Adventure! (Of the School Bus in a Snow Storm Variety)

The thing is, I actually enjoy speech meets themselves. I like the work I do there (most of the time), and I appreciate what they do for my students.

What I hate are the bus rides. The long rides in straight-backed seats made for kindergardeners so I have to sit sideways in to fit my grown-up legs. I (and my back) hate it.

This particular meet today is one of the better ones. At 2.5 hours, the drive is one of the shortest. It's to the east, so most of the drive is long, straight, prairie freeway. And, best of all, it's a half-meet, so we're always out by 3 (just 8 hours!).

Unless a snowstorm hits. Then we crawl at 10 miles per hour down those long, straight prairie roads while semis pass us, their back ends fish tailing as they go by. Then we stop at a gas station in the middle of nowhere because our poor driver has a leg cramp from keeping us from sliding and discover the gas station, despite the signage on their door, not only treated the 19 teenagers descending suddenly upon them with nothing but friendliness, but offers us a giant trash bag because they figure we'd need it. Then we get to Denver just in time for rush hour on Friday night. Then I remember how much I hate riding a school bus, but how glad I am that I am not the driver.