Ground control to Major Tom.....

I have landed. My trip was one of utter torture. I mean that, really I do. The first leg of my trip was spent with a 44 year old racist, bipolar, possibly schizo woman. She would NOT shut up I had to fake like I was falling asleep to get her to leave me alone. Here are some of the gems this woman said to me.

"Houston used to be so nice there weren't no Mexicans or n-----s, or anything like that " Upon hearing that I gave her a look of astonishment and then looked around at the other people on the bus to see if we were about to die seeing as we were two of only four Caucasians aboard.

Another gem: "You know why I hate Bill Clinton? 'Cause he had an affair with Monica Lewinsky." I just said "okay" and tried to go back to my book.

She also mentioned something about "angels" like "back in the 70's there were a lot of angels around Houston, (poking my arm at the elbow) you know, angels?" Maybe it was some king of slang for junkies, I have no idea. All I really know is that the woman wasn't all there. I was hoping we would part ways in Dallas where I had to change buses, but no, she rode with me all the way to Memphis, TN.
I'm pretty sure she was illiterate too, she kept asking me to look at her ticket to see where she had to go, I hope she made it okay, I have a feeling she might still be in Memphis.
In between Dallas and Texarkana, AR the driver got lost trying to find the station (was it his first day?) I had the sudden fear come over me that this was some kind of a ruse, like Deliverance meets The Hills Have Eyes. The driver would intentionally get us "lost" so a band of deformed hillbilly mutants could converge upon a bus full of city folk to have their way with us and eat our corpses for a late night meal. This song comes to mind
(I may be jumping around in continuity here, so bear with me I'm writing all of this as it comes back to me)
On the stretch from Memphis to Chicago. There was an interesting(read DUMB ASS) fellow. He was dressed from head to toe in Juggalo Gear. And he was on his way to a gathering of Juggaloes (or would it be Juggali?). He was telling anyone who would listen about how he was going to hitchhike his way 60 miles from his stop to get there. People were giving him a hard time, because he looked like an idiot, and for telling everyone of his plans to hitch. People were also rapping Eminem songs to him (because Juggaloes HATE Eminem). Yes it was a raucous time on the bus for a few hours, then the idiot got let off in some small town in southern Illinois.
After about five hours of relative silence I was in Chicago. "Finally, a chance to get some real food in my stomach" I thought be cause for 25 1/2 hours I subsisted on nothing but chips and soda. But alas, no, I had to go wait in line for yet one more bus to take me to Hammond, Indiana where I was to meet my sister. Why Hammond you ask? Because Hammond is closer to where my sister lives in Crete, IL. On the way there the bus had to make a stop at the 95th street station in Chicago, Oh joy of joys! There was a toddler who was just screaming at the top of his lungs, It wasn't a labored "I'm hungry, this bus stinks kind of screaming, oh no, It was a happy, joyful repetitive kind of noise that went on and on and on for well over an hour because traffic on the way to that station was horrendous! I am so glad I don't own a gun!
The bus station in Hammond Indiana is a quaint affair located to a very class act strip club with pepto-pink paint and fake palm trees on the outside. I was glad to be there though because that meant that my journey was over. I exited the bus collected my 100 plus pounds of gear met with my sister, stowed my gear in her car and then proceeded into the station to collect the package I had shipped along with me containing my computer, my precious Henry Rollins DVD's, my pillows, my blankey, and various collectibles I could not bear to part with. THEY FUCKING LOST IT! I have no idea if I will ever see those things again. I hope this is not an indicator of how things will go while I'm here.