Tales of a Bus Driver; Fresno State at New Mexico State

January 15, 2010

LAS CRUCES, N.M.- Mike Maldonado has seen just about everything in his 27 years as a bus driver. He has driven tours across country and taken teams to and from their games at UTEP and New Mexico State.
Maldonado picked the Bulldog women's basketball team up at the El Paso Airport and was the teams' driver during Fresno State's stay in Las Cruces where they beat New Mexico State, 77-67 on Wednesday.

This wasn't the first time Maldonado, who was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, had driven the Bulldog women's team. He has a fond memory of driving former Bulldog coach Britt King's teams around to New Mexico State. When he took the team back to El Paso after a game she said she wanted to go eat enchiladas after the team was in their rooms.

"She said give me 35-40 minutes and I will be out," Maldonado said. "She was real nice. I really remember her. She ate the hot enchiladas."

Before Maldonado got into driving buses for the El Paso-LA Limo Express he worked for the city transit for three years. He felt like a change, made it and now he is in his 27th year with the bus company. He has driven 14 tour groups across country and he says he has been to every state in the United States. The tour groups he has taken the elderly on have been fun for him because he says they are easier to manage.

His worst experience driving a sports team was when he drove the Toronto Raptors for an exhibition event several years ago.

"It was horrible," Maldonado said. "I needed to get a signature from the coach at the end of the trip and the guy in charge of the travel said you don't ask the coaching for nothing, not even tickets. All my experiences have been good but for that."

Maldonado drove the Oklahoma football team around this football season during the Sun Bowl. He says he always cheers for the team he is driving around.

Through all his travels Maldonado said there is never a dull moment.

"From driving in the snow, hot and cold, everything is fun," he said.

Tales of a Bus Driver; Fresno State at Idaho

Jan. 10, 2010

MOSCOW, Idaho - Jim Cochran has been a bus driver for 10 years with Wheatland Express. He has picked up and dropped off a lot of teams at various hours of the day during that span. When the Fresno State women's basketball team arrived in Pullman, Washington on Thursday at 11:30 p.m. he witnessed something he had never seen before and that is players happy and introducing themselves to him.

"Usually the players are rubbing their eyes like zombies," Cochran said. "This was a completely different atmosphere. It makes it worthwhile to pick somebody up at the airport at 11:30 p.m. It is not often you get a team like this when they introduce themselves."

Driving sports teams like the Fresno State women's basketball team and seeing games for free is the reason why Cochran loves being a bus driver. He has driven all the opposing teams that come to play Washington State and Idaho.

And being a native of Colfax, Washington, he is able to drive the team around, take the bus back to the bus yard, about six miles from the University of Idaho and then sleep in his own bed at night.

Cochran originally never thought he would be a bus driver as he worked for a telephone company for 35 years before he got laid off in 1994. With his wife still working full-time and Cochran enjoying fishing along the river, he was strongly encouraged to check with a friend to see if Wheatland needed a bus driver.

After filling out the paper work and taking the appropriate tests, he got his license and has been driving teams around ever since. One of this favorite memories was driving a bus when the NCAA Tournament first and second rounds was in Spokane. He was able to drive the Oregon team during the tournament.

"You have to enjoy sports to do this job," Cochran said.

Cochran certainly does enjoy sport as he was in the Cowan Spectrum watching coach Adrian Wiggins take his team through a two-hour practice Friday afternoon. He was in the stands when the Bulldogs rallied to beat Idaho, 72-64, on Saturday afternoon.

With all the team's Cochran has driven around he said that he has never had a problem with a coach.

"I've had coaches who want all cell phones off and other coaches who don't want anybody to talk," Cochran said. "We just go along with the flow."

Living just 15 miles from Pullman, Cochran is well-aware of what the Idaho athletic department has done over the past two years in football and basketball. As he talked about the success the Vandals have had and he also pointed out that when he picks teams up he tells them he doesn't haul losers.

That was certainly the case this past weekend when the Bulldogs were in Moscow.

LIfe on the Road

I work in a profession that allows me to meet people from all wakes of life. It's fun and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I also get to travel all over the place. Many of these places I have been I may never get to for fun. I am trying to take advantage the places I go by seeing and doing things that are unique to the city I am in. 

Don't get me wrong. Being away from family is extremely difficult. I have an incredible wife who supports me even though I know it is hard for her. I love her dearly and I wouldn't be where I am without her strength and encouragement.  I have a great wife and a beautiful daughter. Those are the most important people in my life. 

I am a blessed person to be where I am today. My goal with this blog is to share a little about my travels and have it serve as a journal so to speak of all the different places I go and all the different people I meet. 

I have always taken pictures on every road trip but starting this year I am writing a feature titled, "Tales of  Bus Driver." With each trip I go on in road WAC women's basketball games I am going to talk to the bus driver about their experiences driving a bus. So far each trip we have had a bus driver that has great memories of driving around Fresno State women's basketball teams. 

On the this blog I will also post various features that I write for work as well. Hope you enjoy.