The wheels on the bus go round and round

     When Katie gets back from Cedar City I am going to ask her what songs they sang on the bus today. She left with others this morning to go to Cedar and do some shopping. Once a month the short bus goes to Cedar City. That’s what the senior citizens bus is called here. It costs 7 dollars to ride the short bus to Cedar. They stop at Walmart and Deseret Industries to let everyone shop. They stop at Sizzler for lunch and have a steak or a salad. It takes most of the day, to make the trip. The short bus only holds a few people, but that’s ok, not many make the trip. 

Our options for shopping are limited here, so we are forced to leave the valley and do our shopping out of town. I make a trip once a month or so myself to do some shopping and eating. It is a change of pace and a chance to stock up on some food.

I went to the local store owners last summer and made some suggestions that I thought would help. Money leaves this valley each month, from people like me who are not able to find the items we need. I added my monthly amount and multiplied it by the population. By my figures, it came to big dollars. I calculated that several million dollars each year leave this community to shop in the city’s stores. I passed this on to the owners but they like things the way they are. Some of the rest of us do not.

Competition. That is what we need. I have talked to money people and they agree. Plans are being put together to change the way things are in Escalante. 

Some may not like the change but this change will benefit our community.

The first time I heard the song, “the wheels on the bus go round and round,” was from a TV series called Dharma and Greg. There was Dharma singing that song on the bus. My sides still aches from that silly show. It is good to laugh at ourselves. It helps when we aren’t able to laugh.

I used to ride the bus to High School. Provo High was where I attended school, at least when I wasn’t cutting class to go off campus and check out all the college girls across the street. That’s where the old gym was for the college. This was my favorite class. I got straight A’s. 

I got kicked off the bus a few times when I teased the driver just a little bit too much. They were patient with all of us, but if they were pushed too far we ended up walking. It was only 2 or 3 miles to school, of course it was uphill both ways.

I hope Katie isn’t walking right now. They should be pulling into town any minute. It is a long walk from Cedar to Escalante and it is cold on the mountain when the sun goes down.

The bus will be riding low when it pulls into town, everyone with their shopping bags and packages. The bus is parked across the street when it isn’t being used. We have to stock up on groceries when we can. 

Tuesday’s and Friday’s are the days when the grocery store gets it supply of food. If you wait till Wednesday or Saturday you may not find what you need. 

Have you ever seen panic buying? I have on TV. It is not a pleasant sight. Rushing and pushing and empty shelves. 

While in Hawaii, we got a storm warning. A strong pacific storm was moving toward the Big Island and getting stronger each day. I decided to pick up some supplies, just in case things got bad. I had water and batteries and some bulk food in my cart. As I waited to check out, the man behind me made a rude comment about being overly concerned. Over the next few days I watched as the storm got closer and closer. I went back to that store to get a candy bar and noticed that all the water bottles were gone, the battery racks were empty and the grocery shelves were being emptied. The storm missed us that time. I did watch a water spout form off the coast. It was a near miss. 

The wheels on our short bus will soon be here, filled with food to last another month. It’s nice to have an extra can of beans in the cupboard, just in case the wheels on the bus have an unexpected stop and we are not able to laugh.