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news
Top Member
Canada
2951 Posts |
 Posted - 06/06/2006 : 06:43:11 AM
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 Tuesday, June, 6, 2006, Huntington Herald Dispatch, WV -
Today has to be a sad day for my youngest son, Adam. Not because he wraps up kindergarten and won't see many of his friends for about 10 weeks. It's the last time he gets to ride a school bus until August.
For years, Adam watched his older sister and brother board the school bus in the morning and get off the bus in mid-afternoon. Somewhere in all that, he developed a fanatical interest in school buses that is unknown in my family.
When Adam was 4 years old, I taught him to read three-digit numbers so he could tell buses apart. He learned where all the buses near our home are parked during the day during the school year. He keeps a mental database of what body company built what bus, who drives it and which of his classmates rides it.
A few weeks ago, Adam and other Wall of Fame readers at his school attended an outing at Camp Arrowhead. One of the first things Adam told me when I got home from work that evening was that he rode Bus 619, it was a flatnose, and it was made by AmTran. Everything that happened on the field trip was secondary to information about Bus 619.
On Sunday, we went to Barboursville to look at something. When we go out that way, we always have to take W.Va. 10 to Alternate 10 so he can see Bus 696. That's a new style bus with a sloped hood and larger windows for visibility and a different type of flashing light on the front. Adam wants to get on one of those really bad.
Kindergarten has been good to Adam. His teacher, Joanne Seay, has been wonderful for him. He has made new best friends and, in his words, some mortal enemies.
But the coolest guy at school is Tracy White, Adam's bus driver. They have conversations about different buses Adam has seen.
When he's grown up, after he has been president of the United States, Adam plans to return to Huntington and drive a school bus.
The energy that Adam puts into learning about school buses has carried over to learning other things about school. I have to wonder if reading, writing and arithmetic are tools to be used in learning about school buses.
It's odd that Adam likes school buses so much. Neither his mother nor I ever liked riding school buses. The last time I was on an active school bus was 1997, and the seats seemed smaller than what I remembered from high school. Back then, three of us could fit in a seat, but buses use smaller seats now. Today, maybe two of me would fit in one.
If I had the energy and the time, I would compile a database of every school bus in Cabell County -- number, driver, manufacturer, route, etc. -- just to see how long Adam would need to memorize it.
Sometime this summer, we'll go out to the bus maintenance area in Barboursville so he can see a sea of yellow buses and yearn again for the first day of school (bus).
Huntington Herald Dispatch
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DigitalGimpling
Advanced Member
USA
226 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2006 : 11:43:27 AM
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| ... Hire that kid as a dispatcher up in here. |
They see me rollin' - They hatin'
Patrollin' and try'n to catch me ridin dirty
tryna catch me ridin dirty |
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ICfan
Top Member
USA
1251 Posts |
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92FrdCarp#11
Top Member
USA
1455 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2006 : 4:32:19 PM
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| Great story! |
Johnny
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School Bus 7
Senior Member
USA
123 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2006 : 5:21:22 PM
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| Thats a Great story comeing from my Area I thought I was the only Kid (well if you count 17 being a kid. lol.) in my County who Knew every Bus. This kid doesnt live far from me and goes to School with my Little Cuzin. Bus #696 is a New 2007 Thomas Saf-T-Liner C2 one of the 8 my County has and it parks right off my Road on Route 10. |
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Bluebird62
Top Member
USA
530 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2006 : 09:33:51 AM
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| what a trooper! i wonder where he will end up before he's president?!? |
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CrownBus1
Top Member
USA
633 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2006 : 8:43:35 PM
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Sounds kind of like me when I was younger . Great story! |
Bus 1
1985 Crown |
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vaoverland
Advanced Member
USA
225 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2006 : 10:55:44 PM
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| There is no better career than one you love. It gets you through even the bad days and hard times which come with virtually all employment. My folks (who had no previous fondness for them) also encouraged my early love of buses, and it did indeed lead to a rewarding career path for which I am grateful. I can recall comparing notes at a 10 year reunion with a high school buddy who earned 3 times the money in a job he merely endured. He felt I was the luckier! IMHO, there should be even more ways to encourage a school transportation career path for kids who seem so inclined. |
Wayne's Lifeguard in 1973 was a safety design and building concept ahead of its time and regulation. I am proud to have helped bring over 2,000 of them into Virginia during my career. I know they saved some lives.
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/WayneBusEnthusiasts/
Mark Fisher, semi-retired school bus driver, pupil transportation supervisor, contractor, and school bus body dealer, Williamsburg, VA |
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IC RE 1629
Top Member
United States
5097 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2006 : 02:13:58 AM
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| I'd like to meet this kid. He sounds pretty awesome. |
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80-RE4
Top Member
USA
5700 Posts |
Posted - 06/11/2006 : 11:12:49 AM
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| This kind of makes me remember one time when I had a regular route. A few years ago, I was at the line-up outside the Elementary school. The mother was bringing her K child home (there was a party at the school). The child was crying and would not go in the mother's car. The kids were coming out. The mother ran over to me and said, HE Won't go home with me, he wants to take the bus. I thought it was the funniest thing ever. Some kids, no matter what age, just love riding the school bus. |
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Project681
New Member
1 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2017 : 9:20:14 PM
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If you guys even see this, I want you to know that I really appreciate all that you have said about me. I am the kid from this article (which my dad still has framed in his bedroom), 11 years later. I turn 18 next month. I am honestly really greatful of all the things you all have said. This article ended up getting me a tour at the Thomas factory in High Point, North Carolina on July 10, 2006.
696 is now on a half day route, replaced by a 100th anniversary 2017 C2 (bus 796) at the start of the 2016-2017 school year. Since the 2007s like 696, Cabell County Schools, West Virginia has bought nothing but Thomas Built buses and are currently at 86 C2s and 35 HDXs. That database my dad spoke of is something I have compiled in the past couple years of our close to 150 bus fleet. I can tell you make, model, year, engine, transmission, and capacity of all of our buses from memory.
One of the people mentioned in this article was Tracy White, my bus driver. He is still driving these awful roads no matter the condition. Tracy and I have grown to become best friends over the past 12 years or so, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Tracy has taught me a lot of the things I know about our buses and many things I know about life. I'm very lucky to have had him as my bus driver back in Kindergarten when this article was written all the way through my senior year of high school where I am today.
As for me, you can keep up with my shenanigans with Cabell County's fleet on YouTube at Project 681. I rode a 2003 Blue Bird International 3800 (bus 681) all the way up until April 28th, 2014 when we got a brand new 2015 C2 (bus 781) on our route where it still remains. This is my last year in public schooling and it has honestly been a blast working with our transportation department and everything they have allowed me to do due to my still strong interest in school buses. When this article was written, I prayed and pleaded for a C2 all the way up until I got one. I'm a huge Blue Bird guy myself nowadays. As much as I love 781, 681 has always had a place in my heart. Over the past 3 and a half years, I've been saving every penny that I could get my hands on for 681, but it doesn't look like that will be happening.
Anyways, I've talked enough. Thank you for all the kind words you all have said to me, maybe you'll be repaid when I become President.
~Adam Ross, Child School Bus Historian. |
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Thomasbus24
Administrator
USA
4547 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2017 : 05:30:38 AM
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Adam,
Very nice to have you here. As much as I hate to say this, this forum has very little activity anymore. Anytime I see a new name it excites me. Hopefully you'll stick around, it's nice to have some company! |
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thomas86_a
Top Member
USA
4413 Posts |
Posted - 10/07/2017 : 08:12:56 AM
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| Welcome to the forum, I don't remember reading this when it was originally posted but I am glad you brought the topic back and I love your enthusiasm for the industry! |
If you have an International, you NEED customer service. |
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Editorial - Not every child hates the school bus
