Inactive blog. Read in reverse (oldest) post first for chronological order of posts

Sunday, December 31, 2006

Bronco fans everywhere

Block party fun... Broncos style

There has to be about 100 bronco fans to every sooner fan. It's great! Let's just hope that means we have the crowd advantage during the game.

Block Party Time

Time for a drink!

Why stop now?

So, we showered and jumped on the bus and headed towards to New Year's Eve block party in Tempe. On the way, the door on the engine compartment fell off and was dragging behind the bus. In trying to find a place to pull over, the driver took an exit and now is lost.

WE MADE IT! WE MADE IT!!

We are in our room. It doesn't smell, and we actually get a hot shower! We're off in a few minutes to the block party.

THE destination

There it is!!! Fiesta Bowl Mecca....

Look closely

Can you find the palm tree cell tower? Not something you would find in Boise......

It's not the destination...

.. It's the journey, someone once said. Well, I can agree with that, for the most part. Don't think I would apply that thought to this journey. We are about 50 miles outside of Phoenix, so everyone is quite upbeat and excited right now. We were able to see some wonderful scenery along the way.

Earlier this morning someone said, in reference to our troubles, that if the Broncos win, we will have forgotten about all of the problems that we dealt with to get here. Deep down, in some spiritual sense, you kind of wonder if maybe, by some how, all this that we dealt with will help the Broncos win... The football gods looking down on us.

But, for right now, for us, it IS the destination, not the journey..

Bus woes update

In talking with the new driver, it appears that the busted hose might have been the result of the median island the first bus driver ran over on our way out from Boise. He said that would explain why the heater didn't work in the bus on the way down. Also, in talking with Monte (one of the organizers of this, um, 'trip') was following the bus in a van said that we hit it hard enough that sparks shot out from under the bus. Sounds like we were lucky that there wasn't any more damage than there was. Guess the driver didn't SEE the median island...

And, as I write this, a car cut in front if us and driver #4 had to slam on the brakes to avoid rear ending the car. Oh well, I'll just smile as best I can, look out the window and enjoy the scenery. I think I should have gone to church today.....

It's Alive!!!

The bus lives! Its about noon now and we are loading up for the 'hopefully' 5 hour trip to Phoenix

"By the time I get to Phoenix"

... Glen Campbell is with us in spirit.

Bus is repaired and we'll be leaving soon. The bus company flew the operations manager down to Vegas and will be driving us the rest of this 'adventure'. So, looks like we should get in to Phoenix around 5:00 (fingers crossed)

We're on the threshhold of hell

We are still waiting for the bus. Last update was that they are trying to find a replacement hose and hopefully by 1:00 the bus will be ready to go. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Chevy Chase showed up telling us that the Fiesta Bowl is closed.

At least we have our health

Surprisingly enough, a bit good new is that it looks like the bus is operational once again. Now, its just whether we can make it the 5 hours to Phoenix without some other bizzare thing happening to us.

Fresh start to a new day

Our shower in our hotel room doesn't work. Won't turn on. Maintenance person came up and replaced the knob. Shower turns on now, but will only run cold water. Barb went back down to the front desk and they gave her a key to a different room in order to shower, but the key doesn't work. Looks like a cold shower for us.

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Stuck....

Well, the bus is high centered in the hotel parking lot. In trying to get it out, a belt broke. So, we are now seriously having to consider a rental car for tomorrow to get from Laughlin to Phoenix. Questionable whether the bus will be running tomorrow, and I am not missing the game (or spending new years eve in Laughlin, for that matter. My positive mood is quickly going away....

National Lampoon's Fiesta Bowl Vacation

We have made it to Laughlin.... Albeit, 3 or so hours late.... I am going to bed.

Elvis has just left the building...

We have made it to Vegas with the new driver.... Three hours later than we should be. Turns out the previous MIA driver in Ely called the bus company an hour after we left complaining that we left her there... That was after waiting for almost an hour in Ely for her after she bolted off the bus.

In hindsight, we aren't really surprised that she did something like this. In Twin Falls, she was supposed to take over driving and refused to cause she was sick. After about 45 minutes she finally agreed to drive, only to find out she really didn't know how to operate the bus. All this after the first thing she told us when she got on the bus was that she had to drive her car in reverse from Jerome to Twin Falls because her transmission was out.

I guess the important thing is that we are alive..... Ahem.

Backup plan

Well, the driver never showed back up. So, we are without a driver. Turns out we have someone on the bus that drove buses for 20 years. So, the organizer of this 'adventure' called the bus company and they gave the OK for this guy to drive us to Vegas. We were supposed to get a new driver in Vegas anyways. But, hey, after 10 hours we have made it 380 miles.... Better than walking!

I hear Ely's nice this time of year...

So..... While we were stopped to eat, the bus driver was supposed to get the bus fueled up. We waited around for they bus to show up. After awhile, the bus showed up, only to find out that she doesn't have a gas card to fuel up the bus. So, here we sit in Ely, on a bus with no gas. On top of that, it now appears that the bus driver has disappeared.. No one can find her.

Ely lunch stop

Made it to Ely, NV. Everyone 'poured' out of the bus in search of food to soak up the alcohol, then back on the road. Everyone is having a good time at this point, although, the bus is out of vodka....

Wells, Nevada.. It could be worse...

Made it to Wells, NV. Things could be worse. We stopped for a bathroom break and talked to some Bronco fans driving down to the game. Turns out they were on a charter bus that left last night and blew a tire outside of Mtn Home. Replaced the tire, then blew another one. After 3 tires, he called his brother and had him pick him up. They rented a car first thing this morning and are now driving down. He said that the bus didn't get going again until 4:00 this morning. Things could be worse!!

Houston, we have a problem

Bus driver turned the heater on and the bus died.... The good news is that turning the heater back off allowed the bus to run again.... Good thing we brought blankets!

Also, looks like we are going down through Nevada instead of the freeway through Utah.... Hmmmm, makes for a longer trip.... Grrrrr...

Buck up Soldier

The sick bus driver decided to stick it out and drive. So, we are back on the road

Bump in the road

We were supposed to change bus drivers in Twin Falls, but it appears the replacement driver is sick. We have been sitting here for almost an hour now.

On our way

Its early Saturday morning, bus is here and we're ready to go!

Friday, December 29, 2006

15 hours and counting....

Heading home to pack. Looks like people are starting to hit the road to Arizona. Saw a couple cars heading down the freeway with signs that they are on their way to the Fiesta Bowl.