well everyone knew it’d happen sooner or later. i think dave and i both were starting to believe that we might actually get back to florida without it happening. but alas…the dragon has came though in the crunch today and broke down. yup…we were crusin along I-10…we were about 30 miles away from arizona. i was taking a little summer siesta in the back. all of a sudden dave pulls over to the shoulder. the bus had downshifted unexpectidly and dave hit the gas and the bus acted like it was in neutral. he pulled over and before he was off the side of the road, the bus shut off. we tried to start it up again and just heard a slight winding noise. no start for us. a cop came by and just looked as us for a while while we tried to figure out what happened. we finally decided to call AAA. after 15 mins on hold we get to talk to the florida office for 3 minutes until they realize we are in california and need to be transfered to a california office…..here’s some high points of the phone call…

AAA…”what kind of vehicle do you have”
me…”it’s a 88 short bus that is half green and half yellow”
AAA…”um…ok…just give me the year, model, and make of the vehicle”
me…”it’s an 88 chevy Van 30 that is a retired small school bus”
AAA…”we don’t have Van 30…is it a 2500, 3500, or Astro”
me…”um…i guess a 3500….it’s a short school bus…you should be able to find it”
AAA…”what color is it?”
me…”the bottom half is green, the upper half is yellow”
AAA…”what is the license plate number”
(this is where i wanted to scream ‘if you can’t find a half green, half yellow short school bus in the desert…i don’t want your help’)

anyways…after 2 hours of waiting…a tow truck driver who couldn’t stop laughing about the bus….and finding out that we were actually only a mile away from not just one, but two prisons while on the side of the road, we are now in blythe, ca. AAA said ‘if the mechanic shows up tomorrow…he’ll look at it’…so we nabbed a hotel room and are hoping for the best. if the mechanic doesn’t see it tomorrow we will be here until at least monday. (jumps for joy). we figure it’s either the fuel pump, spark plugs, starter, or transmission that is acting up…if not that it’s possibly the breaks, frame, paintjob, or air freshiner. so the next few days should be interesting. yet again….what road trip in a short bus would be complete without being broken down in the desert!

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