402. Bus #402

I suppose you thought you'd be reading a political entry this close to the election. If not for the entry number, you probably would. But, now and then an entry number appeals to my memory for a trip into the crevices of my personal past. 402 is such a number.

I began elementary school at Blue Lick Elementary School in September, 1966, the year Blue Lick Elementary School opened on the road by the same name, on a field about one mile south of Blue Lick Road's intersection with South Park Road. In those days, kindergarten was optional, so one's first year of school was First grade, a logical name. I went to Blue Lick for two years. My mother had actually enrolled me at the old South Park Elementary School on National Turnpike over in Fairdale in anticipation of Blue Lick's fall opening.

Where I lived was just - just - over a mile from the school which, under school board policy at the time, required a bus route. The kids who lived on my street had a very short ride on the bus as we were the closest to the school. As such, we were the last stop to be picked up in the mornings and nearly the first stop to be let off in the afternoon. The one difference in the two routes - going and coming - was Old South Park Road. The logical sequence of stops in the afternoon should have placed us as the first off in the afternoon. But because Old South Park's western intersection with South Park was (at that time) essentially a fork or a "V", the route followed Old South Park the same way going and coming. Driving west on Old South Park allowed for a wider turn back to the east on South Park. This intersection is obliterated today by the relocation of both of these roads due to the construction of the Gene Snyder Freeway in the 1980s. Both roads were relocated slightly to the north. (As an addendum, back then there were two other "Old South Park Roads" further to the west. One of those is entirely gone, while the other is now referred to as South Park Court. Where South Park Court now meets South Park Road is where the original South Park village was located). But, I digress.

The bus route from Blue Lick School to my stop consisted of three streets - Blue Lick, South Park, and Old South Park. Before the opening of Blake Elementary School a few blocks to the north, kids from the subdivisions on either side of Blue Lick south of Fishpool Creek (which is just south of Foreman Lane) were assigned to Blue Lick Elementary. It was up and down Blue Lick to get these kids that my bus travelled before the detour west along South Park and Old South Park. Kids north of Fishpool Creek went to Okolona Elementary School, as did those east along South Park east of the creek. To the west, over I-65, kids on the north side of South Park went to Minor's Lane Elementary School, while those on the south side went to Fairdale Elementary School, and later Coral Ridge Elementary School. There were no Jefferson County schools to the south. Once into Bullitt County, another mile south of the school, on the east side of Blue Lick was the Overdale School district, while the west side was served by Brooks Elementary.

And, the bus I rode through all of First and Second grades was #402. Someday, I may write about the methodology of school bus numbering in the Jefferson County Public School System. For now, I'm just thinking about the fun I had on Bus #402.