The Bus Adventures

This week has been an interesting one. I had to ride the bus to and from work for the first time, starting on Wednesday. I wanted to be prepared so I studied the schedules and where to get on and off. Apparently, I didn't study very well.

It was a fairly cold day, but not too cold considering the fact that it was a December morning in Utah. Leaving my house at 6:30 am, I walked to the bus stop on Wednesday and only waited a few minutes for the bus to arrive. I boarded the bus, paid the fee, got a transfer pass, and took a seat. I felt pretty good about it so far. My dad had mentioned that would probably be on the same bus as I was so I was anxiously waiting for him to board so I'd be able to relax and know for sure that I was on the right bus.

I didn't start to worry until we passed where he would have gotten on. As we passed it, I started to worry. This wasn't the route I had studied and it just didn't seem right. Frantically, I grabbed my map of all the bus routes and tried to find one that would take me into town. I'd realized that I'd gotten on the bus going the wrong direction. Instead of heading to Salt Lake, I was heading for the Vally Fair Mall in West Valley.

I randomly chose a bus that would go from the mall into SLC. I got off the bus at the Valley Fair Mall, waited less than a minute, and boarded the bus I had decided to take. At this point, I was incredibly stressed because I didn't know the route of this bus at all. I figured I'd be able to find a good place to get off and walk to few remaining blocks to work. Knowing that I'd probably end up being late, I figured I should call my boss. I pulled out my cell phone, and for some unknown reason, I didn't have any service.

I got off the bus in Salt Lake, but again, I screwed up. I got off a little too early. I ended up having to walk seven blocks to work. I was tired, I was grumpy, but I'd finally made it to work. As I trudged up the stairs to my desk, I tried to put it all behind me and just be thankful that I'd gotten to work before too long. I arrived at my desk at 8:05 am. It had taken me more than an hour and a half to get to work. I was incredibly sore since my work shoes have no support and aren't good for walking, I was stressed since I'd arrived to work late, and I was tired from waking up early and all the walking that I'm not used to. It did not seem like it would be a good day.

Well, the day went on fairly normally. For some reason, my department has been busier this December than ever before. Normally, or so I'm told, December is a slow month for us. I guess this year decided to prove them wrong. While I work, I went to the UTA website to plan my trip home so I would know exactly where to go and when rather than having to guess my way through it.

Work ended and I walked the two blocks to the bus stop, where I would wait. I knew what bus I had to take. I knew what time. I knew where I had to get off. This should go much smoother this time. I boarded the bus, got my transfer and took a seat. The bus ride went smoothly at first. As we neared where I had to get off, I was worried about missing my next bus, which only comes every 30 minutes and would only come two more times that night. I panicked about getting to the right place, and ended up getting off early again.

I looked at the address I had to go to and thought I had to cross the street, so I did. I sat at the bus stop that I thought was the right one for a few minutes. Suddenly, my brain decided to work again and I realized I was two blocks East of where I needed to be. Feeling panicked again, I walked as quickly as possible to the correct bus stop. On my way there, I watched a bus pull away and had the sinking feeling in my stomach that I had just missed my bus.

I got to the bus stop and sat down, knowing but not wanting to admit it, that I had missed my bus and I was an idiot because of missing it. After watching bus after bus after bus stop at my stop and people filing on and off of them with my bus nowhere in site, I started to get discouraged. Finally, my bus arrived. I sat down and realized that I'd forgotten to bring my book to read on the long ride home. Inwardly, I cursed myself yet again for being so forgetful. This was just not my day.

The bus ride home was uneventful. I got off, again a stop too early (me and my stupid fear of going too far...). When I got home, I was very happy to be home and just relaxed all night, watching movies, eating ice cream and reading.

Riding the bus yesterday wasn't nearly as bad since I now knew where I needed to go and what bus I needed to get on, and the stops to get on and off of. It all went fairly smoothly yesterday.

Today, another "adventure" unfolded. I left my house around 6:30 am to catch my bus. I knew it had been raining all night and also knew that it was still raining in the morning. I thought to myself as I left my house, "I should probably grab an umbrella". Even so, I didn't grab my umbrella and I headed to the bus stop. It wasn't raining too hard so I figured I'd be ok. I was only a little wet when the bus arrived and I boarded.

I rode into SLC and, having remembered my book, spent most of the ride lost in a world created by someone else's words. I got off at my transfer spot and noticed that it was raining much harder now. Luckily, at this stop, there was one of those bus benches with a cover over the top. I was able to get under that and stay dry.

My next bus arrived and the next few blocks went quickly. I got off the bus and immediately wished that I didn't have to walk two more blocks. By now, the rain had turned from a steady drizzle to an all out down pour. I walked as fast as I could to the corner where I would cross the street. The gutters were overflowing so rather than just walking across the street, I had to leap over the puddles that were created at each intersection.

Leaping is not an easy thing to do when you have a bag on your shoulder, you're wearing work clothes that are not used to handling this kind of weather, and the shoes on your feet are more for looks than support. I was certain that I was bound to have one of those moments that we all laugh at but are horrible when they happen to you. I was convinced that I would attempt my leap, slip, and end up knee deep in freezing, dirty gutter water.

For once, luck was with me. I miraculously mangaged to avoid drowning in the knee deep water. I did not, however, manage to avoid getting completely drenched. After walking only half a block of the two block walk that remained to get to work, my hair was soaked through, and my pants were cold, wet and sticking to my legs. I arrived at work, mostly unscathed, but looking like a drowned rat. My hair was a mess. It was so wet that when I got to my desk, I was actually able to wringe out a fair amount of water from it into my garbage bin.

Luckily for me, Wil will be picking me up from work so I don't have to stand in the rain waiting for a bus. Thus ends the bus adventures, for now.