The long haul

If Chance Rhodes said he had to travel uphill both ways on his way to and from school, you just might have to believe him.

On Ector County’s western edge, Penwell was pitch black Thursday and silent except for the squeaky-wheeled pump jacks and semis wheezing down Interstate 20.

The clock in Rhodes’ brick home read 5:55 a.m.

Bus 108 pulled up on FM 1601. Rhodes’ curly hair was wet. He wore a T-shirt and shorts that hung below the knee. He skipped breakfast.

He was the first student aboard Lawana Brockman’s bus, about an hour and 28 minutes before the sun rose. He climbed three steps and moved four rows back. He sat down, curled up and leaned his body against the window.

He then did what he said he always does each morning on likely the earliest and longest bus ride in Ector County Independent School District.

“Sleep,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes, 16, endures one heck of a daily haul to go to the Career Center. The 30-mile trek takes him on Interstate 20 to FM 866 to Westcliff Road and on and on until the bus reaches the city campus.

THE TRIP

Brockman turned the bus in and out, up and around, over and through West Odessa’s neighborhoods filled with ranch-style homes and trailer parks.

Along the county’s drives, lanes and avenues, she picked up 18 other students who filled the seats around Rhodes, a sleepy junior who studies AutoCAD, a three-dimensional design software, at the Career Center.

At 6:10 a.m., only Rhodes sat on the bus. It was a lonely start.

Brockman has been responsible for this route for seven years. She’s lived in Odessa for 16 years and grew up in Plainview. She’s been a junior high teacher and a supervisor in the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. She started driving school buses part time after she retired.

“I have the best route and the best kids,” Brockman said. “No, really I do.”

She’s only written up bus bad behavior reports four times in seven years.

The kids are behaved, but they’re also sleepy. Rhodes blurted out one word the entire ride when Brockman blanked on the road’s name she turned on.

“Westcliff,” he said.

“Westcliff,” Brockman echoed.

A second boy boarded and moved to two seats behind Chance some 14 minutes into Rhodes’ bus nap.

Brockman picked up a third rider who carried a Dean Koontz novel.

They passed a burrito shop on Moss Avenue, a bustling sign of life.

“They do a pretty good business this time of day,” Brockman said.

The neighborhood streets had famous Kentucky Derby horses’ names: Citation, War Admiral and Damascus. Then the streets were named with American Indian themes: Sitting Bull and Tomahawk.

“I like the morning route because there’s not as much traffic,” Brockman said. “It’s not that it’s any easier, just not as stressful as far as the traffic goes.”

THE PICKUPS INTENSIFY

Rhodes turned 16 in March, but his mother, Dottie Rhodes, said her son is still about six months away from his license.

That’s a day Chance Rhodes anticipates.

“I can get up later,” he said.

The summer brought later wakeup calls, too.

“I was actually up kind of early most of the time,” Rhodes said before the bus arrived Thursday morning.

“Excuse me?” his mother interjected.

“I said most of the time,” he countered.

Dottie Rhodes survived her own marathon school bus ride as a student, taking what major media once dubbed the longest bus ride in the United States. She rode a bus from the Big Bend Park area to Alpine for school.

Before Big Bend High opened in 1997, the border students rode 80 miles one way.

Back on the Ector County bus at 6:32 a.m., the CB radio made its first noise.

A fourth kid entered at 6:40 a.m.

The bus’ lights flashed yellow and then red before it stopped.

The seventh got on at 6:49.

“Good morning,” Brockman told each new rider.

The final 10 students hopped on at Cameron Elementary at 7:04 a.m. They’re city folks with extra sleep. They talked and goofed as expected.

Rhodes slept with his head against the cushioned seat in front of him.

THE ARRIVAL

ECISD has 150 bus drives, many of whom drive more than one route each day, which cost about $2.40 a mile to complete, ECISD Director of Transportation David Morris said, once fuel, tires, maintenance and labor costs are all factored.

The routes cover the county’s far-off corners, and the buses pick up students who need early transport to any campus.

Bus 108 took Rhodes to Hancock Avenue in the center of Odessa to the Career Center’s rear side bus zone.

After 30 miles, he arrived. He walked into school quietly.

It was 7:15 a.m.

RIDE ALONG

>> Have an interesting story to tell about your bus ride? Send it to us at vsan-date@oaoa.com and we’ll post it online.