Have you ever volunteered as a helper on a field trip? Well I did and here is how it went. Get in and hold on! The day was planned to go to the UNL Stadium in Lincoln, Ne and from the stadium then go to the Lincoln’s Children Zoo across town. Did I know the way, heck no.
The parents were not allowed to ride on the bus with the kids so we all had to follow, 18 cars to be exact. It was a funny site watching all of us tag along.
The bus departed the school at approx 8:40 a.m. and from then we were on making the 70 minute drive. It wasn’t so bad I know my way to Lincoln but was not sure what exit to get off on so I had no choice but to follow. Besides I had my 7 yr old in the big Yellow & Black School Bus and she’s never rode a bus before. Anyways, we’re driving and some of the parents are not as heavy footed as I, so I decided to pass the slower drivers to get a closer look at the bus. I was currently 9th in line. I scooched my way up to the 3rd place. All was good until we were heading up to downtown traffic and lots of stop lights. Needless to say I was stuck at a red light, and I was the first- all the rest of cars were behind me, I was hoping to fishtail the bus-but the driver never slowed down when approaching yellowish lights to wait for us. Damn, I just lost the bus, as I was giving updates to my Twitter Followers. I turned left, straight, and then right hoping I was going the right way. Finally I seen the bus-now to find a parking spot. I just wanted to hurry and catch up with my daughter-everyone is still following me-I pulled into a parking garage and the gate would not go up until I realized there was a small green button to push to raise the gate. We all parked on 2nd level and made our way to the bus 1 block away. As I talked to the other parents following me I made sure to tell them I was not familiar with the roads and its a good thing I took the right way.
Doing a head count is something else when you have 70 + kids and each parent is assigned to their child and 1 other child. We are standing there and a youngster starts puking, and it’s all over her coat and shirt. Anyone have any hand sanitizer?
The tour started with this very nice gentleman, but I didn’t catch his name.
Tour Guide @ UNL Stadium
We took a fast tour and got some great shots of the Field where the Huskers play Football and even got to run on the field from the tunnel. We saw the skybox seating area and weight room. I think the parents were more excited than the students. We all got lots of great shots, you can see them on my Flickr or my Facebook account if we are connected, you can also go back and read over my in real time Twitter notifications. You can get to them along the right side of my blog.
The tour was finally done and we are off to the Children ’s Zoo, the kids were boarding the bus fast and we (parents) quickly getting to our vehicle to follow the bus. Remember we are in the parking garage. We had to pay to park so time was not on our side this rainy morning. I asked some parents if they knew how to get to the Zoo from the stadium and none of them did, neither did I. Crap, gotta get back to the bus. The exit of the parking garage was clear on the other side so I was trying to follow the mom in front of me- well that didn’t work out- I lost her too. I got back to the bus and had to make an illegal U-Turn to get behind it. I was hoping the others that were following me hurry and did the same thing. I am just trying to stick behind the bus, (we did not get any directions from the teachers for routes, normally we do). If you know Lincoln, Ne downtown it is full of stop lights. I’m praying that the bus will wait for the followers this time around. Red light, I am first and yep I just lost the bus. Where is everyone behind me? I see the bus 4 blocks ahead of me and I know there is a right turn up ahead. I had to catch up, usually my husband does the driving in Lincoln, I was not sure where to turn in case I became distant from the bus. I had to run 2 red lights to catch up with the 
us, as I look in my rear view mirror a few were following me. This can’t be good-why doesn’t the driver slow the hell down and wait for us.
We finally manage to pull into the Zoo parking lot, & whew! That was something else. The Lincoln’s Children’s Museum was very nice, however not as big as a thought. We had to take sack lunches and sit on the wet pavement.
Arrgggggg
The teachers came around and gave us tickets to get in and to ride the train, they said to meet back @ 1:30 for bus departure.
We had a nice time and took some awesome pictures, and rode the train-which the track is on the outside gate of the zoo.
Departure time-I thought to myself I am going to get right behind the bus this time, and I’m not letting any cutters in, I wasn’t sure how to get back to the interstate. Shame on me for not printing a map myself.
There was another gal who said she was going to follow me & I said I’ll do my best to stay behind the bus. Another car snuck in and yet again I was trapped at the stop light, and the bus is going and going and not slowing down. Then gone, I could not see it anymore. You know that feeling, I then saw this yellow thing way down the road and hoped that was it. I was passing cars, and had to run 2 more yellowish orange lights to catch up, I looked in my rearview mirror and another parent is doing the same. Remember I said 18 cars were following the bus, well now there is only us 3. See that’s what I’m talking about…….slow down.
We caught the bus and then once we made a familiar turn I knew exactly where I was going. That is some stressful driving! If you ever have to volunteer for a field trip and you have to go out of town, just to be safe print a map from Mapquest yourself, don’t rely on the teachers to do it for you.
