11/24/2023 0 Comments Greyhound bus uniformTo this day, I hate washing vehicles and will do everything in my power to find someone else to do the task. Each truck was allowed to run for 30 minutes to make sure the battery was charged and then returned to its spot in the station. Those hoses were strung up on the hose rack under the siren stand. Next we wash and clean the Army brush truck, followed by any dirty hoses. Then the American Le France (1939, I think) gets a bath and cleaning. I can still see it with station doors open, as the 1953 Ford starts up and enters C Street to the right, gets a bath and cleaning. On Sunday afternoons we would go to the fire station about 4 p.m., bring each truck out, wash it, and once a month, polish it. My dad was a volunteer Floresville fireman actually we were a “fireman family.” Dad was a stickler for something working and being clean. They always had some kind of candy for us but it was not the candy I wanted - it was that bus ride on the giant “Grey and Blue.” I remember two drivers whom I thought “walked on water” for Greyhound - Harold Hagens and Thomas Spillar - both now enjoying that “bus station in the sky.” On occasion, our parents would put my brother and me on the bus behind one of those two drivers for the memorable 10-minute trip to Poth. That bus did a turn around back to San Antonio at about 9:20 p.m. The nighttime bus left for Corpus at 6:35 p.m. from Hilda’s and it would go to Corpus Christi, stopping in each town between, and a 15-minute rest stop in downtown Beeville. Ah-h-h, the simple things back then!įrom Floresville, going south you could board a bus at around 10:15 a.m. You would stand in line in the bus driveway, smell diesel fumes, and watch buses come and go from everywhere. to board the bus for the return trip home. One could shop or “do-the-do” all day and then be at the Greyhound station on Soledad and North St. Once you were on it, all your troubles seemed to just disappear. In my opinion, “on the eighth day, God created a Greyhound bus!” That blue and silver metal marvel with dual rear wheels and air brakes reigned superior in the transportation world. While most kids liked to go to the upper deck, I just wanted to sit behind the driver because I was fascinated by the controls. Then you boarded a Scenicruizer double-decker Greyhound bus to San Antonio. You never wanted to be late or you would miss Hilda’s big smile to welcome you along with a hot cup of her famous coffee. Who can forget Floresville’s version of “mass transportation” that traversed Floresville in the 1960s? If you wanted to travel north, you met up at Hilda Dunn’s Café in downtown Floresville, near the corner of C and 3rd streets, before 10:15 am. Barry Koch’s three-part series proved to be so popular with readers that he is continuing with more “Reflections on Floresville.” Enjoy!
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