Tag Archives: school bus

Robocars, Cave Crystals, and The Return of InvisiBob

A few years back we were told to open the door at bus stops even if no one was there waiting for the bus. The GPS tracks the bus route and marks where and when the service door is opened. If there’s a question about whether the driver made a stop at the right time, the supervisor can view the route and stops on the computer.

I began opening my door at all the stops. At one stop, a student asked me why I always opened the door when no one ever got on the bus there.

I said, “There’s an invisible boy at this stop.”

Just then, a girl said, “His name is Bob. Bob, you can sit with me.” She moved over to make room for the invisible Bob. We shortened his name to InvisiBob.

Every morning at that bus stop, the kids would say, “Good morning, InvisiBob!” Sometimes we could almost hear his dog InvisiBubba whimper as Bob got on the bus.

Fast forward a number of years to a new route, new kids, new bus, same wacky bus driver, similar scenario.

A child asked me why I stopped at the empty bus stop.

I said, “We just picked up an invisible boy. His name is InvisiBob. Say hi to InvisiBob.”

The kids said, ”Hi, InvisiBob!”

And so it went. InvisiBob became part of our morning routine.

After a while, the unused stops are dropped from the route. Before we got to that point, I told the kids that InvisiBob would soon be transferring to the InvisiBus.

The next day, as we approached the stop, I asked, “Can anyone see InvisiBob?”

One student replied, “No, but I see InvisiJimmy.”

I was intrigued.

“Oh? Who is InvisiJimmy?”, I asked.

The child said, “She’s InvisiBob’s girlfriend.”

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If you’ve driven in Austin lately, you’d see that there are way more Waymo self driving robocars than I care to count. When they first came around a couple of years ago, they snarled traffic, stopped in the road for no reason, and generally made nuisances of themselves. They were removed from the road (Yay!) only to return some time later. It seems they’ve ironed out the bugs. They stop and go when they’re supposed to, and they even use turn signals. AND… They stop for school buses!!! That’s more than I can say for many human drivers out there. People, take note. You can learn from these weird machines. Next time I see one waiting for me to extinguish my loading lights, I’ll tell the kids, “InvisiBob got his license. He’s driving that white car! Wave to InvisiBob!”

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Raylin was a 4 year old pre-K student on my route a few years ago. She would sometimes get very cranky in the afternoon, refusing to get on the bus. Her older brother would often pick her up kicking and screaming, and put her in the seat.

One afternoon, Raylin was extra grumpy. Her substitute teacher was losing patience with her. I said, “Leave her here. We’ll be okay. “

I picked up Charlie, my trusty old guitar, and played an upbeat bluesy rhythm. I sang, “Raylin, getting on the bus. Raylin, getting on the bus. Raylin, getting on the bus. Raylin, gonna ride with us.”

Raylin’s frown started to turn upside down. I kept singing. Raylin put one foot on the bottom step. I sang some more. Raylin slowly climbed the steps and even cracked half a smile. I sang until she sat down and left the grumpies behind. The kid had a great smile.

Last year, I had two siblings on my high school route. Their stop was near Raylin’s school. I saw the resemblance in their faces. One day I asked them if Raylin was their sister. They looked at me and said, “How did you know that?” I told them what I just told you.

They said, “Yeah, she’s mean right after she wakes up.”

A few months ago I had a field trip to Inner Space Cavern. Did I mention that I love field trips? I picked up a group of second graders from Raylin’s school. I saw a familiar face, but I couldn’t be sure. Three years had passed, and young kids do a lot of growing in that time.

Was the adorable girl with the radiant smile Raylin? I had my doubts. This girl was all smiles and hugs and holding her friend’s hand.

We arrived at the Cavern and I did what I always do on field trips. I parked the bus and caught up with my group to explore with them.

As we were boarding the bus to return to school, I asked the teacher if the girl three rows back was Raylin. It was her!

I said, “Raylin, do you remember me?”

She said, “No. (pause) You look different.”

It occurred to me that she rode my bus in pandemic times when we all wore masks. Everyone looked different in full face.

I picked up Charlie and sang, “Raylin, getting on the bus…”

Raylin’s smile lit up the bus.

At a red light on our drive back to school, a boy in the front seat put his hand out and said, “This is from Raylin.”

The boy dropped a small crystal in my hand. Outside the cavern, the kids go panning for gems. Raylin gifted me her crystal. What a sweet, beautiful gesture.

On my high school route, I told Raylin’s siblings about the field trip and the gift. I gave them a copy of my book Ellen’s Ride to pass along to Raylin. They reported back that she loved the book.

And I’m reporting to you that I love my job.

Peace,

Jimmy Joe

aka: Mr. Bus Driver Man Sir

Ellen’s Ride – the Song, the Book, the Inspiration

Artwork by Darrin Kobetich

I’d like to introduce you to Ellen, the young lady who inspired my song and subsequent book, Ellen’s Ride.

Many years ago, I fired up my bus for the first day of school. I picked up just one child that day, a little girl named Ellen, who was waiting for the bus to take her to her first day of Kindergarten. I made all the stops on my list, but there were no other children. For the next three years, Ellen was my only morning passenger for that school. We had fun on our trip to school. We used our imaginations to enhance the route. Every street had a magical name or story or mythical creature. No matter how silly and outlandish my ideas were, Ellen rolled with them and added her own magic.

Ellen waits for the bus on her first day of kindergarten

Here’s an example of a typical conversation on our ride to school.

Me: “Where do you want to go today, Ellen?”

Ellen: “Mt. Everest!”

Me: “Mt. Everest is cold this time of year and the air is thin. Make sure you have your oxygen tank and mittens!”

Ellen: “Got ‘em!”

Me: “It takes a long time to get to the top, so we have to go real fast coming down the other side to get to school on time, so buckle up!”

Ellen: “Done!”

In the cafetorium at Ellen’s school where I was performing a lunchtime concert

I wrote a song called Ellen’s Ride, based on the route filtered through our imaginations. I presented a rough recording of a rough performance of the song on a CD to Ellen and her mom on Ellen’s tenth birthday. As we listened to it, Ellen’s mom asked Ellen if she knew the places in the song. Ellen said, “Yeah, Mom, that’s our bus route.”

Some time after that, I got the idea to add illustrations to the song, and create a picture book for children. I enlisted the help of my good friend Darrin Kobetich, a very talented guitarist and graphic artist. It was as if he pulled the images out of my head and made them real. Neither of us had ever made a book before. The process seemed far more involved and challenging than recording music and making a CD, so the project sat on a shelf for a very long time.

A few months ago, I was invited to Ellen’s college graduation party. Where had the time gone?!

I asked Darrin if we could get a hard copy by the party date. I really wanted to give Ellen the first copy for her graduation. Darrin worked hard on the formatting and other details that were needed to make it happen. He got us over the hump, and I was able to present the new book to Ellen, and play the song for her and her family and friends.

I feel very fortunate to have made this lasting connection with Ellen and her wonderful family.

Now we’re getting ready to release the book Ellen’s Ride to the world on Oct 5. We’re planning a Book Launch in Austin, where you get to meet the author and the illustrator. Darrin and I will do a musical performance and book signing.

I’m very excited to start this new chapter (pun intended.)

I’m looking forward to working more with Darrin. I have a few songs in mind that would make great picture books.

Ellen’s college graduation party 2024

25 Years Later

I received my 25 years of Service pin. That’s right, I’ve been a school bus driver for a quarter of a century. I’d like to talk about what led me to become a school bus driver as the last century was coming to a close.

I moved to Austin in 1995 when I was 26 years old. I had a few guitars, an amp, some books and clothes, and a cat named Wendyl. I packed everything, including Wendyl, into The Beast, my 1969 Ford Econoline van, and drove down to Austin. Seeing the Austin City Limit sign felt like coming home to a place I’d never been.

I worked a bunch of temp jobs until I was hired by Kamico, a small family owned business that created educational books. My duties included running the Xerox, binding books, and spending time with the owners’ infant son. I would walk him around the block and sing to him.

The business was growing. We moved from the house into a commercial building. The new growth and rules were not a good fit for me and I was getting real grumpy. The owner, Kathy, offered me a great exit. She paid me to write music for some audio stories in exchange for my resignation. I jumped on it and dove into it. Kathy even bought me a keyboard to help with composing.

As my writing contract was coming to an end, I joined a country band. It was a new experience. I had to learn fifty songs in a week. We played regional and road gigs. The road gigs were usually about two weeks on and a week or two off. It was fun and a great learning experience, but I wasn’t earning enough to cover my expenses. I worked a plethora of odd jobs. I built playscapes, fixed cars, installed floors, moved furniture. I bought a broken carpet cleaning machine at a garage sale for $10. I fixed it and cleaned carpets. I eventually traded it for recording time in a studio. I delivered lunches for a summer youth program. I usually had a teenage helper ride with me, so I got to hear what was going on in the local scene. That was a good job, but it was only for the summer. I also picked up some work writing and arranging music, but it wasn’t enough.

I turned 30 in 1998. I was tired of hustling random music and non-music gigs. I was putting way too much energy into the non-music work. I needed a day job.

I scoured the newspapers (newspapers were like web pages, but made from dead trees.)

I called about and/or applied for ten different jobs in ten different fields. I had experience in all of them. I was also not excited about any of them. On one call back, I was asked if I was looking to grow with the company. I said, “No, I’m just looking for a job to support my music habit.”

I continued scrolling until one ad jumped out at me: ‘School Bus Drivers Needed. Paid training and CDL.’ For the first time in my job search, I was excited! My trainer was a very kind soul named Doris. Same name as my mom, but pronounced differently. We joked about that. When I was getting ready for a trip to see my folks, my trainer would say, “Tell Dah-ris that Dooris says hello!”

My first day driving the bus was a doozy. We had torrential rains and some flooding around town. I couldn’t get enough of it. With Doris as my passenger, I drove to the farmlands of far southeast Austin to the hills of northwest Austin, up steep hills, and through a temporary river that ran across the road. That was before I knew you weren’t supposed to do that. Oops!

I learned to drive in a full size Chevy van and my daily driver was a full size Ford van. The school bus felt like an extension of those vans, but with better mirrors. I didn’t need help with maneuvering or parallel parking. It just came naturally. When they sent me out on my own route, it was frightening and fun. I loved transporting and interacting with children.

Twenty five years later, I still love my job. I love how my two worlds have intertwined over the years; each one influencing the other. I became a writer and performer of children’s music known as Mr. Bus Driver Man Sir. I’m soon to become a published author of a children’s book.

I’ve performed at many schools and children’s programs. My guitar, Charlie, comes to work with me every day. I play in the afternoon when kids are boarding the bus and on field trips.

Twenty five years ago I just wanted a job that was fun and paid the bills. Twenty five years later I’m grateful for the benefits and retirement plan. I’m fortunate to have had thousands of kids pass through my life. Some were challenging, many were quiet and kept to themselves. I was that kid. Many kids were bursting with energy and excitement. Many had wild, vivid imaginations. I think I’m still that kid. All have contributed to me being the person I am today. And I think I’m a pretty good person today.

I may be eligible to retire but I’m planning to stick around for a while. It’s still a fun job that pays the bills.

peace,

-Mr. Bus Driver Man Sir