Our Bus Trip

Last week, Jon and I spent five days visiting my in-laws who we hadn't seen in quite some time. It was a welcome and much needed break.

Getting There
We took a Greyhound bus to reduce the stress of having to drive such a long way. But because of technical difficulties, stress was unavoidable. About 45 minutes out of Scranton, the bus started slowing down and then drifting over to the shoulder. The driver told us that the bus had shut itself down and he wasn't sure why. He thought the bus may have been overheating, so we sat on the shoulder while the bus cooled down. After about five minutes, the driver started again but had to pull over about 10 minutes later for the same reason.

This time he went to check the engine. He turned off the bus, flipped open the sun roof (escape hatch) and went around the back. Then he came back into the bus and climbed up through the sun roof so he could close it. He stayed up there. We heard footsteps moving on the roof walking toward the rear of the bus. When he realized he couldn't get down off the roof we heard him walk back. He tried to pull open the hatch but couldn't. So he had to knock so someone inside the bus could open the roof and let him back in. The entire bus was roaring with laughter.

As funny as that was, it didn't inspire much confidence. The driver made a series of phone calls to learn that he should go to a service station - duh - which he did. He poured water into the engine and we were on our way. He kept looking at a clipboard which had pages and pages of directions to different destinations.

An inpatient passenger ended up giving him directions into the bus station at Binghamton because she had to transfer to another bus. We all found that pretty amusing - well, some of us did. Others were audibly upset and losing patience with the demonstrably incompetent driver. One person who did impress me with their coping abilities was this sweet boy who occupied himself quietly throughout all the nonsense.

When we got to Binghamton another driver offered to take some of us on his bus, so Jon and I joined him immediately - anything to get away from the king of incompetence. We made it to our destination, only one hour behind schedule.