Lots of driving on Tuesday

Tuesday was the first day the BART strike was over.  Getting to school should have been no problem.  People are back on the trains and off the highway.  Well, it did not go well.  Nearly every highway in The Bay Area had major wrecks.  Big rigs, motorcycles, cars, vans, you name it, it had crashed.  We are talking total gridlock. 

When we got to the ramp for 580 we could see traffic was stopped.  So we went to plan B, street roads.  Now usually our trip to Kaiser School is around 35 minutes.  On a bad day it takes 45 minutes. On the bad traffic days I am there by 8:45. We had built in extra time in case of slow traffic.  This is a trip of 12 miles.  Tuesday it took one hour and five minutes to get to school.  By the time I signed in, hit the restroom, and walked out to the Portable, it was 9:30.   Ms. H was glad to see me.  Another volunteer was out sick, and one called and said she just couldn't get there. 

Ms. H gave me several books to pick to read to the class. Some were fiction and some were science and social studies books.  I picked two books and had the class vote on which book they wanted to hear.  I explained they were not fiction.  I held up the books, one was about the life of bats and the other was about Mummies.  I told them to stand up if they wanted the bat book.  Not a child stood up.  The whole class wanted to hear Mummies by Joyce Milton and illustrated by Susan Swan. 

Mummies is pretty educational on a first grade level.  The book has photographs and illustrations.  It tells how the organs are removed and preserved separately from the body.  Lots of ewww when I read that.  It explains why pyramids were built. And it gives information about the funerals of the Kings.  Years ago I was a docent in a museum and gave tours on mummies (bats too).  I knew extra material I added to the discussion of the book.  Over all the class listened and liked the book.

Tuesday was one long day for me.  We left for school at 8:00, Marty picked me up at school, I dropped Marty back at work, then went to have my hair cut, picked up Marty, and then home.  I grabbed a bite to eat and then drove back to the neighborhood the school is in for my book group.  I got home around 9:30 P.M.  All these little trips added up to about 100 miles of driving.  I was tired and slept really well Tuesday night.