Posted by admin on Jun 27, 2009 in
Bus / Coach Been a busy couple of days.. Got back Wednesday from DC… had a “quick” run to Camp Laurel – South in Poland on Thursday… except N38 died on me in the middle of taking a corner (Egypt Road in Raymond)… with 28 8 – 10 year olds! NOT a fun time… the other bus came back and picked up the kids while I waited for the mechanic to show up and diagnose the problem. Long story short… mechanic shows up.. manages to fire the old girl up, checks the fluids, and tells me to drive her home and let him know if I have any more problems. Well, made back to the garage JUST at the original scheduled time so it all worked out and no further problems! One of those days I guess!
Friday was an easy double run from Portland Jetport to Tripp Lake in Poland using the mini-bus… no problems there.
Today was another “easy” run… got use the really nice 803 MCI bus… I was part of a four-bus pickup on the tarmac (yes ON the taxi-way) of kids going to Camp Laurel – North in Mt. Vernon… nice comfy run in that newer bus!
Right now I’m not scheduled for anything this week.. and have requested the 3rd, 4th, and 5th off as my sweetie and I are diappearing off the face of the earth for a much needed R&R!
That’s it for now….
Posted by admin on Jun 25, 2009 in
Bus / Coach,
Where Am I? Didn’t have internet access (that I was willing to pay for!) at the hotel the last night so this is a trip wrap-up…
First… the pics as promised (click each image to go to THAT specific album):
Location John Lennon was shot
(More pics of NYC after the jump)
Lancaster, PA - Home of the largest Amish community
(More pics after the jump)
Gettysburg, PA - Valley of Death
(More pics after the jump)
Bob Dole @ WWII Memorial - Washington, DC
(More pics after the jump)
Got in late last night… this is what was left of the bus:
That was JUST a couple HOURS worth of trash… EVERY time we stopped, the kids would bag up all the trash on the bus…usually three or four medium-sized kitchen trash bags worth!
To get your dog to shit, whack him with a hockey stick?
Anyways… I have a camp run to do this afternoon… picking up at Portland Jetport taking them to Casco… nice easy run… have the type of run (Camp Run) tomorrow… two of them actually… back to back.
No rest for the road weary I guess!
Posted by admin on Jun 22, 2009 in
Bus / Coach,
Misc,
Where Am I? We were IN Union Station when this occured… both trains were heading TO Union Station at the time… we weren’t effected, but makes you stop and think…
US
Train Crash in Washington Leaves 6 People Dead
By IAN URBINA
Published: June 23, 2009
Roughly 20 people were injured when one Metro subway train slammed into another on the outskirts of the city Monday afternoon.
One more day of DC… actually half day.. then it’s up to New Jersey…
Posted by admin on Jun 21, 2009 in
Bus / Coach,
Where Am I? Sorry for the delay… been having long days with this group and been just too tired to blog…
We’re now on day 4 of this trip… the Bath YMCA “Freedom Tour”… we started in NYC for two days… that was actually tolerable this time around… I went in with an attitude that the bus was a tank and frig them if they got in my way! Only had one a$$hole cabbie get aggressive with me and that was it!
Next we spent last night in Lancaster, PA… heart of the Amish community there… wasn’t THAT a blast! Had some awesome food last night at a Amish restauraunt which was nice… the hotel, however, was a nightmare…
Today rocked though! Took a driving / guided tour of Gettysburg… absolutely awesome in the literal sense of the word… one thing I remember the tour guide (who came on the buses and told us each where to go while he “narrated” sts…) was that during the first four days, over 1 MILLION (yes with an M) rounds were fired… for 70,000 casualties. To see some of the buildings in “downtown” Gettysburg where there are STILL bullet holes was incredible…
Sadly… I forgot to pack my cable for my camera, so you’re gonna have to wait until Wednesday when I get home (probably Thursday) to off-load them and post.
Tomorrow it’s DC… Arlington and the National Mall… Then Tuesday it’s the war memorials (Korean, WWII, Vietnam), staying in Secaucus, NJ… then Wednesday it’s back into NYC for the Today Show (don’t bother looking for me…but if you see any kids in blue wind-breakers or adults with red wind-breakers that’s my group)… then it’s North-bound and home!
Anyways… I’ll try to post again tomorrow night…and I’ll definitely post when I get the pics up!
Posted by admin on Jun 14, 2009 in
Bus / Coach,
Where Am I? Picked up the Gray / New Gloucester High Project Gradutation kids at the Cumberland County Civic Center at 2100 hours last night… of course they were late loading so we didn’t get out of there until after 2200 hours… then it was and hour + up I95 to Route 201.
For those that don’t know… Route 201 through this area of Maine is about as back-woods as you can get. I’m sure it’s very nice, scenic drive… during the day… not in a pouring rain… and with a bus that’s not twice my age!
But alas..twasn’t meant to be…. so we ended up unloading late… and they took longer than usual in unloading… so instead of getting back to the hotel at around Midnight like we were supposed to, it was closer to 0200 before we got here.
The hotel itself isn’t bad.. if you’re Norman Bates and like pre-1960’s furniture! Don’t get me wrong… it’s a decent enough, basic amenities-type Motor Inn… they DO have wireless internet, and a decent speed too…but 99% of the outlets in here are only two-prong, which makes charging a latop difficult… and the giant screen TV is nice… of course the 19″ TV only LOOK giant if you sit half a foot off of it!
On the upside… it’s got two Canadian gliders with ottomans which makes for comfy sitting…
So.. bottom line… it was “bearable” being “forced” to sit around all day while getting paid watching the pouring rain outside, watching marathon Mythbusters… have to go pick up the dahlin’s at 0900 in the morning and take them back to the high school… Nice easy money!
Welcome to the Bates Motel…a.k.a. Bingham Motor Inn:
As a side note… I DO have to give kudos to the owners of Bingham Motor Inn… while the interiors are circa 1960… the price is VERY attractive, has a major ITS trail right in the back yard for both Snowmobiles and ATV’s, has a hot tub and a pool… and the owners were kind enough to give us a ride to and from a local diner to get some grub! So while it’s NOT the Hilton Garden… if you’re up in this neck of the woods… it’s a pretty decent enough place to crash!