Bus Stories

6:15 Monday morning... Alan Menken's Enchanted Suite woke me up to quite an array of thoughts.

1. I still want to be asleep
2. I love this song!
3. I need to be ready to go in 45 minutes... no snooze button!

I took a quick shower, threw a few last-minute things into my suitcase, said goodbye to the fam, and headed out the door! Dad and I arrived at the greyhound station at 8 something. My bus was supposed to leave at 9, but there were mechanical issues and we didn't pull out until 9:45.

I have very little good to say about the first part of my trip, so I probably shouldn't say much at all. Let me just say that the bus was crowded, people kept ignoring the "No Smoking" and "No Foul Language" rules, and the atmosphere was just generally not cool. I was able to talk to an older lady and help her out at a couple of stops as well as sleep a bit, so it wasn't ALL bad. But I was quite relieved when we got to Kansas City and lost the majority of the smokers and all of the ex-cons. (One of whom I'm under the impression wasn't supposed to be leaving Colorado.........)

In Kansas City I went to claim my bags and found that only one of the two had been taken off of the bus. I asked a guy to help me, but he brushed me off. What's with that? I decided that if he was going to be an ornery jerk about it, I wasn't going to be pushy. But neither was I going to walk off without my bag. I stood there as everyone else took their luggage and left. Another guy saw me standing there and asked if I was waiting for something. I explained that one of my bags was still on the bus, so he went digging through the rest of the luggage until he found it. Now that is the type of person that greyhound should be hiring all of the time!

My layover in Kansas City was supposed to be 4 hours, but since we were running so far behind it was only three. I was very thankful for that because my past experiences with long layovers hasn't been so great... My time in Kansas City was actually pretty good, though! I talked to this one guy for awhile... I have no clue what his name is, but we had a pleasant conversation about a wide variety of things. =) It definitely helped to pass the time! I also read books and played games on my kindle.

The Story of the Sleepy Girl and the Indian Man

Once I boarded my next bus and it didn't look like it would be too crowded, I stretched out over two seats and went to sleep. I was sleeping pretty peacefully when someone nudged my foot. I opened my eyes to see this old Indian man leaning over me.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah." I answered groggily. Did I look dead to him or something?
He left and I went back to sleep. A bit later *nudge* there he was again.
"We're stopped. Aren't you going to get off?"
"No, but thanks for checking." I went back to sleep.
*NUDGE*
"You should eat something. You should get something to eat. Or I can get you something."
WHAT IS WITH THIS GUY?!
"No, thank you! I'm fine." I said. I was starting to wonder when he was getting off. Oh, and for the record, all of this was happening at 2:30, 3:00, and so on. Not exactly normal eating hours on my schedule!
We continued down the road and I was still asleep when I suddenly jerked awake because someone's hand was in my hair. By the time I sat up and turned around, I couldn't tell who had been there. I don't know if it was someone who was feeling their way to the bathroom or if it was the Indian guy... but I'm pretty sure that it wasn't the Amish kid behind me. lol

My last transfer was in Minneapolis. I got off of my bus and walked into the terminal. I had just found my next bus, which was already loading, when this guy came and tapped me on the shoulder. I was quite afraid that my Indian friend was back, but it was a young man this time. "Hey," he said, handing me his ticket, "Are we on the same bus?"
I glanced at his ticket and handed it back. "Um, yes."
"Thanks! I can't figure this stuff out."
Illiterate, much? hahaha Anyhow, he got on the bus and sat behind me, but he didn't talk to me any more. I was a little relieved... I'd dealt with enough strange guys on the rest of the trip.

Nothing else exciting happened until the excitement of arriving safely at my destination. =D So here I am, safe and happy! <3

Happy Inside Out

     I am so excited about how the next few months of my life are looking! In case I don't have opportunity to post much, here's the plan...

     On Monday I am boarding the bus for Wisconsin. I will be there in WI until mid-April and then... TATADA!!! I get to cross something off of my bucket list by taking the train to Virginia! I will be there for a few weeks to help a dear friend of mine prepare for her wedding. :) I plan to return to Colorado the second week of May. I won't be back for long, though! My travels will take me (almost immediately) to Arizona for another summer at Grand View Camp!

     So yeah... *very* exciting!

     By the way, I watched Dolphin Tale this weekend. It was a pretty good movie!

     There is something so magical about sea creatures. It must have been great for the actors to get to be with the dolphins! I quite envy them. Ish. =P

     Anyhow... I should get to bed. I hope to be able to post while I'm gone, but I really don't know what to expect. We'll see!

Road Trippin' Again!

In three weeks I'll be in Wisconsin again! [insert *much* happiness here] I'm so excited to go and see little Jubilee (who finally graced us with her presence on Sunday) and, of course, her mommy and daddy!!! I leave on the greyhound bus on Monday and get into Wausau on Tuesday.

My first trip with greyhound was this September, and boy oh boy was it an adventure! I saw people from nearly every walk of life and spent time in the company of the amish, crass and flirtatious women, a weak and diabetic woman whom I was able to assist with different things, an old man who smelled horrible and had no teeth, some really friendly and outgoing people who shared (sometimes maybe too much of ;)) their life stories with me, a really quiet computer-geeky type of guy, a couple who were making out for most of the trip, etc etc etc

Okay... when I first got off of my final bus, I didn't know if I wanted to go on a bus trip again. But I had a lot of great experiences mixed in with the not-so-great parts. And as a writer, I LOVED it! Getting to know people or even being forced to listen in on loud conversations is a great way to get character ideas or even plots. Broken hearts, sea monster sightings, mystic religions, and every other topic under the sun... it's all available on the bus or in the terminal. 

So... I'm taking off again! And I'm excited about it! If I can figure a way to update twitter from my phone, I'll be doing that throughout my trip. =) Otherwise, I'll just try to get a post up here soon after!

Looking to the Future

The near future includes an awesome giveaway courtesy of Lindsay! Go have a peek and enter for the earrings! [Don't enter for the scarf, though... I want to win that. ;)]

This year has really flown by, and November is just around the corner. Have any of you ever heard of NaNoWriMo (NATional NOvel WRIting MOnth) or maybe even participated? I heard about it last October and gave it a go. I actually met my goal and wrote a novel! I'm thinking about giving it another shot this year, though I know it will be slightly more challenging because I'm 18 now and have to write a minimum of 50,000 words.

If you are interested in NaNoWriMo, please visit either their Young Writers Program or their Home Page. If you decide to do it, feel free to add me (ramblinrose506) as a friend on either site.

My church is going on a trip to Israel in the spring, and I initially thought that I should go out and get a job right away to try and make money for said trip. Right now I'm kinda reconsidering. What do you think? Would you go on a 10 day trip just for the experience even if you didn't know any of the other travelers all that well? Should I go for it, or should I wait until I have enough money (supposing this ever happened...) to take a friend?

Also in the near future is (I hope!) a trip to Florida to visit my grandparents. I would be traveling alone, but I have no problems with that. I love traveling! =D I have been looking at ticket prices today and I just need a confirmation from my grandparents on the dates I'm looking at. It'll be loads of fun!

What do you have coming up in your future?