First AM solo run

It was a successful run.  Got my kids to school on time with no troubles and no wrong turns.

(It is much easier to see where to stop when they are there waiting by the road)

I "pre-tripped" my runs on Friday, and meant to do the same on the weekend… but, I had clipped the run copies to my clipboard for the paper routes, and since I turn in the weekly daily paper drops on Saturday morning, I umm, pulled all the papers off the clipboard and put them in the box at the store where my route ends and didn’t have the paperwork all weekend.  I slept in most of Saturday, so I didn’t miss the route copies then, but on Sunday, I figured to drive the routes again and got all bent out of shape since I couldn’t find the route copies anywhere – not in my van, not at home, nowhere to be found.  I completly spaced putting them with my paper route sheets.

Doh!

So, I did the runs anyway on Sunday, from memory, and got them right, except for the last part of my middle school route, which I did today for the first time by myself.  I do get an ‘official" route book, so I just made the turns I needed to and got to my stops, and not a murmur out of the kids, who are really quick to notice a driver’s screw-ups.

Helpful.

It’s a full week of bus driving, but Monday and Tuesday next week are not driving days, although Tuesday is an all-hands meeting – a couple paid hours for something or other – mandatory staff meeting.

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No word, bad or good about the tyke I let off Thursday who didn’t know where her stop was, and nothing on the local news about a missing kidlet, so, whew, I guess it worked out.  Next time that happens, I know what to do.  (and, no parent getting in my face about her kid wandering the streets cuz of an idiot bus driver, double whew!)

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Oh, I did talk to the driver who honked at me as I made that wrong turn Thursday, and explained that I had a moment when I got mixed up – in the morning, off another street, I make a left turn to get to the elementary school, but in the afternoon, it’s a right turn off a totally different street.  I am "new guy" and that’s not unexpected, and the other driver wasn’t, like upset or disgusted – he honked to let me know I was going the wrong way. 

(which, of course, I figured out right after I made that turn, double doh!)

I dry-ran that particular route three times since I made that mistake, and have it down now – I won’t make that mistake again.

Thank god they cut us new guys some slack!

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Three hours till I have to be back, and my cat is demanding more food, while my bed over there sings a siren song. 

I’ll heed both.

It is another day and it’s upwards and onwards…but first, a nap.

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