> Does anyone *not* have a "we broke down on
> the way to/home from summer/winter
> camp/retreat/vacation" story?
>
> No...everyone has a story like that, and here's mine: :)

My church always had an annual youth group ski trip. We would take a bus from Dallas to Colorado with a minimal amount of stops. I went on this excursion four years in a row, and with the last year being the exception, there were mechanical problems every time.

Year One: Somewhere between Abilene and Lubbock, the head gasket decided that it didn't want to be part of the engine anymore. Thankfully, we were not very far from a little town and managed to get the bus to a repair shop. Hours and hours later we were finally back on the road and headed to Colorado. I promised myself I would never again take another trip in that stupid bus.

Year Two: I board the same stupid bus at some ridiculous hour in the morning...grumbling the whole time about how if the bus breaks down again I am never, ever again going on another church trip.

This time the bus breaks down just outside of Lubbock (hurrah! we made it 150 more miles than we did last year! hurrah!). There was much rejoicing as the bus managed to break down right next to several fast-food restaurants. Hours pass, and we are once again on our way.

I tell my friends that that was the last straw. I love skiing, and I love the people in the youth group, but I will never, never, ever again set foot on that accursed bus.

Year Three: I set foot on the bus at an even earlier hour in the morning than the previous year. I guess the church figured that starting earlier would allow for the bus breaking down, and when, err...if, that happened; we'd still get to Colorado on time.

This time we make it all the way to New Mexico before breaking down, which was both good and bad. Good in the sense that we were in a decent sized town and the repairs went quickly, and bad in the sense that our crossing the state line caused me to lose a bet. I swore that that was without a doubt, the very last time I would ever, ever, ever ride in that bus again.

Year Four: My plane touches down in Denver at 3:00 p.m. My friend and I get off feeling rather refreshed. We had been bumped up to first class thanks to some family connections and had a very relaxing flight. We arrive at the hotel in Breckenridge a few hours ahead of the church group. When they finally arrived, they looked miserable. The bus had broken down about an hour after they had left (btw...I won my money back from the previous year upon hearing this news), but was repaired rather quickly. The worse thing was that fumes of some sort had gotten into the cabin and they were forced to go the last two hours with every window down. Just to hammer this image home, imagine yourself in a bus travelling 60mph, with every window down, while it's snowing, and the temperature is a balmy 10 degrees. Funny....nobody really wanted to hear about my flight.

A few months later the old church bus was finally laid to rest. The church, and some of its more well-to-do members, bought a much newer bus for the youth group to use. That was in 1987. They are still using that bus. It breaks down almost every time they go on a trip now.

Kel"that may be my longest post ever"ly