Leg Four
Chicago to Des MoinesI got back to Union Station with just enough time to eat the doughnuts I bought at a 7-Eleven (my first time ever in one), get my stuff out of the locker and get on the bus. There was a cute, young guy in fatigues with a green duffel and a buzz cut. I knew this was going to be a good ride.
We both rode up top (of the double decker) and I overheard him tell someone on his phone about the 5 hour layover he had coming up in Des Moines because the Chicago-Omaha direct bus was full when he bought tickets. Me, too. I startled him when I mentioned it after he got off the phone.
But, alas, my hopes were too high, as we fell asleep shortly after introducing ourselves and he hung out with someone he knew in Des Moines while I wandered around between downtown and the Capitol, carrying all my stuff. How rude.
My options for passing the layover included going into the Iowa Science Center (it looked like a warm, kid-friendly museum), photo hunting, or shelling out $88 to see Wicked a stone’s throw from the bus stop (no joke; I saw people going in about the time I arrived and leaving when I returned to the stop).
I went with photo hunting and discovered quite a few good finds. Highlights include:
-The Polk County Courthouse
-The Big Questions outside the ISC (such as “If you were tiny, would an atom be your universe?”)
-The beaches of Des Moines and what I decided was a giant granite tic-tac-toe board.
-the Capitol and a giant, outdoor county map of Iowa
-Public Art Bike Racks (these are from my phone since it got too cold for my sister’s camera)
Chicago to Des MoinesI got back to Union Station with just enough time to eat the doughnuts I bought at a 7-Eleven (my first time ever in one), get my stuff out of the locker and get on the bus. There was a cute, young guy in fatigues with a green duffel and a buzz cut. I knew this was going to be a good ride.
We both rode up top (of the double decker) and I overheard him tell someone on his phone about the 5 hour layover he had coming up in Des Moines because the Chicago-Omaha direct bus was full when he bought tickets. Me, too. I startled him when I mentioned it after he got off the phone.
But, alas, my hopes were too high, as we fell asleep shortly after introducing ourselves and he hung out with someone he knew in Des Moines while I wandered around between downtown and the Capitol, carrying all my stuff. How rude.
My options for passing the layover included going into the Iowa Science Center (it looked like a warm, kid-friendly museum), photo hunting, or shelling out $88 to see Wicked a stone’s throw from the bus stop (no joke; I saw people going in about the time I arrived and leaving when I returned to the stop).
I went with photo hunting and discovered quite a few good finds. Highlights include:
-The Polk County Courthouse
-The Big Questions outside the ISC (such as “If you were tiny, would an atom be your universe?”)
-The beaches of Des Moines and what I decided was a giant granite tic-tac-toe board.
-the Capitol and a giant, outdoor county map of Iowa
-Public Art Bike Racks (these are from my phone since it got too cold for my sister’s camera)
Oh, and I discovered the Iowa Genealogical Society Library is a couple blocks from the Capitol and open from 10-4 on Saturdays. Perfect. So I paid my $10 (since I’m not a dues paying member of the society) and spent about 2 hours looking for information on George Harrison Ashmore (married to Margaret Sheldon) or Samuel Black. Didn’t come up with anything for them, but found a possible lead on another line and if nothing else informed my dad of where the place is so he can go there, too.
The plan was to leave there at 4:00, relocate the bus stop, grab something to eat and be back at the stop by 5:30. Which would have worked had I not gotten lost and literally walked the perimeter of the street I needed to be on. Got there a little after 5:00, and didn’t want to risk missing the bus so I ate some of the “food” I had with me. (Don’t ever try frozen pumpkin-flavored salt water taffy, by the way.) And of course this was the only bus on the whole trip that was late. By 30 minutes, no less. So I could have gone to one of those nearby pizza places and eaten something realer.
*le sigh*
The plan was to leave there at 4:00, relocate the bus stop, grab something to eat and be back at the stop by 5:30. Which would have worked had I not gotten lost and literally walked the perimeter of the street I needed to be on. Got there a little after 5:00, and didn’t want to risk missing the bus so I ate some of the “food” I had with me. (Don’t ever try frozen pumpkin-flavored salt water taffy, by the way.) And of course this was the only bus on the whole trip that was late. By 30 minutes, no less. So I could have gone to one of those nearby pizza places and eaten something realer.
*le sigh*
It was so cold waiting for that bus that I didn’t really warm up until we got off the Interstate in Omaha. And I still had to walk six more blocks (with all my stuff, thankfully) to where I had parked my car because I wasn’t sure about leaving it at Crossroads over Black Friday or finding someone to pick me up. I made it home exhausted. So pooped I didn’t even buy the toilet paper that was on sale dirt cheap when I stopped at the grocery store so I could eat the next day.
I think I’ve had my fair share of awkwardness and adventure for at least the rest of the year. Which is why I’m doing a low-key Christmas. Holing up in my apartment watching my favorite Christmas movies: It’s a Wonderful Life and The Nativity Story (2006). Maybe inviting a couple of quiet people over.
I don’t know, though; that may be altogether too much excitement for me, especially considering that the first bus boy in this saga has asked me out for this weekend. Whatever happened to that hole I could crawl in?
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