Day 7 - Traveling to Tennessee

With the song still running in my head, I paid less attention to the fact that the bus was not very cool. Even up front, the bus was still warm. At this point in time, that fact changed from something unremarkable to an actual problem. The youth ministers were well aware of that problem, and so was the driver. The air conditioning had broken. Before noon, the temperature of the bus began a steady increase--something that could not be ignored.

The church where we would spend tonight called us at a point on the road. They told the youth ministers that a funeral was scheduled for the evening at their church. Because of this, we were asked not to arrive too early, but instead try to arrive after 10:00 P.M. That gave us the leeway for some things we might not have attempted otherwise...

We stopped for lunch at a gas station in Alabama, where there was also a Subway restaurant. After the eating was done, we all piled back into our hot bus, which had gotten hotter since it had been sitting out in the sun. As we headed back toward the freeway, the bus driver saw a "Peterbilt" truck service sign. The plan to leave was revised by the youth ministers--we would see if the truck service station could service our bus' air conditioning first. At the service station, the staff let us get off the bus and sit in their air conditioned lobby. We played cards, talked, and enjoyed the cool air. Because a part was broken on the bus, and because that part could not be shipped until four days later, we had to get on the bus again and head for our stop in Tennessee.

I considered how hot it was in the bus, but decided to ignore it for the most part. Since I wasn't working on drywall, or carting wheel barrow loads away, I could just drink water or pop to stay cool. But the bus got hotter and hotter, and soon, we had to stop for something. We pulled in at a Travel America center, and the youth ministers went inside looking for parts. They came back with a temporary reprieve: an AC adaptor for the bus' power, a splitter that let them attach more than one appliance to that power supply, and two travel fans. The bus still got hotter.

Outside of Huntsville, Alabama, we stopped at another Travel America center because of rush hour traffic. The youth ministers called cell phone numbers and tried to see if the bus could be replaced, but the soonest that could be done was in Tennessee or later. In the meantime, we conversed, used the bathroom facilities, and bought things for the road. Before we headed back to the bus, I bought a pint of Ben and Jerry's coffee Heath ice cream. It was good, but I did not eat all of it. On the bus, I held it against the inside of my elbow joint, where it could cool my veins.

Rain overtook us as we neared Tennessee. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant for dinner. I bought an Amy Grant CD called "Hymns for the Journey" because it felt appropriate to buy, now that I was returning from this "journey."

North of Nashville, we finally stopped at a church which opened its gymnasium for us to sleep in. It was 11:00 P.M. by my watch. I had kept Ohio Time for the whole week, so I quickly calculated that we had arrived just on schedule to accommodate the church's funeral arrangements. We were led into the gymnasium and shown where the bathrooms were. As soon as I finished brushing my teeth and rolling out my sleeping bag, I tried to get to sleep. It wasn't hard, even though I was sleeping on a cool hard basketball court floor.