The Church Bus in the Winter Storm
A 25-passenger shuttle bus, a brutal winter storm, semis sliding into ditches, and one long white-knuckle drive home that could have gone very differently.
This next one is the church bus winter storm story, which was pretty crazy.
I found this 25-passenger shuttle bus in Tennessee, near Knoxville, and I flew out there.
The bus itself was in fantastic shape. It really just needed an exterior refinish. The interior was immaculate. Everything was nice. It had lower miles. The church had used it sparingly, so all in all it was a very nice bus.
It was one of those vehicles where you know right away you found something good.
So I purchased the bus and started driving it home.
As I was driving home, it being wintertime, a huge winter storm rolled in. And I mean huge.
It hit me hard about two hours into the drive.
From that point on, I was basically white-knuckling it all the way home.
I saw at least eight semis go into ditches. Two of them right in front of me. Literally right in front of me.
It was nuts.
So I had a very wretched drive home from Tennessee, but thank God everything went well. I got home safely.
And then I found out something that made the whole trip even crazier.
When I stopped at a gas station near Indiana, I realized that one of the dually tires on the right rear was out. The inside one.
The whole time, I knew the bus didn’t feel totally stable, but I kept telling myself it was probably because of how bad the snow was.
Come to find out, I had literally been driving that bus on three wheels in the rear instead of four.
So grateful everything went well. So grateful I was watched over. So grateful I got home safely.
It turned out to be an amazing little bus.
We still have it in the fleet today.
Storm, semis, and three wheels
A bus in great shape, a brutal storm from Tennessee to Indiana, and a discovery at the end of the trip that made the whole drive even harder to believe.