On the way home from dropping off the car to the mechanic, we saw a greyhound bus headed to Dallas. Since Jennifer and I are headed to Plano on the first weekend of June, it made us think about our future and past travel.
I asked Jennifer if she had ever travelled on Greyhound. I admitted that I have travelled on Greyhound several times. Jennifer asked if we should go to Plano on a Greyhound. "No way!" I shouted.
I then went on to recount my experiences on Greyhound buses. My early experiences travelling on Greyhound buses were going from one part of Oregon to another. At one point, we decided we were going to visit friends in another part of the state, and we did not believe our car to be roadworthy for the trip. My mother packed us up into a Greyhound bus and we travelled from Ashland, OR to Bend, OR. It was a fun trip, a new adventure, and I enjoyed it.
Since then, my experiences riding Greyhound were less than stellar. In the middle of my sophomore year, I travelled from Minneapolis to Kansas City in January. I jumped on the bus at the Mall of America. I chose to sit in between nuns and an Amish father and son. I thought I had the best chance of not being intimidated or bothered that way. I was wrong. Within 20 minutes the Amish kid was trying to steal stuff out of my backpack while I was sleeping. I eventually move toward the back of the bus. For most of the rest of the trip I hang out with a guy who is going to drive dynamite trucks out of Joplin, and a girl leaving an ex and heading home across the country. We got along well, but it was not long before I observed a connection between the two of them. By the time I got to Kansas City, they were trading stories about sexual exploits and gazing at each other intently. I had to put on my headphones.
Another time I rode on a Greyhound bus lines I had to get a ride from where my car broke down in South Dakota to my flight from Kansas City to Alaska. When I was on this trip in the middle of August, the air conditioning went out near Sioux City, IA. When the air went out, it was over 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity. The bus had standing room only for a brief time, and I was in shorts on a vinyl seat. I was seated next to a portly gentleman with wool pants and a dress shirt. I kept sticking to the seat, and scratching next to his itchy pants. It was miserable.
On that trip, I also had a layover in the Omaha Greyhound station. The Omaha station was quite possibly the creepiest place I have ever been. At least the creepiest transportation station. There was one guy, who kept trying to talk to me and everyone else about things that had a "makin bacon" t-shirt with little piggies in about every sexual position. Then there were all these guys walking around rather obviously trolling for children and women, chatting up targets right and left. I just wanted out of there.
I got a ride out of the Kansas City station, which is quite nice, and flew home.
Greyhound buslines are an excellent option for affordable transportation, but only if you cannot afford anything else.
Have any of you had cross-country bus trips? Any unique stories from those trips?
2 comments:
I used to take the bus to visit my parents when I was in university. It was a 5 hour bus ride. I had got on the bus and found my seat. As I was looking out the window, I saw a guy about to get on the bus. I think I prayed a quick prayer that this guy would NOT sit beside me. But you know God's sense of humor when you pray those sort of prayers? They don't really work. Anyway, of course, he sat beside me. So, I decided my best strategy would be to keep my nose in my book. But he wanted to talk. I was just a very new Christian at that time (not even a year) and I told him all I knew about Christ. And he prayed with me a salvation prayer. Out loud. In front of the whole bus. (The guy was not a quiet sort) The whole bus was dead quiet and must have heard the whole thing. BEST BUS RIDE EVER!
I have been blessed with not having to take that option. I have heard other tales of greyhound trips (other riders, odors, temperature issues). Again, I have been blessed! Oh, and the greyhound station in our town always made me wonder about the experience anyway - it too would not be a great layover stop!
:)
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