Mark and I were closing down after a three day Expo show. We plan to spend one more night so that we could take our time and pack up for the next two shows. It started raining and we saw three ladies walking across the field with an umbrella to a broken down bus.
We talked to them and found out that they were two mom's and an Ag teacher from Plant City, five hours from home with 30 (12 and 13 year old kids ) stranded at the Expo. The DOT had inspected their bus and declared it unsafe to drive. The owner of the bus, the inspector, two teenage boys and a mechanic were all there. The owner of the bus was trying to tell the teacher that the mechanic could sign off on the repairs and send them on there way with a big red sticker on the front of the bus declaring it unfit to drive.
The kids had been in a holding room with police officers trying to entertain them since 3:30. The owner knew about the problem at 10:00 a.m. and had not bother to inform anyone until time to load the bus. Things were going from bad to worse for these Colquitt county guest. Mark and I offered to go get food for the kids. They had been given water and snacks from the expo office who had been told a bus was coming soon and thought the problem was solved until Mark told them otherwise. Even though the owner said he had been trying to get a replacement bus since the morning , the expo office was able to secure a bus from Albany. It was suppose to be there in 45 minutes. This group had been told 45 minutes all day and were tired of hearing it.
I was very impressed by the young teacher( who had a 3 month old baby at home) for remaining calm, standing up to the bus owner and handling the kids so well. The Mother chaperons were hanging in there ... handling multiple phone calls from worried moms in south Florida. The kids.... They were great... There squealed in delight when the food finally arrived. One of them said a sweet prayer before eating. They sat around talking inside and played games out side, when the rain finally stopped. Mark tried to get them to say GO Dawgs.. but alas they were Gators. Kids will be kids, but these were well behaved AG students that handled their adventure like troopers.
The police officers, the state patrol and locals did all they could to help. We hugged them good bye as they finally loaded up on the new bus and headed home at 10:00 p.m... One of the Mom's text me that they made it home after 3:00 a.m., a tired group with a story to tell when they get back to school.
The bus was still there when Mark and I got up the next day with a very mad mechanic who showed up to fix it and a new driver to drive it home. The owner of the bus was no where to be found. The name on the bus was....Integrity..
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