Van Pools Blog

It was a hard decision, but after much deliberation we have picked out the top six entries. We were highly entertained by the variety of vanpooling stories—from those that made us laugh out loud to those that left us inspired. While we had to narrow it down to these few, if your blog didn’t make the final cut, we still really enjoyed reading your entry and may still feature it on our blog. Thanks to everyone who submitted a story!

Below you’ll find the finalists–listed in no particular order. At the end of this post, you’ll find a poll where you can help us determine the winner by voting for your favorite entry. We’ll post the final results on August 14, after the poll closes. But, please keep checking back in between, we’ve got a lot of good stuff coming up.

The Finalists:

1. John Sweeney – Nashua, New Hampshire
Commuter Gone Ape!!! It was Massi’s birthday and Debbie and I wanted to do something radical for him. We have been commuting with the same van for over a year and we enjoy each others company. Massi was not in one day and fellow vanpoolers took advantage of the time and brain stormed what could be done for his birthday. The discussion on the van that day was quite lively. Birthday celebration topics ranged from wild decorations to strip tease acts. Gorilla outfits surfaced to the top. Troy, a van member who has an original silver back gorilla outfit and a bizarre taste in music spoke up. He suggested someone dress up in his gorilla costume and sing him a song and provide a gorilla smooch for him. Mild mannered John offered his services. He volunteered to be picked up at his usual stop donning a silver back gorilla outfit. On the way home all van members knew that John would be waiting at his usual stop dressed as a gorilla. As the VPSI van approached the stop a large silver back gorilla ran out in front of the van and did a gorilla dance to stop the van. The van stopped with more intensity than usual and the gorilla hopped into the van. Once in the van, this life-like commuter gorilla jumped on Massi’s lap and began singing him a birthday song. The gorilla tried to kiss the birthday boy, but Massi was not interested in this wild beast. After the van family stopped laughing we began our ‘normal’ trek home. This is how commuting is suppose to be…a bit on the wild side. Massi is still a member of the van and we are due for another wild adventure. Stay tuned for the next edition of “Commuter Gone Ape”.

2. James Rich – Redlands, California
It’s a real scorcher in the Inland Empire, well over the century mark!! But we really don’t mind, because at the moment my family and I are enjoying a cool ocean breeze and watching our grandson while he excitedly tries to catch sand crabs with his homemade sand crab catcher. We stay long enough to watch as the sun sets into the pacific ocean and rewards us with yet another beautiful sunset. We are planning on dining at this new waterfront restaurant for what should be a fabulous seafood dinner. Later we’ll probably relax on the patio of our ocean front resort hotel or order drinks from the poolside bar and take a late night swim. We can’t stay up too late though because tomorrow we head for Sea World and we want to get there early!! What has this got to do with vanpooling you say!! Well this entire vacation was paid for by the money I saved by vanpooling to work. There are the obvious gas savings (which are considerable), and the maintenance savings on my personal vehicle that I rarely drive any more. Not to mention the money I saved on auto insurance due to my greatly reduced annual mileage. The lower mileage also means my vehicle will last longer and be worth more when it comes trade in time. These all add up to some great reasons to continue vanpooling. The free family vacations aren’t bad either!!

3. Zeena Sally – Dallas, Georgia
I have a few funny characters in my vanpool. We each are named after one of the seven dwarfs and have no problems living up to our names. I was Happy until one afternoon when my world was turned upside down. I got the gist of just how comical they can be when one day our vanpool mascot, VANessa, was kidnapped. Let’s start from the beginning. VANessa is a bunny I brought into the van to let the other riders know which van was ours. One day I played a little joke on our only male rider by switching out his work ID with a fake one. The photo of him was real, but the name said, “Dennis the Menace.” After being laughed at by fellow employees, he figured retaliation was appropriate. This begins my horrifying story. One sunny afternoon around 4:00 PM while loading my lunch box and laptop in the back of the van I found a note with a photo of VANessa tied up and blind folded. The ransom note said that if I didn’t deliver chocolate cupcakes within 24 hours that I would never see my VANessa again. The ransom indicated that I would be required to taste a random cupcake to make sure they were not laced with some kind of laxative. For VANessa’s sake and to ensure her safe return, I agreed to pay the ransom. I immediately went home and made the cupcakes. “Savages” was the thought going through my mind as I iced each individual cupcake. The next day, to make sure I complied with the ransom, another note was secretly put into my mailbox at work. The note showed a picture of VANessa suffocated in bubble wrap. Later that day while I was at lunch another note was left on my desk with VANessa blindfolded and tied up with a telephone cord. A piece of her hair was taped to a post-it and placed on my computer monitor. At 4:00 PM, I provided my van riders the cupcakes and tasted one chosen by the male rider. They reluctantly turned over VANessa in a homemade coffin.

VANessa is safe and sound now. Currently in the BPP (Bunny Protection Program). She has undergone therapy and is coming along nicely, considering what she’s been through. However I don’t feel she will play the victim much longer. I have a feeling that this was not the end of it. Stay tuned for the continuing saga of VANessa’s Revenge. Note: No real animals were harmed during this prank.

4. Carol Bertsche – League City, Texas
After the storm, Galveston, Texas was devastated. Those of us working at the University of Texas Medical Branch came back to destroyed offices, no cafeteria, and then the resulting lay-offs of many of our friends and fellow co-workers. The Island itself looked like a sepia print, something from the turn of the century, with all the lush tropical greenery dying. The devastation was mind-boggling. But we knew that things were coming to life again when we saw new VPSI vans coming over the causeway. And when I finally started riding a new van seven months later, it gave the work day a sense of normalcy. And now there are many of us flying back and forth between the Island and the Mainland using the VPSI vanpools.

5. Richard Thompson – Dowell, Maryland
This isn’t a humorous story, but the result is putting a smile on everybody’s face in the vanpool. We had all previously worked for the same electric utility and at the same power plant. Over a six month period, we each left our utility job and took jobs working for the U.S. Government with the expectation that we would sell our homes and relocate closer to our new jobs. As the U.S. economy tanked, the opportunity to sell our homes and relocate decreased along with our homes’ values. Relocating was no longer the option it had been. In no time at all, our commutes became a long term reality. Prior to starting the vanpool, each of us used a different means of commuting to and from work. As the price of gas went up last year, our 160 mile a day commute became prohibitive and the van pool took shape and substance. We’re now six months into the vanpool and no one is talking about being under pressure to sell their home and relocate. We’ve increased the number of riders and decreased our cost of commuting significantly. We can now afford to wait for the housing market to return. Without the vanpool option, we each may have made an expensive decision to sell our homes in a deteriorating market. We’re smiling, waiting and vanpooling instead. Cheers!

6. Micheline Stuyck – Winchester, California
I didn’t want to join a vanpool because I thought it would take away from my freedom. I had, also, heard that most vans had a lot of drama on them. When you put a bunch of different people together in a small space, you would expect at least some problems. When gas prices got so high I was forced to join a vanpool. Much to my surprise I actually enjoyed the ride and all of the people in the van. We spent over an hour commuting each way, and you’d think we would be tired of one another yet we weren’t, in fact we occasionally would get together after work and even go where they had karaoke. Pretty soon we started singing together (badly I might add) and getting together on weekends, too. We would go to each other’s homes at different times and sing and laugh and have a great time. Now I moved to Temecula and I am a vanpool driver. I still stay in touch with my old vanpool riders and we still get together regularly and have fun!

Tags: Contest, driver, iPhone, rider, vanpoolers

This entry was posted on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 1:46 pm and is filed under Polls, Riders and Drivers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.