School supplies-check. School clothes-check. Monster school bus ? Wait-what? I saw an article in my local newspaper that this was coming to my hometown and I knew I had to take my 6 year old grandson on it. Making a date with a six year old over the phone requires repetition. The concept of time gets muddled sometimes, but I assured him I'd pick him up at four o'clock. Once he was safely strapped into the booster carseat, off we went for our date with the Monster Kool Bus. I pulled into the parking lot and came face to face with a 14 foot high, 22 foot long, 460 horsepower, 19,000 pound 1956 school bus. People were beginning to line up for a ride and we  chatted with its gregarious owner, Eddy Haemker. He was a retired gentleman who travels the world with his wife, but has this fun hobby that takes him around with his monster bus. He donates 100% of the proceeds from the ride to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. For $5.00 each we took a ride in this giant bus as it roared around a small cordoned off area.

 This is gonna be fun!

 Eddy told us that he had just replaced the tires at a cost of $5000.oo each! The rims are 25".

 We had to climb stairs to enter the bus.

Eddy explains that those of us in the very back of the bus ( me!) were going to really feel the ride. My husband and grandson were a couple rows in front of me. The bus had seatbelts for all and booster seats for the children.

Murals decorated the roof panels. 

And....they're off! The rumble of the engine got my adrenaline pumping and I hung onto the seatback bar for dear life as we took off. Eddy handled the bus with ease as it whipped around the track and people squealed with joy. It was a few quick turns around the track but I can see why people have this hobby. It's just plain fun! After we exited the bus, I took a short video of the next ride. You can hear my excited grandson telling a woman waiting in line about it. I think every kid in the world would be happy to head off to school in the morning if this was their ride!