Went to the old man's place for the first time after the wildfire. At least half the population never returned.
I was treated to a story that sounds made up, but I have heard part of it from someone else who was there.
He once drove a old school bus from Philadelphia to Orange County, CA.
Sure, what was so special about that?
No brakes.
Some 2700 miles without brakes. With around a dozen passengers, all broke young hippies.
...🧵
How did you do it? First, you have to be very familiar with the vehicle, it's behavior. Second, you plan your route -- we had no money but we had time. Third, you look ahead, keep more than ample distance to the vehicle in front, and you downshift early and often.
There was only one incident when they had made it into California. A passenger who had driven a bus before pestered him to let him drive. After several hours of instruction, the other person took over.
...🧵
A few miles down the road, they came on a traffic light. In front of them was a single red pickup truck.
The school bus driver didn't slow down enough and rear ended the pickup.
The pickup driver got out, came to the bus and started to apologize.
The person not at fault apologized.
Turns out, the pickup driver had been drinking and didn't want the police involved.
Since the low speed collision didn't cause a lot of damage, the parties decided to call it a no harm, no foul bump.
...🧵
And happily went their separate ways. One with a slightly dented pickup, the other a minimally dented front end.
And he did ferry thousands of people over hundreds of thousands of miles without a single injury.
Including right through raging fires.
The old man says "I had a charmed life".
salix sericea (@Ripple13216)