Greyhound: Never Doing That Again

                You think I may have learned from my last Greyhound excursion (here) that it wasn’t that great of an experience from Portland to Salt Lake.  But I decided to give them another shot.  I thought it might be a fun experience for Jaime to try.  It would be the first time I brought my own companion on the bus. I had never done that before.

          I had purchased the tickets online. I decided the word “Flixbus” means “small”.  Searching the internet further leads me to believe it is the Flixbus that is the coach bus (with more leg room offered than on airlines) and the Greyhound is a petite upgrade from school bus. I have ridden coach buses before and I have ridden school buses.  The bus from Portland to Salt Lake was closer to school bus as far as the amount of space for passengers.  It was definitely smaller than three of the buses Jaime and I took to get to Salt Lake three weeks ago.  But still . . . There was only one coach bus.  The seats are marked with this sign

Yea, right!  Unless the passenger buttocks is the size of the average middle schooler, there is no flipping way a seatbelt is going to fit across a person.  Get real!

 I had ridden the bus before.  I’d gone back to Virginia on Trailways at the time Greyhound bought them out.  I don’t recall the bus size being so smooshed as opposed to eight years ago or three weeks ago.  But then I was a lot smaller in 1987 than I was eight years ago to currently. 

Eight years ago I caught the bus in Roseburg at a gas station where there were benches outside.  This year it was at the parking lot of an abandoned grocery store.  There was nowhere to sit.  No one to talk to.  Nowhere to pay.  What the hey?

          The bus lines would like passengers to believe that there is a restriction on size and weight of luggage – but for the most part we (the passengers) were required to put the luggage on and take it off ourselves.  Driver did not enforce the size or weight regulation. Doesn't seem to matter whether one specifies assigned seating as that isn't enforced either.

          We did ride a Coach Bus (the Flixbus that wasn’t marked as a Greyhound)  from Hermiston (not mapped) to Boise.  Why is it that we had to take four buses?  And why through Seattle instead of Portland?  There was a bus in Hermiston going to Portland, so why not from Portland to Hermiston?  Why the tour of southern Washington state?  Granted, it was pretty – but it was 8 – 12 hours we could have been in Utah and not on Greyhound's upgraded equivalent of a school bus.

          We had a four and a half hour layover in Seattle. 4 1/2 hours! Theoretically the station wouldn’t open until 5:00 a.m. and we had arrived just before 4:00.  Fortunately someone came to open the doors at four.  My bladder was most grateful for that call.

          Before we left the house, Richard had told me to fill my pockets with change.  I had selected a pair of shorts that seemed big on me without the weight of the change – but with all that money in my pockets, I definitely needed a belt so that my pants wouldn’t fall off my body. It was in Seattle where my change came in handy as there were vending machines that offered snacks and Jai and I were both hungry for something other than what we had brought with us.

          We did have some good experiences and some not so pleasant moments – but we were safe and we were grateful.  I had looked into other options for our return as I really didn’t wish to return the way we came. But because of all the fires that happened while we were away, we may have not had that option anyway.

I Miss My Flip Phone!

              There are so many things I miss about my flip phone.  No accidental butt dials.  Not that I can actually butt dial as my touch screen is so LARGE that it will NOT fit into a human pocket.  Often it is too big for the provided pocket that comes with totes especially designed for the cell phone.  NOT my cell phone.

         My last phone was an Easyfone which totally lives up to its name.  Turn it on and it is ready to go.  No waiting for the forces of nature to connect to cyberspace even though I don’t have all the so called cool features as apps and the internet.  Unwanted ads.  I already get that through texting – Thank you very much.  Never got the ads through my cell phone – not even Trump’s important message that went out to most cell phone owners.  Not me.  It was great.

        I did get the Amber Alerts – and the ones sent out of Oregon and not Utah (even though I still have a Utah area code).  I seriously thought about changing to an Oregon number – back in 2020 when I went through NOT ONE but THREE different cell phones.  THREE!!! Give me a break.  Initially I thought I’d just wait until the pandemic was/is over – though good I didn’t – as I would have been without for two years now. 

        My Easyfone still works – just no service with my current carrier – but that could change again.  Not looking to do that anytime soon.  But you never know.  The touch screen takes much more awesome pictures than does the Easyfone.  But then again – I use my phone for a phone and not a camera – but as I have that added feature, why not.  Doesn’t zoom in as great as my camera does – and my camera is easier to carry than the brick I call a cell phone (or is it the other way around?) and everybody in the neighborhood knows when I am taking a picture as it has the same click as those old time cameras – invented long before I was.   

        And let us not forget my skinny fingers turning into the size of hotdogs each time I try to press a button.  (Swipe a button?) I was never frustrated by the cell phone.  Time to stop my griping.  I need to get ready to go to the pool.

I’d Rather Be Wet By Rain Than Perspiration

               My Baby graduated high school last night. There were ten students representing the honors list.  If they had picked twelve – Jai would have been up front with them wearing golden sash.  Yet just having four year cords was pretty cool – again because she did not attend the school during 2020-2021.  But it sounded like a wasted year for all of them.

       Without meaning to, I had compared her graduation to my own and the HUGE differences between them.  The only similarity I saw was with the weather.  Both were overcast – though I don’t recall as much rain at my graduation as with hers. 

       She had called to ask if we would like to be seated in the very back so that I could lean against the wall or if we wanted to be the second row in front.  I was visualizing the bleachers and not three rows of chairs added to the front – which is still fine.  I would have rather been where I was than in the back which I would have had to climb – not only getting up but coming down.  I would have taken the coat I didn’t think I’d need in the bleachers but wished I had from where I was at.

 

June - a sign of umbrellas and parkas, right?

       So the differences – besides her graduating class being a sixth of the size – were in how the students were seated and returned to their seats.  Except for the honor students seated on the front row, they were seated alphabetically.  We had been seated according to height – except for the students in the very front row.  Shortest kids sat in front and crossed the stage last.  My graduating class started with the back row for students to walk across the stage. 

The staff passed out rolled up “diplomas” which were meant to appear like diplomas but were only paper saying congratulations blah, blah, blah . . . We did not return to our seats but continued walking passed those seated in the bleachers, up the stairs that led to the school.  Once inside we exchanged our robes for the real diploma  - or at least the case that held it.  I think our diplomas were mailed to us at a later date.  But that was a long time ago.

Last night there was a long lasting speech – too long.  I kept thinking “Don’t you remember what happened to William Henry Harris after he gave his long-winded speech? It cost him his life.”  Evidently Jai had been thinking the same thing.  I think that first speaker spoke longer than everyone else put together. 

The students that graduated last night would go behind the stage, walk across and then return to their seats.  But I suppose that’s easier to do with only 96 students as opposed to over 600.  They graduated June 3 while my graduation was at the end of May – I think a week before I turned 18. 

I wore a dress underneath my robe – though I didn’t see the point.  The robe was hot.  Shorts would have been more comfortable.  The students who graduated last night wore whatever.  Some were dressed nice with heels.  Others wore comfortable comfortable .  I saw one with exposed legs and sandals.  Awesome!  It sounded as if our diplomas would have been withheld from us if anyone in my graduating class dare think about wearing anything casual – let alone follow through.

Unlike the boring class of 1980, the students at Jaime’s school are encouraged to be silly and decorate their hats.  Jaime said she wasn’t planning on decorating (which surprised me – why would she not make her uniqueness shine through?) but ended up decorating after the button fell off her cap and she needed something to hold her tassel in place. Before I graduated one of the instructors was adamant about how the cap was to be worn.  It needs to be upright as though you are holding a glass of water on top.  DO NOT use bobby pins!  (And yet the staff – she included – were passing out bobby pins that night.  And yes they did look tacky.  At my high school, we just rented our robes.  They came in the school colors.  Green for boys, white for girls  (or whatever the school colors happened to be).  SUHS colors are black and gold, but all of the students wore black gowns which they purchased as renting wasn’t an option (perhaps it had been prior to covid?)

She has a busy day ahead of her today.  Attending various celebrations that others have planned. I am so happy that school was a positive experience for her unlike me.  I HATED school.  Wasn’t comfortable around the majority of my peers or had the circle of friends that she has been blessed with.

Back to the Children of Israel

          Moses had been raised as a prince in Pharaoh’s court.  We don’t know how many there were in total but at least one.  There was at least one raised along side of Moses who would become the next Pharaoh.  It is possible that he and Moses were friends many years before Moses killed an Egyptian while trying to protect a slave. Rumor has it that the Pharaoh at that time got wind of what had happened and sought to slay Moses and Moses fled.

          Forty years had passed before Moses returned to Egypt – a different man, a different Pharaoh.  Forty years is a long time.  The Pharaoh’s heart had hardened.  He no longer viewed Moses as growing up in the same palace as he.  He saw a poor shepherd and would not take Moses seriously – even with all the plagues.  Even with the killing of the first born.

          The Passover is so named because of the night when the Angel of Death had come to claim the first born from each household.  Those that had painted lamb’s blood on their doorway were passed over.  The Pharaoh did not have lamb’s blood painted on their door.  I wonder if any Egyptians did.  Even after 9 other plagues did they really view the “killing of the first-born” as a hoax?  Did they feel remorse about not having taken the signs seriously?

          And yet here we are today.  Some people have worn masks all along.  Some continue wearing them even though they’ve been vaccinated.  I always feel guilty when I am around them and not wearing a mask.  I have been vaccinated.  Jenna has been vaccinated.  Not many of her friends have received nor expect to receive the vaccination.  Some of her friends parents have made it loud and clear that “no one in the household will be getting vaccinated” and I wonder how many will fall victims to COVID – not necessarily that it will be the first born, but I think it could be a wake-up call for many that the “Angel of Cornona” isn’t passing them by.  Nor do I know if a shot will be as effective as the lamb’s blood so many centuries ago.  

    How often did Moses wish to throw up his hands against the children of Israel?  To try and shake some sense into them and tell them not to act like such big babies?  Did they not  remember the miracles either? It’s not over.  I wish I was wrong.  Sadness.

the "V" stands for vaccination