The Saga of the Bronson Juvie Van

Somewhere in Marion County, Illinois is a special place. A place where children who cannot attend regular school go to expand their young and eager minds. A place with a teaching staff sensitive enough to meet the educational needs of these exceptional children. A place with security guards trained to handle a situation when one of them feels they absolutely must throw that chair through that window. That place is Bronson Alternative School. And this weekend, I'm using their utility van to move.

The practice of using this van began in August of 2002 when after 2 years in hell, I mean Carbondale, I decided to pack up and head toward greener pastures...blue-er grass. After taking care to reserve a U-Haul in good time and make sure all the paper work was in order (including retaining that all-important receipt), my parents went to collect said U-Haul when as a final "up-yours" by the black hole that is Carbondale...it had been rented to someone else. Regardless of reservation. Driven off the lot. By someone else. Twenty minutes before my parents got there (likely).

Knowing how my mother was on that day, I'm pretty sure she castrated the guy working at U-Haul over the incident.

So after a horrible evening of packing the contents of my duplex into a few vehicles and driving home, Mom and I set out for Carbondale again the next morning with Dad promising to arrive shortly after with a solution to our lack of a vehicle large enough to accomodate a couch, a bed, and some other things

That solution was the Bronson Alternative School Juvie Van.

Technically, it's a utility van-you know, the kind serial killers drive, but without the torture chamber in the back and doors that actually can be opened from the inside. It's just a big, navy blue van with "Bronson Alternative School" written on the side. I'm quite fond of it, actually, and it's really cool that the school lets us use it. That's pretty much the end of the story of the juvie van, but I think it's neat and just wanted to share.

The end.