It was 101 degrees on our first day back to school and no, we don’t have air conditioning in the buses in Austin. The morning route was smooth and uneventful except for one minor glitch. My bus had a zebra sticker where there should have been a lion. It caused a little confusion but I promised the parents that I would have a lion sign by the afternoon so their kids wouldn’t be confused.

I put not one but two lion signs on the bus to make sure the kids knew where they were supposed to be. We made it through the afternoon but not without a hitch.Halfway through the elementary route a little girl named Violet asked me if I got to her stop yet. I pulled over and checked her paper and sure enough her stop was the first one. Just then the radio spoke up, “Base 6 to Jimmy Joe. Do you have a girl named Violet on your bus?” I said I did and that I would take her back to the school after I dropped off the other kids. We got to the school and I walked her inside to her very anxious mom. It set me back thirty minutes on my middle and high school routes but one mom’s relief and gratitude made it all worth it. Violet never got upset. I told her I was taking her to her mom at the school and she accepted it. As it turns out the school put her on the wrong bus route. I was very happy to get Violet back to her mom and a little sad that this cool little girl wouldn’t be riding my bus anymore.

Here’s the earliest School Bus News I could find until I get back home and dig my ancient Mac out of the closet. This one dates back to Dec. 5, 2001.

SCHOOL BUS NEWS:
Monday morning a darling little first grader boarded
my bus. I said,”I haven’t seen you in a long time.
Where have you been?” She replied, “I’ve been waking up
late and missing the bus. This morning I slept over my
alarm. I didn’t hear it go off. I didn’t even hear it
go on!”
We had one of those Texas weather surges last week.
We went from a mid 80’s muggy monday to a wednesday
that never got out of the 30’s. That next morning I
spent 15 minutes scraping ice off the winshield of the
bus with a clipboard. (We tend not to think about
things like ice scrapers this far south.) We
actually saw snowflakes for a little while, a rare
treat around here. I saw the effects of the recent
tornadoes yesterday. On my way to rehearsal with my band Stone
Waltz I saw a mobile home parked on its roof.

My ears were burning. That same third grade girl
you’ve read so much about was talking about me. I
asked what she was talking about. As she conferred
with her friends she blurted out, “No, it’s not about
Jimmy Joe marrying a cow!”
Thank goodness for that. I don’t even drink the milk.
Same girl, different day. She was expressing her
dislike for a boy on the bus. When asked why she
didn’t like him she said, “Because he sticks cheese up
his nose!”
Who can argue?

Peace,
Jimmy Joe