On Feb. 14 FHN Winter Drumline set out for their Winter Guard International competition in Indianapolis, Indiana, but the six-hour bus ride took an unexpected turn. After the group reached Effingham, Illinois, the bus began malfunctioning, and they were forced to stop.

“I was really annoyed when it happened,” senior Tanner Gunnett said. “I knew it was going to cause too many problems. It was really just a normal bus ride, then something started to smell funny. Sam Baalman screamed that the bus was smoking. We all turned back, and the engine compartment was just billowing smoke and it was filling up the bus, so FHN Pit Technician Taylor  had people that were sitting in the back move to the front. The smell was getting worse and worse, so they pulled over by a convenience store and the bus driver checked the engine. At that point, Taylor was just trying to keep everybody calm. The driver started moving the bus, but it happened again. I recognized the smell as antifreeze leaking, and then we pulled over at a Subway [restaurant].”

After spending roughly two hours at the Subway and having a mechanic called, Drumline made their way to a Hampton Inn nearby, where they would stay for the night.

“Personally, I think it’s okay, but it will probably hinder our practice and thus our performance,” sophomore Alex Raster said. “But I think it’s good that we’ll have time to bond.”

In preliminary performance, FHN received a 62.75, which was not high enough to allow them to continue on to finals, but they don’t believe Friday’s events contributed to their score.

“Actually, the group handled the issues on Friday and going into the performance on Saturday with a lot of maturity,” visual technician Aaron Robertson said.

With everything that went on, the weekend was still considered a success, and even with the unexpected issues on Friday, the group was able to perform to the best of their ability.

“Considering the setbacks we had on Friday, and having to leave early Saturday morning to check in plus we knew we were under time for our whole show the performance was good and met our expectations for this competition,” Roberts said.