greyhound...
...is officially the worst idea ever. well, second only to amtrak, but not by much.
here's the deal. Dad thought it would be lovely for me to return to Richland Wednesday night without Mike rather than Friday night with Mike. mainly, he hasn't seen me much, and he wants my continued help (you guessed it) cleaning out the old house. and his idea actually makes sense since Mike had to go to Tacoma today because he's going to get certified in LEED (green building design!), so it is a bit silly for me to traipse back to Seattle *again* and run the (extremely minor) risk of a snowstorm of death preventing me from catching my Sunday afternoon flight to school.
ok, fine, I'll come from Ellensburg to Richland Wednesday night, I say, but how?
the bus.
now, I've ridden buses before. orchestra trips, school buses, ben franklin transit, and of course virtually every day in Moscow. but never greyhound. (and never again.)
I bought a ticket for the 6:15pm bus leaving Ellensburg, due to arrive in Pasco at 8:35. I had to buy the ticket earlier in the day, however, because the ticket office has weird hours, and I paid an extra $3 so I could have two bags under the bus instead of just one. it cost some $28 altogether. Mike got home from work and helped me load stuff into his car, we grabbed dinner at the Pita Pit, and headed to the bus station, which is actually just a gas station/Subway/truck stop and uber sketchy. we got there a bit before 6pm and had plenty of time to enjoy our dinner.
the bus showed up a little late and the driver let everyone have a quick dinner break, then we all loaded up and Mike headed out and the bus took off for Yakima. (Yakima is some 30 miles on the way to Pasco from Ellensburg.)
when we got to Yakima, the driver had everyone get out of the bus, which was a little odd, but soon we learned why. someone had seen sparks flying out of the back of the bus, and she was afraid it was going to "burn up." lovely. the most in-depth technical explanation I ever got was something about a pulley being broken and nearly catching the bus on fire. so we weren't going anywhere. and get this - we weren't going anywhere for FIVE HOURS because the nearest replacement bus had to come from Seattle, but first they had to locate a driver for said bus, etc., etc. and this was at 8pm.
clearly I was *not* going to sit there for five hours on a cold bus (it was probably 20F outside and she only turned the heater back on briefly, then left the door open - brilliant.) so I called Dad, and he came to the rescue an hour and a half or so later, and we gave a couple other random sketchy people a ride into the tri-cities also. Mike was already halfway to Seattle by this point, so there was no point having him turn around.
the upshot? no refund, and no idea what happened to the poor folks trying to get to Spokane.
Greyhound -2
Dad +1
the end.
oh and p.s. MY GRAD SCHOOL APPS ARE DONNEEEEE!!! (now we play the *sit and wait* game.)
today is Thursday and I fly to Mudd on Sunday, that is weird.
the end for reals.
here's the deal. Dad thought it would be lovely for me to return to Richland Wednesday night without Mike rather than Friday night with Mike. mainly, he hasn't seen me much, and he wants my continued help (you guessed it) cleaning out the old house. and his idea actually makes sense since Mike had to go to Tacoma today because he's going to get certified in LEED (green building design!), so it is a bit silly for me to traipse back to Seattle *again* and run the (extremely minor) risk of a snowstorm of death preventing me from catching my Sunday afternoon flight to school.
ok, fine, I'll come from Ellensburg to Richland Wednesday night, I say, but how?
the bus.
now, I've ridden buses before. orchestra trips, school buses, ben franklin transit, and of course virtually every day in Moscow. but never greyhound. (and never again.)
I bought a ticket for the 6:15pm bus leaving Ellensburg, due to arrive in Pasco at 8:35. I had to buy the ticket earlier in the day, however, because the ticket office has weird hours, and I paid an extra $3 so I could have two bags under the bus instead of just one. it cost some $28 altogether. Mike got home from work and helped me load stuff into his car, we grabbed dinner at the Pita Pit, and headed to the bus station, which is actually just a gas station/Subway/truck stop and uber sketchy. we got there a bit before 6pm and had plenty of time to enjoy our dinner.
the bus showed up a little late and the driver let everyone have a quick dinner break, then we all loaded up and Mike headed out and the bus took off for Yakima. (Yakima is some 30 miles on the way to Pasco from Ellensburg.)
when we got to Yakima, the driver had everyone get out of the bus, which was a little odd, but soon we learned why. someone had seen sparks flying out of the back of the bus, and she was afraid it was going to "burn up." lovely. the most in-depth technical explanation I ever got was something about a pulley being broken and nearly catching the bus on fire. so we weren't going anywhere. and get this - we weren't going anywhere for FIVE HOURS because the nearest replacement bus had to come from Seattle, but first they had to locate a driver for said bus, etc., etc. and this was at 8pm.
clearly I was *not* going to sit there for five hours on a cold bus (it was probably 20F outside and she only turned the heater back on briefly, then left the door open - brilliant.) so I called Dad, and he came to the rescue an hour and a half or so later, and we gave a couple other random sketchy people a ride into the tri-cities also. Mike was already halfway to Seattle by this point, so there was no point having him turn around.
the upshot? no refund, and no idea what happened to the poor folks trying to get to Spokane.
Greyhound -2
Dad +1
the end.
oh and p.s. MY GRAD SCHOOL APPS ARE DONNEEEEE!!! (now we play the *sit and wait* game.)
today is Thursday and I fly to Mudd on Sunday, that is weird.
the end for reals.