LOL oh noes!
I'm sure by now most of you have heard my story of The Great and Terrible Bus Trip of 2005. As in, the bus trip I took from Durango to Washington shortly after I moved to Colorado because I missed y'all.
If you haven't heard it I must not have been ranting loud enough. I'm not going to recount it in full here, but here's the highlights:
*We leave Durango headed towards Red Mountain Pass...in January. I already know where this is going.
*Yup, the pass is closed. Cause it's the first pass to close when there's any snow. And it's JANUARY.
*Bus breaks down outside Ridgeway. Driver leaves us and hitchhikes into town (I kid you not).
*We're late
*Going through the canyon that leads to the town of Helper, Utah, the driver delights in telling us that once a few years ago a boulder fell from the canyon wall and crushed one of their buses. Oh...thanks?
*Bus arrives in Salt Lake City. I have no idea where I am in relation to the only landmark I know in Salt Lake City: interstate 15.
*Relatively short layover turns into 3 hour layover as it is discovered the connecting bus isn't here. People are lining up. The station closes past midnight. They lock us in and effectively leave us to our own devices with minimal security. This is my first time alone in a big city. I'm petrified. People are still lining up. There are now enough people to fill 3 buses.
*We leave Salt Lake City late.
*We seem to stop every 3 minutes or 1 mile, whichever comes first.
*On the return trip some guy with rank feet keeps propping them up on my headrest. I consider freaking out disproportionately.
*Leaving Salt Lake City in the early morning the nice guy sitting next to me tells me he had a bad night because the driver of the bus he was on fell asleep and he had to jump up and wake him up. Great. Now I will never be able to sleep on the bus again.
*We got snowed in in Denver. I almost had to sleep on the bus. Fortunately, Scott got me a hotel room.
*The bust left Denver late the next morning.
*We had to go to Albuquerque before Durango. Albuquerque is FIVE HOURS SOUTH of Durango.
*At the time, I had only the vaguest notion of where in New Mexico Albuquerque was. I was dropped off around 5:00pm. The next bus to Durango is at 3:00 am-ish.
*Much like Salt Lake City's station, security becomes surprisingly distant as the night goes on. Knowing now where the bus station is I was a little more afraid than I should have been. A little.
And that's the bad parts in a nutshell. Crazy trip. Don't expect to get anywhere on time--it won't happen. As far as rest stops: some drivers stop religiously, others drive right through. Most of the people you meet are very nice. Some of them smell funky. Some of them are idiots. But most are nice.
Why am I telling you all this?
Because despite the numerous times I've sworn up and down and sideways that I'll NEVER take the bus again....I'm taking the bus again.
I can't afford the rental car idea anymore. I can't afford the plane ticket. The train takes four days one way (and is too expensive).
But to make myself feel better, here's a list of the good things that happened:
*I met nice people who kept me company when I was freaked out in the stations
*I never lost my luggage
*One driver through Utah on the way back knew EVERYTHING about the wild west outlaws and told us the coolest stories
*The scenery is always nice on those routes
*It's dirt-frickin' CHEAP compared to driving
*Despite some juvenile / socially-incompetent behavior, no one ever grabbed at me or anything despite the close quarters of the bus (there were enough other women who would have come running had some dude tried anyways)
*I didn't die!
....The line to point and laugh forms to the left.
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