was one that went to both schools each day. Each semester the sequence of the route was reversed, so in fall one family was first on/last off, in spring they were last on/first off ... so at least they didn't get strapped with the long bus ride throughout school year. Even so, I always felt bad for the students who had to be at the extreme end.

Our house was roughly in the middle, so it didn't make a lot of difference either way.

 

[cyclones500]

Our driveway was pretty long so we couldn't wait in the house and just go out when the bus arrived, we had to wait at the road.

My sisters and I were fortunate in that regard. We lived quarter-mile from the highway where the bus turned onto our road, so in cold/rainy weather we could stand at the window of my parents' upstairs beroom and wait to see when it turned the corner, then had time to run downstairs and out to the driveway.

 

[do4CY]

I had a long lane. My sister and I would look out the window and watch for the bus to get to our neighbors on the other side of our section so we knew when to start walking. There were a few times when we were late to look or the bus was early and we would realize he was at the end of our lane and we had to sprint.

We had a few older bullies that rode when I was in elementary so we had a fair amount of eventful rides. One of them almost got a whooping from the bus driver once, he stopped the bus and got up and grabbed the kid. I don't remember what exactly happened but our driver was pissed.

In junior high I didn't have to ride the bus very often but when I did I was one of the oldest on the bus so that meant getting to sit in the back. While getting on after school one day a girl in elementary stands up when I was walking past her and she punched me in the face. It was a definite wtf moment but not much that I could do besides tell her to not do that again.

Even though we were a small school we went to a track meet in Urbandale every year. My senior year one of my friends grandpas was driving and we were heading east on 80/35 when all of a sudden he swerved and almost threw everyone out of their seat. Turns out he wasn't in a lane and the pavement was ending.