Chris Rockwell, my grandson who lives in Lynchburg, celebrated his 17th birthday on Nov. 10, last Wednesday. I had promised to drive over, but changed my mind about the driving because I've had two episodes of becoming extremely sleepy when I'm driving on the Inter-state. In fact, once I found my eyes closed and my head nodding and when I jerked upright, realized I had almost fallen asleep.
However, I really wanted to go because with Rocky being gone this year, I thought it very important to make a special day for Christopher. I had already given him my present, some money towards the car his family has just purchased for him. However, I had a special present of a pocket watch that had belonged to Rocky since 1952. It belonged to Rocky's father from 1902, and to his father before that. During the year before Rocky died, he showed the watch to me and told me to give it to Christopher. I had taken it to a jewelry appraiser who confirmed that indeed it was old and was in very good condition. In fact, he wound it and instructed us to look at the time 24 hours later and if it had not stopped and was on time, it wouldn't even need to be taken to a jeweler for cleaning or repairs. When we checked it the next day, it was accurate with my atomic watch. There was hand engraving on the front of the watch case that said "Merry Xmas '02."
So, not feeling secure enough to drive, I decided to take the Greyhound bus. It would leave at 9:30 a.m. on Wed. and arrive around 3:00 p.m. I planned to take Chris, and other family members out to dinner and spend the night there. My return bus wouldn't leave until 3:00 Thursday afternoon which meant I would have all morning to sleep late as I am wont to do, and have plenty of time to get to the bus station.
The most interesting thing about the trip was the wait at the Bristol bus station at 9:00 a.m. The station master was most accomodating and friendly. He let me park my car right in front of the bus station where it would sit overnight and it would be dark before I could pick it up again.The bus was one hour late. There were four passengers waiting, a female student going to Springfield Mass., a middle aged man from Abingdon going to Atlantic City, and a 20-ish woman going to New York City. The wait was tolerable since a good-sized group of musicians were playing bluegrass music in the adjoining room.
The bus stopped in Marion, Wytheville, and Roanoke. The stop in Wtheville was at a McDonald's which was the only place one could get a meal. The other stations had only snack and drink machines.
It also had a clean functioning restroom where the other station's restrooms were poorly maintained. In fact the bus stations themselves looked like a 1950's movie set with wooden benches separated into sections with wooden arms. I did not use the restroom that I was told was on the bus, so I can't report on it.
The ride was bumpier than I expected and there were no seat belts. There was room for two people to sit side by side, but there were so few people riding that everyone got two seats to themselves. As we got closer to the East Coast, however, more people got on. I really didn't notice until I boarded the return bus for Bristol on Thursday and had to go about 3/4 of the way to the back of the bus before I found an unoccupied seat.
My grandson picked me up at Lynchburg in his new car, a 2005 Jeep. It was immaculate both outside and in. I was so excited to see it and ride in it with him driving that I forgot to take a picture. I had not taken my Canon Power Shot so I had only my iPhone camera. When we got to their home, I gave him Rocky's gift of the pocket watch. No one else was home yet so we had some quiet personal time to ourselves. I had written out the history of the watch the best that I could remember so he will have written documentation of its history.
He helped me take my bags downstairs to his bedroom where I was going to sleep. He had done a great job cleaning it up and had even re-arranged his furniture and created a little "studio" for himself that he called his "office." Here's a picture of him sitting at his keyboard where he composes music for his trumpet.
He is a very talented young man and has a great passion for music. He was a really good Little Leaguer and had several parts in plays with a Lynchburg theatre arts group, but he has given all that up in order to follow his dream of becoming a musician and composer. He has spent two summers with the International Drum and Bugle Corps traveling and performing in many of the U.S. states and plans to tour with them again in 2011.
Chris, his sister Jessica, his mother Ann and I went out to dinner at a restaurant called Jimmy's-On-The-James. I slept well under bright yellow sheets and a black down comforter and was up by 10:00 the next morning. Chris had left for school, Jessica had gone to work at a restaurant, and Ann was meeting a client for coffee at Starbuck's. So I had some quiet alone time until Ann came home and then she and I went to lunch at the restaurant where Jessica works. That was fun to have her as our "server" and I left a big tip. Ann and I made a quick run to Chico's where I bought a dressy scarf and some earrings.
Then Ann took me to the 1952's bus station on time only to hear that once again the bus was running an hour behind. When it finally arrived, it was fairly full and half a dozen people were waiting to get on. There was still enough light for me to read and when we got to Roanoke I was able to find a seat closer to the driver where I had been advised to sit. Once again we stopped at Wytheville McDonald's for half an hour and I ate the first Quarter Pounder I'd had this year.
As far as traveling as an older woman alone with a majority of men as fellow travelers, as was the case returning from Lynchburg, as it got dark I became more aware of that fact than I had been in going over to Lynchburg. Overall, I observed that most of the young men simply ignored me, and the middle-aged and older men were perfect gentlemen. One man chatted with me while we waited to re-board the bus asking where I was going (he was going to Dallas) but did not try to sit near me or pay any attention once we had boarded.
A mature adult male of Spanish descent sat opposite me and one row ahead, and when he turned his overhead light on he got out a book and began reading. I could see that it was printed in two columns and had those little indentations to mark the chapters and I realized he was reading the Bible. Not many overhead lights came on. Most people dozed, a few chatted especially on the earlier bus trip (interestingly, about the government and politics).
Except for one instance, the women also ignored me. The exception was a lady who chatted a lot and had participated in the political discussions. She engaged me in conversation in McDonalds on Wed. She was on her way to Richmond.
So overall there were no unpleasant incidents, smells, or conversations. Even the restrooms smelled o.k., just the reminiscent odors of 1950's paint and tiles. I think if the Greyhound Bus Company wants to expand its services, then they ought to fix those restrooms up a bit and have more food available. The bus upholstery was clean and the seat protectors for the head looked very clean. There were no lap trays which would have been nice. The windows are very large and gives nice views. When the sun shone in, however, I noticed that the blinds had been removed so I was glad I had remembered to take my sunglasses.
Once I got home, compared to other trips where I'd done a lot of driving or flying, it didn't take me as long to recover. In fact I've been working on another project since I got home, and I'll tell you about that in my next post.
Mimi
