About That Bus That Didn't Make it to Wednesday's Gubernatorial Forum
As twenty-two enthusiastic supporters of the environment settled into their seats on the 4:45 Express Bus for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters Gubernatorial Forum being held Central Michigan University, our Bus Captain and LCV Board Member, Fran Alexander, was busy making sure that all aboard had a beer, pizza and carrots to enjoy.
Simultaneously our driver, Bill, deftly maneuvered the fifty-foot monster through Ann Arbor’s rush hour traffic on our way to US-23 north toward Mount Pleasant.
Little did we know that our evening would take a dramatic turn in an unexpected direction.
Somewhere between Brighton and Holly, and after Fran had administered the environmental quiz that taught us all that Asian carp can weigh as much as a fourth-grader, we heard a sound from underneath the bus that can only be described as a very large person swinging a very large baseball bat at the bus’ undercarriage.
Then, there was a rhythmic thumping sound that also mimicked the aforementioned big bat. But the bus kept moving forward so, for a very brief moment, we insanely thought (or hoped) we might be OK. Then, the bus started to slow down a bit. And, then, the bus started to move over into the breakdown lane. Finally, the bus stopped and silence filled the cabin.
After a few more seconds of denial, we realized that something had gone very wrong.
A brief field inspection of the bus mechanicals by our driver confirmed our worst fear: This particular bus was not going to take us to Mount Pleasant that evening.
A call to the bus company provided some assurance that a replacement bus would be sent to our location. But, with an hour and a half to “game time,” and at least an hour of driving to go, we were skeptical that a Grand Blanc-based replacement bus would get us to our destination in time.
We were hesitant to call our likely highly frazzled team already in situ up in Mount Pleasant, since we did not want to add to their burdens, but eventually we figured that our absence would probably be more troubling than the truth, so the call was placed and the news of our predicament was shared.
With newly found time on our hands, we started to conjure our Plan B. Fortunately, the bus had a FM radio and after a few minutes of fiddling, we were able to tune it to WUOM at 91.7 FM, one of the forum sponsors. We knew at that point that everything would be all right and we would not miss hearing the forum.
Safe in the knowledge that all was again right in the universe, we promptly returned to our beers, pizza and jocularity eagerly awaiting the arrival of 7 p.m. and the start of the forum.
Not so easy. Another unexpected event occurred, which changed our plans again.
An empty bus from the same charter company we were using just happened to be driving home northbound on US-23. Spotting us stranded on the side of the road, the driver stopped to investigate.
Since it was now nearly 6:30 and we had no hope of getting to Mount Pleasant in time, we decided to use the replacement bus to get back to Ann Arbor. Fortunately for all of us, one of the riders, Bruce Wallace (who also happens to be an LCV Board Member) graciously invited us all over to his home to listen to the forum on the radio, with the chance that he could also get a live video stream on his home theater system.
So off to Bruce’s house we went.
Our driver, Bill, adeptly maneuvered the big bus through the side streets in Barton Hills and even managed to back the bus into Bruce’s narrow driveway without incident. (Our luck was clearly changing and things were looking up).
We all hurried into the house carrying the pizza, beer, pop and such, and settled in the living room eagerly waiting for the start of the forum. We had arrived minutes before 7 p.m., with just enough time to tune the FM radio in to hear the moderator announce the start of the forum. What an adventure.
And what a forum. Great work Michigan LCV Ed Fund.
You can listen to the forum online at the Michigan Radio site.
--- By Robert Martel, Board President.
