School Bus Memories

It's school time once again, and actually has been for the last few weeks. I'm running a little behind on posts.

Anyway, it's school time once again, and school buses are on the streets. This isn't one of those PSAs to advise you to watch for kids. It's just a lead-in for one of my latest finds.

I went to at an estate sale of a former bus driver for a local elementary school last weekend. There were lots of items that had clearly been given to him by his passengers through the years. One that caught my eye was this Toy Bus Animal Crackers box.

As a kid, I was always a sucker for any food containers that could be converted to toys, even if that wasn't their original intention. Short tangent: In 2nd grade, I made a space ship out of one of those school milk cartons (okay, it really didn't look like a space ship. Use your imagination here). As I was playing with it outside at recess, the principal saw me and walked over. I explained I'd made it into a space ship. He told me not to play with trash, took it away, and then threw it down the hill of the playground.

Anyway, back to the Animal Crackers.

The opposite side of the bus is identical giving the impression this is some sort of Noah's Ark bus and there are two of each kind (4 monkeys. You always need more monkeys).

The bus driver's nickname was "Bud".

The copyright is 1964, but the UPC code is a giveaway that the box is no older than the '70's. I do like the offer for the toy Spring Propelled Rocket (complete with plastic triggering) for 25 cents.

And yes, the cookies/crackers are still in there.

Dairy State Foods has been in business since 1944 and are still around and still sell Toy Bus Animal Crackers.

Ingredient list for the curious.

As a kid, I always wished I could walk to school like I saw kids on TV do. And it wouldn't have been that far of a walk as my elementary school was probably no more than a 1/2 mile from my house. But bus service was provided and I rode.

I have a mixed bag of school bus memories. In kindergarten, I had 1/2 day classes (mornings), so all of the kindergarten students rode home on the same bus, so I got to see where everyone lived. It was fun riding down streets I'd never been down before (something I enjoy doing to this day) and seeing all of my fellow students' homes.

In my Junior High years (now know as "Middle School"), I was the first picked up so I had my choice of seats. It also meant I was one of the last to get off. One year in high school, I was the last to be picked up. Often, the bus was full so I had to endure the "Forrest Gump" walk of shame down the aisle hoping for charitable riders that didn't mind 3 in a seat (there were none).

Later in high school, I became friends with some of the girl upperclassmen who drove down my street to school. If they saw me, they would stop and pick me up (a thrill for me, obviously). The problem was, sometimes they were late. This particular year, the bus actually came up my street first, then back down on the way to school, so I had the option of getting on the bus on the way or on the way back. Although, it really wasn't an option. If the bus driver saw me on the way up the street, she would stop and make me get on ("I'm not stopping again."). So my "ingenius" plan was, if I saw the bus coming up the street, I would run and hide behind my mom's car so it would go by, with hopes the girls would drive by and pick me up, and if they didn't, I could just catch the bus on the way back. This went on for weeks and I thought was pretty darn smart for working the system. That is until the day I got on the bus and the girl that lived down the street from me said, "You know, we see you hiding every day..."

Did you ride a bus to school? What memories do you have?