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May 20, 2004
Three and a half hours on the Metro ain't no fun...
Well, actually, it is kind of fun, but it is tiring! And my butt hurts pretty bad too. But (no pun intended, I swear), why would I do something like ride pulic transportation for three and a half hours? (And, really, it was more like three and three-quarter hours.) Well, it was graduation day at the school where I used to work and I had promissed a number of kids that when this day came, I would be there. Of course, that was when I was still driving, so the promise was an easy one to make.
This morning, at 6:30am, almost nine months after that fateful promise, I trudged out to the first bus stop on my journey from South Plaza to the middle of Independence. (The ride wasn’t going to be too difficult — only three transfers and a lot of riding — but my luck with trying new bus routes hasn’t always been the greatest.)
One thing about long bus rides with multiple transfers is that if any one bus (and it’s usually more than just one) is a little late or a little early, the chances of catching the transfer bus diminish exponentially. When all of the busses that you ride are off, the entire trip becomes rather skewed. (Is there a reason why “skewed” is so similar to “screwed”?) Anyway, this is what happened to me this morning.
My first bus was about ten minutes late. This got me to my first transfer (somewhere near 71 highway) at the exact time that the next bus arrived (actually, I had to flag the bus down, because I wasn’t yet to the stop).
Then, bus #2 got me to my next stop (at Independence Ave. and Brighton), what must have been, just seconds after the bus that I was supposed to catch had left. I knew this because I had to wait half an hour more for the next bus.
Once on bus #3, the plan was to ride all the way to the Independence “Square,” where I would catch my last bus. Halfway to our destination, though, the bus stopped and informed us that we were at his last stop.
Whoa, what…?
It turned out that the bus before his and the next bus (due in forty-five minutes) went into Independence, but he did not. I found out that if I wanted, the “292 Orange” would arrive in thirty minutes and take me into the Square.
The 292 Orange drove smoothly onward towards my destination.
But, there was still a problem. Being that I was so late at this point, I was not going to arrive in time for my last transfer. This meant that I had to decide on whether I was to wait another forty-five minutes for the transfer (it was already 9:00 by the time we reached the transfer point and I was supposed to have been delivered — according to the original plan — by 8:15) or walk the final mile and a half to my destination.
I opted to walk. And it must have been, like 85 degrees already.
But, I made it and I even caught most of the graduation — albeit very hot, tired, and sweaty. The graduation was great. Thye decorated the gym nicer than I had ever seen it. And it was wonderful to see everyone again.
The trip back to work (even further than the morning ride) went smoothly and without a hitch. And, as I said earlier, I was on the bus for a total of about three and three-quarter hours.
Quite and adventure…
But…my butt…hurts.
Posted at 2:28 pm
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