The Trouble With Bumblebee

Last Thursday, November 14, was the long-awaited “Winter Jam” here in Boise. Winter Jam is an annual traveling music tour that started in 1995 by the Christian group Newsong. Each year, it boasts some of the top Christian bands and is always a remarkable success. Take a look!

http://west.jamtour.com/

The Gem State kids are used to attending each fall, and talked it up enough to me to also anticipate the night of music. It was a LOUD concert venue full of energy and ministry; there were several breaks for speakers and brief interludes for fundraising and offerings. I personally favored David Crowder, Tenth Avenue North, and the Newsboys finale.

Michael Tait of the Newsboys rides in a lift around Boise's Taco Bell Arena during the concert's finale.

Winter Jam ended around 11:30pm. I considered it nothing short of a miracle that every one of our students found their way back to the buses within a reasonable 15 minutes. I was so impressed: we’d just set them free inside the giant Taco Bell Arena for the evening?! They stayed together in groups, and to their credit, they are by and large a very respectable and well-behaved bunch.

I thought all the potential for catastrophe was behind us as we started to motor back home in our two-bus caravan; Dean Fitting drove the white minibus with half the group, and Tommy followed with the rest in the little yellow schoolbus, affectionately known to us as the “Bumblebee.”

Let me note that on our way out of Caldwell, we had already delayed for nearly 45 minutes at a local Auto Parts on behalf of the dear Bumblebee, because barely down the road we discovered that a headlight was out.  Rather than risk a run-in with the law and a hefty ticket, we opted for a quick replacement. That took forever. I sat in the back of the white bus and listened to teenage conversations, periodically reminding, sweetly, “A dean is on-board.”  It was hard to patiently endure the hoards of traffic after that long stop. When we finally got to Winter Jam, we were lucky to find some bus parking close to the entrance! Another reason we never expected the evening to produce any more troubles.

Back to our drive home: Tommy called Fitting to report a “squirrelly” nature of steering, manifesting on the Bumblebee’s right side… We pulled off at the nearest exit to investigate. After a walk-around, the guys decided there wasn’t an apparent problem, and figured we could probably make it the remaining 25 minutes home. Back on the freeway. A few miles down the road, another call, and another pull-off, this time in the St. Luke’s hospital parking lot. More scratching of heads, and skeptical shrugs. From the inside of the buses, the students were weary and getting annoyed at the frequent stops. We traded drivers. It was nearing midnight.

You know what they say, ‘Third stop is the charm’: Just a couple exits down the road, the Bumblebee required more attention. This time we could see that the right rear tire was badly deformed and FLAT. Too bad we didn’t have the streaming bright lights from the hospital illuminating our repair zone at this roadside. Several of our most capable boys bundled up and headed out to help jack the bus and change the tire. Everyone from the Bumblebee piled onto the white bus to lighten the load, and soon all the kids were cozily piled high on the seats, sleepy, cranky, and laughing at the situation (for the most part). There were even kids lying out under the seats on the floor, snuggled together for warmth. 

Tommy and Fitting assess the flat tire.

Waiting it out on the white bus!

A friendly police officer pulled up behind us with his lights blaring. He shook friendly hands and even asked if we’d prayed about this yet? Having nothing more to contribute in terms of manual labor (we got it covered!), he soon left us. 

Those of us on the bus took turns periodically pressing the button to open the doors and get updates coming from the outside. Night times in Idaho have turned freezing cold recently, and I felt badly for our valiant workers out in the chill.

Just passing the time.

"I have some good news... and some better news."

About 12:30am, Tommy boarded with “good news and better news,” pointing out that we should feel very fortunate that this didn’t happen on the way to the concert; also, we should be expecting a tow-truck to arrive in the next 10 minutes to help us jack the bus up high enough for the spare tire—our own jack wasn’t large enough, though we’d been trying. Joy.

Of course the predicted ten minutes turned into another half-hour before assistance arrived, and even after the tow truck came on the scene, you can bet it took another while to mount the tire… we remained civil with each other and as cheerful as possible!

We returned to the Academy at a chipper 1:30am. The kids shuffled off to bed to grasp at the fleeting 6.5 hours of sleep available to them before Friday school hours were upon us all.

Contrary to popular opinion, we will probably continue to use the Bumblebee all the way through its last legs.