Bore, Boring, Bored.

Well, shoot. I really don't have anything spectacular to write about. I'm on "spring break" finally. Though how can we call it that when I have to do homework all week?

There is an outbreak of salmonella in Alamosa CO right now. I was there 2 years ago, I'm glad it didn't happen then. I took an overnight school bus trip down there. What a story that is.

I loved my job of driving the jocks and field trips around the state. I've been to a lot of places. But the caveat was... I was always sick. The kids (and stress from this job and other things in my life) made me constantly sick. I had my ear drum rupture twice thanks to a massive inner ear infection. And many other maladies that I had to suffer through.

Well, this trip was no exception. I drove a baseball team down to Alamosa, and I was already starting to get sick. We got lost in town (and it's a small town) thanks to some terrible directions. I pulled off the side of the road while one of the coaches called some people to figure out where to go. Then. We tried to drive. Uh oh. Can't. The bus is stuck in the mud!!!

Thanks to a heavy snowfall, the earth was soggy. And the more I tried to drive, with my automatic bus chains, the more I slid towards the fence. I didn't know what to do. Luckily, these two (gorgeous) guys in a Chevy with a tow chain pulled over and offered their help. The Chevy wasn't small, but it wasn't big either. But it pulled out a ~15 ton bus. Impressive.

(That is the second time I got rescued like that. First time I was stuck in a ditch with my parents Chevy S-10. There just happened to be two guys who drove by with a tow chain.)

Anyways, I was all set. I brought my portable DVD player and lots of books. Sadly, I couldn't plug my DVD player into the CB radio to charge it, and I had a low battery. That sucked. But I digress. I drove the bus over to a City Market to fill up and get some sick-o meds for me. (the team was playing in a tournament and all I had to do was hang around. And I watched them play too, I love baseball.)

Well anyways, to try and sum this up a little better... they played, they won... I drove them to dinner... Then we all retired to the hotel about 8:00 pm. The team pays for my room. I had just got a bath going with some menthol in it when I heard a knock on my door. Well, can't do anything about it. They knocked some more and then about 3 minutes later I heard the phone ring. Still can't do anything about it. I never did find out what this person wanted.

Next day, I found out there was a scandal at midnight. Some of the kids brought beer on this trip and got caught, drunk in their room. Oh nice. But these kids still won the whole tournament even though those boys were sent home immediately.

Incidentally... on this trip there were some parents and one of them recognized me. She was one of the ladies who got a big hoot out of my Denver Shmoo Trip and she still had the pictures on her cell phone!

Ok. We're coming down the homestretch of this story now. As I drove these people home I just felt worse and worse. Really bad. Pain in my chest, labored breathing, sweaty... By the time I got to the "bus barn" after dropping them off at their school I thought I was going to die.

I had pneumonia. *sigh* That pretty much sums up my school bus driving career. Always very sick. I enjoyed the trips but I couldn't enjoy them. I got to take another overnighter to Glenwood Springs and I couldn't even enjoy that then, I was coming down with bronchitis, strep and another ear infection. That's another story.

But here's a big reason for me telling this story. This trip happened on a Friday into a Saturday. The very following week was spring break. I was so pissed off that I had to be so sick, with pneumonia, on my break. :-(