Sometimes I don't have the sense god gave a goose....... I swear!

Hmmmmmmmmmm, an one might ask 'WHY' does she say that. Geese louise. What an experience? OMG!!!

I decided once again a few weeks ago to go into the trenches. OMG!

I was headed out to California and decided to take the bus. OMG!!!! .......and I wasn't checking Amtrack buses but guess which bus line I checked and came out on? Yep, smart lady that I am, I chose Greyhound...

To begin with, the first stop had a two hour layover. hmmmmm

.........and then, and then, and then, it went down hill from there.

I have to admit that I met the nicest people on my trip BUT, the bus line sucks and is very prejudice. It was apalling how the people I met were treated. There was no respect, nothing. It was horrendous.

The bus had to be from the 50's or 60's and it was attrocious.......... I can only tell you that we need to get some of our folks on these buses. (I think it had to do with there being mostly Mexicans that frequent this bus line.... and I don't say that lightly as there was one leg of the journey that I was probably the only person in a load of 54 or 55 that spoke English and yet the people I dealt with were the moste caring and loving and giving group.)

I have to admit that at every turn, there were NEW buses but 'WE' didn't seem to be worth a new bus. Both buses that I traveled on were broken and OLD. hmmmmmmmm and I swear the feeling I got was the route from LA to the San Joaquin Valley had mostly people of Mexican persuasion. (If you know anything about certain parts of California, for generations Mexicans have been very much in Delano, Visalia, Tulare, yadayadayadayada..........)

At one point we had a black bus driver that got heckled and harassed from ONE YOUNG WHITE man that nearly put me over the edge. He finally said something that I could use against him and I went right in his face and told him straight up if he harassed the driver one more time I would personally call 911 and have him arrested....... HE HAD intimated 'Terrorist' attack and I was so angry with him that I think I may have accidently spit in his face. He was pretty quiet after that except when he was departing the bus and he started making comments again that was directed at me this time. I watched him depart the bus and was so happy I would never have to see him again I let out a sigh of relief.

At one point leaving LA, the bus shut down just on the other side of the grapevine.
We were instructed to turn around and go back to LA if the bus would start, and pick up another bus. We were left waiting for at least another hour and a half before a different bus showed up.

In the mean time the heckler was constantly trying to engage everyone in an uprisin g. It was awful and at one point I took him aside and tried to reason with him only to have him bad mouth the bus driver again.

When we were leaving the terminal the driver got so angry he drove round the corner and walked out of the bus and told us all that he would not take the harassment anymore. He went in and called his boss and as I walked into the terminal I heard him yelling into the phone that he would not take the pressure anymore.

I talked to him and told him he was doing a good job and that I would understand if he walked away. He was almost in tears and I was crushed that we would once again lose against the bad guys.

After I finally talked him into taking us the rest of the way and sat back down, a black kid from the back of the bus walked to the front of the bus and showed his support and understanding.

........anyways to make a short story long, we continued on our way only to have the second bus stop the second time in almost the same place.

NOT once in all of this mess, did any of the rest of the passengers show a bit of anger and continued to support each other in a most loving way. It was amazing and I swear I was the only one on that whole bus that saw this as a big deal.

I had tried 3 or 4 time to use the phones at the terminals to let the people picking me up know that we were running 6 hours late. I finally asked one of my fellow passengers if I could use her cell and she very gratiously let me have it and since I had missplaced my glasses, she and her friend even dialed for me.

In the middle of this whole fiasco, the care shown to one another on that bus made me smile and happy inside.

The heckler finally departed the bus in Fresno, CA and the bus driver was very much at ease after that.

I'll tell you one thing one bad apple can surely ruin the barrel.

......... off topic here, I remember a march in Phoenix and I remember a very similar situation. There was a pick-up load of 'young white men' that tried to heckle us and start something, it's like they were sent to create and incident.