We got our car and boy are we tired

Well, as the title says, the long wait for a car is finally over. We went to Indiana by bus to get the car. We are happy to have the car, but oh what a weekend!

It all started well enough. The tickets were paid for on line so the reservation was made and all set. Since we needed to leave at 5:00 AM and had to be there by 4:00 AM, Vanessa had called a taxi cab company and made a reservation for them to call us, to make sure we were awake and that they would be arriving soon. Well, we get up at the time we thought we should (2:30 AM). Well, 3:15 and no call. Guess what? The person who took the reservation at the cab company had PM and not AM. Oy Vey! Good thing she called. They sent a cab immediately and we were on our way.

We get to the bus station, and get our tickets/boarding passes. The staff, from the ticket takers to the bus driver, were all friendly and helpful. When the bus arrived, we boarded. The nice thing was, they had a step stool of a sort (a small metal box, really), that looked like it came from under the bus, making it easy for everyone to board the bus.

We get to St Louis (our transfer point), later than planned but that was OK because we originally had a 2 hour 55 minute layover before the next bus. We were both hungry and ate at the deli that was in the terminal (the prices were higher than the Arch). Then comes the time to get on the second bus, and so we did. At least, we got on the right bus, anyway, but that's when the trouble started.

This lady, who we didn't know at the time was the bus driver, must have taken her nasty pills that day. She barked orders at everyone like a drill sergeant. Vanessa and I just did whatever she said just to stay out of her line of fire, and we took off and headed for Indiana. I told my friends the time they needed to pick us up. It's a good thing I called them (Thank goodness for cell phones). This driver was over 45 minutes late, but that was nothing: Here comes the really bad part. I tell the driver that I need help getting off the bus because the bus is so high off the ground that I couldn't get down safely - that last "step" was far too steep. Instead of saying, ok let me get you someone who can help, she spouts an attitude, acting in a very rude and unprofessional manner. When Vanessa (who was already pissed at this point) explained that I was disabled, the driver started SCREAMING at me! I said, ya know what, fuck this and got off the bus but it was a struggle to do so. Vanessa made it abundantly clear as we walked away what she thought of the driver ("What a bitch!" and similar phrases, and more than once, loud enough that those around looked in Vanessa's direction).

We met my friends, and we headed for the town nearby where they live to go out to dinner. To borrow from Billy Crystal, "The food was wonderful, and the portions were ENORMOUS!" After dinner they showed us around the town. After that we headed to their house and got the car ready, and started heading back home.

The directions from the web were perfect and we were well on our way. They are very close to Illinois, so we had crossed the state line rather quickly. We decided to take US Route 50 all the way to St Louis. Big Mistake there! First off, there were precious few gas stations. Worse, there were precious few motels. We had to drive back to almost St Louis before we found something. No offense to my friends on here from Illinois, but your state stinks, literally! Our noses took an odoriferous assault from just about every source you can imagine: petroleum byproducts, dead skunks, manure, etc. Good G*d, people! Get a few million Glade Plug-ins. :-)

Apparently I hadn't had enough water to drink, because once we did finally try to sleep in the motel room, I was hit with the worst leg cramps imaginable (dehydration will do that, especially if you have kidney dysfunction of some kind). Needless to say I spent most of the night trying to walk off the cramps and drinking lots of water. Eventually they subsided, and we left to continue our journey home. I think another problem was the seats on the buses were not completely comfortable for me and that made me cramp up. Also, it was extremely cold in the room and neither of us thought to turn the A/C off.

The rest of the trip was really nice. We were going to take I-44 all the way back because we were wiped out from the night before, and just wanted to get home as quickly as possible, but we couldn't resist making a few detours to check out some sites on Route 66. About an hour outside of St. Louis, we visited Meramac Caverns (turns out we were too early, but the drive through the area was pretty anyway), but returned to I-44 when we were finished there (we aren't familiar with that stretch of Route 66, yet). Further down the road, we got onto Route 66 for a while and went through Cuba, Missouri, where a number of attractions can be found: the whole town is practically painted with murals, then there's the "Missouri Hick BBQ", and the Worlds Largest Rocking chair -- it was BIG! We got home in about six hours (including all of the above stops), and went straight to bed - do not, as they say, pass "Go", do not collect 200 dollars.

The bottom line is we now have a beautiful car, a Cadillac yet. To borrow from Billy Crystal again (and this time I think I got the quote right), "Nothing makes a man feels good about himself when he's sittin' behind the wheel of a big-finned gas suckin' bastard that takes up two parkin' spots." Most importantly, we finally met two friends that I've known online for over ten years, and I really enjoyed that part of the visit.