Reply #26: An assortment of 'bus stories'... [View All]

I have traversed the country east/west twice, and north/south a couple of times as well (along with a few shorter journeys), and have had good times and bad times.

1.) The last half of the 4 1/2 days between Charlotte NC and Anaheim CA were made ever so much better by a group of 3 surfers, with whom i sat in the back section and got drunk with from Dallas to California. Each of them had brought a couple of 5ths in their carry-on backpacks, and were more than happy to share!

2.) Our bus got stopped at 2am outside El Paso TX by the Border Patrol. Most of us were sleeping, and awakened by flashlights shining in our eyes, and silhouettes demanding our identification. I got hassled because my license pic didn't look much like me (i had gotten a rather extreme haircut), but otherwise, we were let continue without incident.

3.) Took a trip from Charlotte to NYCity during the early-90s mechanics strike (family event that couldn't be avoided, and we couldn't afford to fly), and was scared to death when we pulled into the terminal in Baltimore... there were picketers with signs and bats and lots of angry shouting going on outside the loading/unloading area. When we switched busses, the new driver strode out in a military-uniform styled driver's shirt, wearing a black beret. He talked to the group of us on the bus, and reassured us that, should the strikers get in HIS way, he would just run them over and keep going. We quietly dubbed him "Rambo: the Greyhound Commando", but he got us safely to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC... and on time, no less.

4.) Relocating by bus, we were forced to jettison about half the stuff we were carrying at NYC Port Authority terminal, because, according to the porters THERE, the combined weight was over the allowance, and they wanted an extra $100 to take it all. Never mind that the driver at our departure point (who had loaded them in) had no problem with our bags, and that we had changed busses elsewhere, and THEY had no problems with the weight either.

Fuckers...