My friend, Piglet, lives in St. Paul Minnesota.
Besides having an awesome back yard at her house, that was built by her Husband (don't get me started on THAT subject!) he designed a bus that's covered in lights and he drives it in an event called the Saint Paul Winter Carnival.
The bus is called Howiedazzle. I believe the first part is his name. :-)
Now I don't know about you, but I was totally blown over by the amount of lights that he placed on the bus. Great job.
My Dad was a bus mechanic and spent 41 years fixing buses in Queens, New York. Not an easy gig, either...but he never decorated a bus. lol
Major props to Piglet and her Hubby. This is one great looking bus and a wonderful service to the Twin Cities.
Gosh, thanks for the shout-out, Angel! My hubby (who is indeed Howie) has been a mechanic and body man at the bus company for 35 years and counting. He's fortunate they let him indulge his artistic streak in the name of increasing the visibility of transit, a necessary thing as our country's love affair with the automobile just gets bigger and the funding for public transit gets smaller, even as the need increases.
ReplyDeleteJust a clarification so no one gets in trouble with the union: My hubby does NOT drive the bus in the parade; an actual bus driver does that, in this last one it was Charles. Mechanics do not drive "in service" buses, and in a parade is considered "in service."
The HowieDazzle project has been a blast all the way -- watching the project percolate around in his head as they were building it initially 5 years ago, seeing all the enhancements he and his team have made over the years, and having the privilege of riding on the bus with my husband and his colleagues in parades and watching the faces of the people in the crowd as they take in all the details (the waving snowmen, the spinners on the wheels, the wheels "spinning" on the bicycle in the rack on the front of the bus). I'm a lucky woman to be married to this guy.
And did I mention he has the most gorgeous blue eyes in the universe??? :-)
Oh God, heaven forbid I forget the blue eyes on your man. LOL!
ReplyDeleteMy Dad was Union ATU (AFL-CIO) and I do know he had the license to drive, if needed. I don't know if he had restrictions on that. As in, drive it only if you are bringing it back to the garage, type thing. The one thing I do remember though was him explaining to a very little me, that you had to be about half way into the intersection, before you could even begin a right turn. Otherwise, the bus would hit the light pole on the corner of the street.
I am glad you have such a good time riding in the bus. You bring food and stuff and have a party going on during?
Yeah, my hubby's got the license and skills to drive, including those 60-foot articulated buses. The difference is, the bus driver got paid to drive in the parade. My SU did not. There's probably also some liability thing involved, at least these days.
ReplyDeleteY'know, we were lax this year and did not bring anything fun to eat on the bus. Bad Piglet, go lay by your dish...
Wow!!!
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