Home on Sunday

Sam got in at 02:30am this morning, it turned out to be one of those trips, you just want to forget, Got the kids down to Rolla MO. okay, Then because it was a nice day and warm I shut the bus down for the stay at the college field. Bad idea, About a half hour before we were to leave I went to fire it up again, and there was nothing , turned the master switch on, no dash lights or relay clicking no nothing, So I went to open the access door for the batteries, Did I mention the VanHool busses have a special tool like a big square peg screwdriver to open some of the access doors, No tool, it had been removed by someone from the bus, I finally got my Fence repair pliers out of my bag and one of the blades got the door open, I found the 12volt cable that is connected in the 24 volt setup to have either broken or melted off the bolt on the terminal. Luckily there was another bus there and that driver held the cable against the post till I got the bus started, Drove it back to Kirksville without trouble, but after dropping off the kids, I went to fill with fuel and while I was fueling an orange light on the dash came on that said Lo Batt. Now what, so I shut down the Heating and A/C hoping that without any extra electrical drain I could make it back the 90 miles to the terminal, well I made it except for the last few miles when the lights started to dim and look very yellow instead of bright, Then to top it off just as I turned into the lot I heard a rumbling sound from the back of the bus and as I backed it in to the spot, smoke started coming from the engine compartment, no fire , but evidently as I pulled in the A/C compressor, which was off at the time, had its clutch seize and that melted and broke the belts, cooled everything down with water and called the boss and gave him the bad news,These compressors are huge and they cost big bucks to fix. So I finally was able to get in my truck and head home. Got my usual Hi Dad, Hi Dad. from Rigg’s , all I could hear from the rest of the family was snoring. Anyway I need a rest and then the dreaded shopping trip to the grocery store, The Emergency Low Food warning light came on on the refrigerator, I hit the reset button  to silence the klaxon horn, but the light won’t go out till food is put in. When I was younger I used to call it the Emergency Low Beer warning light, but those days are gone. Hey everyone be safe out there, Rigg’s says hi to you all too. Sam & Donna.