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Bussing through the storm
Topics: dust storm of 1977, local history, weather
Posted by citizenjournalist Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:53:02 PST
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0 responses 0 comments My bus route followed Highway 58 from Buttonwillow to Enos Lane and north on Enos Lane to Beech Street into Shafter.

Frito Lay had leveled the area where their plant sits now.

It must have been at least a mile or more long on the south side of the highway and the railroad track. It was very dry and dusty when our normal Northwest winds picked up in the afternoon.

The day of the dust storm it was pretty dusty, but not so bad that we couldn’t run our bus routes on my p.m. run.

I dropped my students off at the regular stops. They dust didn’t seem to be too bad along 58 until I reached the Frito Lay property.

The wind was coming out of the Southeast and it was a lot worse (harder) than it had been that morning.

The dust was so bad I couldn’t see through the windshield. It was like looking at a mirror.

I was just creeping along hoping that I didn’t get rear-ended.

The bus I was driving was a large Crown so if something ran into me, maybe the damage would be below the passengers. During a gust of wind, I had a glimpse of a highway patrol car with some cars following him.

As I moved as carefully as I could, I caught a glimpse of two cars going east in the westbound lanes.

Then I came up behind a car that wasn’t completely off on the shoulder of the road.
I had all my emergency lights on.

I was afraid to pull out to pass it.

While trying to decide what was the best thing to do, aomeone banged on the door of the bus. It was a young woman and her two small daughters. They were on their way somewhere for Christmas. They were in the parked car in front of the bus. She had lost her bearings, she had made a u-turn in that bad dust to go back to I-5.

I let them get on the bus for a while — they were terrified. I still had 10 or 15 students on the bus. One of them was my daughter. The lady said that if she could get back to I-5 they would be ok.

I hadn’t seen any kind of traffic in a while.

I told the lady to get her family in her car — start the engine. Turn on the lights and watch the front of the bus when the lights and turn singals came on to gradually ease out onto the road and I would be behind her until we reached I-5. The last that I saw of them she turned on to Tracy Avenue where all the businesses are located.

I was able to get the rest of my passengers home. When I drove into Buttonwillow School, the lot was full of cars.

The school had opened the gymnasium for people who were stranded to have a place to get out of the storm.

I retired from school bus driving July 1, 1992 after 32 years.

The dust storm was the worst nigthmare I have ever endured.

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