As I posted earlier, on Monday, there was a family bus trip. My sister and I, who both ride the bus frequently, taught my mom and two little sisters how to ride the bus.
People in this story:
Mom-- Webname: Mom
My older sister-- Webname: Bikerchick
Me-- Webname: Rangergirl
Younger sister-- Webname: Red-Headed-Swimmer
Youngest sister-- Webname: PrincessSarah
To get to the Community College or the University, the fastest way to go is to take the 8 to the transit center and then take the 766 from the transit center. This is one of about four ways to get to school.
We live a block away from Park Avenue, where bus 8 stops. I planned this grand adventure in which we would all take the 8 and the 766 to get there and then the 31 and 777 to get home. This way Mom knows more than one way to get to and from school and the family gets the full bus riding experience. But... the family did want the full bus riding experience. So we took the car-- that's right, the CAR down to the transit center. It turns out, the transit center has a very tiny and full parking lot. So we parked over at the mall and then walked back to the transit center.
We boarded the 766. The transit center is its last stop, so the bus is empty and all five of us sit together and we have a nice, quiet, air-conditioned, uneventful trip down to campus. Sadness. Not a lot of blogging material there, other than Mom getting very excited about her one-day bus pass and how it was so nice and cute, with the little picture of the bus on it.
Once we got there, we had to go to the community college because Bikerchick needed to talk to one of the extra-helpful people there to get her transcripts transferred to the University. I head my usual direction. To get there, you go straight and then turn right once you reach the street that the CC is on. You walk down that street until you reach it. But oh, no, Bikerchick had other plans. So we walk straight for just a few steps, then we turn down some creepy alley behind some run-down restaurants. So we all walk down the creepy alley and pas some hobo wearing nothing but a pair of cutoffs and we almost get run over. Not a whole lot of wiggle room in an alley. Then we walk up another street to school. Now, she hasn't been to school all summer like I have, so she doesn't know that a street between here and there (when going her way), is completely under construction. There's a sign that says the sidewalk has closed and past that, there is no sidewalk. It's all very uneven ground, like some mud sculpture that's been hardened. And there's tractors and huge cement cylinders.
I knew we shoulda gone my way!
So, even though there is NO SIDEWALK and there's a sign that clearly states SIDEWALK CLOSED. Mom and Bikerchick just keep walking. Red-Headed-Swimmer and PrincessSarah trailing along behind them, and we go right between the two tractors. What the heck? THE SIDEWALK IS CLOSED!!!!
We took care of all our school stuff at CC and then went over to the University to take care of MORE school stuff, and then back on the bus. The stop downtown where we were is not nice and empty like the transit center. Two buses stop there and it was packed with people. I sat down on the bench next to a guy with a cheek piercing and eyebrow piercing. We wait for about ten minutes and then the bus comes.
All of the people at the stop load up the bus. It was packed and there weren't a lot of seats left. But a very nice man gave up his seat for my mom and littlest sister. I sat in the back. It's always this way on the bus. A bazillion people pack themselves into the front, sitting and standing on each other, but the back is nice and empty. The back is a good place to be. My other two sisters found seats close to Mom.
I didn't mind sitting in the back, because it was a lot cooler-- not as many bodies. But I was right across the aisle from some supergross make-out-couple. That should be outlawed on the bus. People have to sit next to you, ya know. Once the middle was emptier, I moved farther away from make-out-couple and sat across from my family. Then I learned that that seat is the seat where there's a crack in the ceiling and all this dirt and who-knows-what-else started blowing continually onto me. I was quickly coated in dirt.
We soon reached the transit center, where we got off and headed back to the car. The end of the family bus trip. The goal to teach Mom how to ride the bus to school: Accomplished.
Exhausting.
ReplyDelete