Citrus Bowl Trip Day 1
A message from Mr. Palange!
After a really early morning send off
the caravan of Kemp's buses began their trek South to warmer
sunnier climates! After many hours of driving through early morning
fog.
The first rest stop rush to bathroom break took place about 8:30.
Bus two, with Mr. P and Mrs. Bartholomew on board had eagerly begun working on the annual pit/percussion scavenger hunt, the Quest of Quadisius.They were desperately trying to remember the words to the 2nd verse of the Gilligan's Island them song and had just stopped for lunch at 12:30 at that fabulous internationally known Scottish restaurant .. McDonalds! Kids were "quiet for the early morning hours" They then popped in Pirates of the Caribbean into the video player around 11 am. They had also heard a fabulously illustrated children's story entitled "Mr. P and the Florida Gators." Their bus driver was named Jeremy.
(Little did they know
of Ms. Sweeting's secret trip plan .. photographing the entire band
wearing pirate
eye patches in front of the Disney Pirate's at the Magic Kingdom ... Can it be
done? ..
Let's just say the eye patches have been packed!)
Bus One was watching a very
loud movie at last report...and it was difficult talking to them.
At 1 pm they were about a half hour from Hagerstown Md. after having lunch
at Wendy's.
Bus three, headed by the Shrubbery Queens, Mrs. Bosco. Latulip, and Lombardo, reports that the kids were quiet most of the morning. They sampled some fabulous Burger King cusine.. The creative crowd on this bus had already begun decorating their windows with an art gallery and had passed a few horse and buggies along the Pennsylvania roads.
Check back after dinner for another update
Dinner time - update
At 6:30 pm the buses were
still on the road. They had taken a 5:30 bathroom break in Northern Virginia and
were going to
put off dinner until about 8 pm. They were somewhere between Virginia and North
Carolina and had seen their first "South of the Border" billboard.
Bus one, led by Mr. Defren
was "quiet"...Their DVD player had sound but not pictures ...just like radio
back in the 30's.
David R. was reportedly hard at work on the Quest and had racked up many points
already in an effort to best the experienced reigning champion team on bus 2,
Ali F and Erin B.
Bus two ... was antisocial and not answering their phones at 6:30 .. They must be conserving their cell phone batteries.. either that or they were lost in the "North Carolina Triangle" of bad cell phone reception.
At 6:30 pm bus three is
clearly emerging as the bus that is having fun! Their art gallery has
expanded to include such classic paintings as "crazy bunnies", "Donald Duck with
bloodshot eyes from getting up so early", "Soduko" and many freehand drawings.
They have played one of the games, continue Questing, and have watched the
Office on the DVD player which had a bad picture..
Steve K has emerged as the Steward of the bus .. collecting bags of garbage in
an effort to keep the bus clean. You go Steve! Is he passing out
peanuts too? The bus had also whipped out the "Tide to go" pen after a traumatic
cookie dough bite melting incident on Shanli's blanket. Thankfully,
Heather was discouraged strongly from finding out if crayons are really
non-toxic...
8:30 pm update
Bus one has been contacted. All buses have
stopped for Dinner at Burger King in North Carolina.
Everyone is hungry and happy!They have a new bus driver named Chuck, who doesn't
like to use cruise control, and are eagerly awaiting their change to our regular
and old favorite bus drivers, including Sam! (They change drivers again in
5 hours) We've had Sam on our trips for several years. He's great!
Their DVD player only has sound on one side of the bus so the other side of the
bus is learning to lip read
and make up plots to the movies.
Friday 28th update
We arrived safely in Florida and after lunch
at Cocoa Beach and a trip to Ron Jon's surf shop checked into the hotel..
Followed by practice...and finally showers.. Kids all cleaned up well in time
for Dinner at
Midieval Times ..which was a lot like the Renaissance Fair.
Some picture from our day on the next page.. and from the bus trip!