Oh joy, another greyhound bus
This journey started from Broomfield at 6:30 am with a Lyft to Denver Greyhound station. The half hour journey took an hour because of rush hour and an accident on the highway. Fortunately I had factored possible traffic jams in to my time line.
I arrived at the Denver station about 7:30 and it seemed even more down at heel than when I arrived a week or so before. When planning my trip I had all sorts of ideas about using public transport. The reality of bags and the generally cheap cost of Uber and Lyft quickly changed my view, anything for an easy life.
To check in not not to check in
There were people asleep in the station which was quite busy. The ticket says you have to check your luggage. But there was no sign as to where I was supposed to do that. I opted not to bother as I hadn’t done it on the journey here. The driver arrived to get us loaded and I was one of the first ones on, so I got a pick of seats. I chose to sit near the front again, but this time with the luxury of a window seat.
Some people never listen, they were lucky not to be left behind.
We were 20 minutes late setting off because of computer problems. The driver had gone off to log in at about 8. Then a couple arrived really late so their luggage had to be loaded on too. This gave me something to worry about because I had a connection in Albuquerque.
Something to worry about
I was tracking both buses throughout the day. Eventually it became apparent that the second bus was running an hour and a half late. This meant I was able to stop worrying about spending the night in Albuquerque and missing my tour the next day. There is no slack in this project plan!
At one point we had a 15-minute stop and were told by the driver if we ordered food in Wendy’s to “get it to go”. When he was setting off 15 minutes later he asked is everyone here? Someone shouted out that there was a couple missing. One kind soul ran in and found them eating in at Wendy’s. Some people never listen, they were lucky not to be left behind.
Albuquerque – what a strange name
We finally got to Albuquerque at about 5 pm just ten minutes late in the end. My next bus arrived in about half an hour later and they turned it around pretty quickly. Although I feared we wouldn’t get to Flagstaff until midnight it was around 10:30 pm. However I hadn’t taken into account we were moving out of Mountain time and into Pacific time i.e. back an hour.
The journey gets harder
I coped reasonably well for the longest part of the journey but the last five hours were really hard. The combination of sitting in the same seat all day, tiredness and the dark, really started to get to me. Oh and I got told off for not having my bag checked in when I was putting it on the new bus. So they gave me a manual check in ticket, naughty girl! I preferred taking it off the bus and putting it on the next because at least you know it’s with you. If I had checked it in who knows what might have happened to it. There was a young woman on the bus with a very small baby, she was on the phone about a piece of luggage she had lost. Need I say anymore!
Burgers all the way
Food was hard during the day. Sam had given me some snacks and an apple, and I had breakfast before I left. But I was forced into a Wendy’s chicken burger for lunch, which really wasn’t well cooked. At Albuquerque the choice was also extremely limited so a cheese burger for dinner.
The room said outside it was an Executive suite, not sure what kind of executives they have in Arizona, but at least the bed was comfortable.
Although it wasn’t good, I felt I hadn’t eaten too badly, at least I didn’t buy loads of bad snacks. I had weighed myself on the Sunday and was pleased I had lost a pound, which is the plan a pound a week. It was a bit of a miracle because we consumed quite a lot of wine. I am still determined to keep up the walking and healthy eating, but one day with a couple of bad choices is OK, when that’s all there is!
Flagstaff finally
I finally arrived at Flagstaff and had to get a cab to the hotel. There was a railway line and a highway between me and my hotel. Oh well, that five minute walk didn’t happen. My Lyft arrived pretty promptly and within five minutes I was in the motel reception.
Standing there with my three bags the woman said to me, “to get to your room go up this flight of steps and then up this flight of steps”. I just looked at her in horror, tired and ready for bed. I said “not with all this, any other way I can get there?”. “Oh you can walk up the slope then”.
That meant walking up the road to the top line of accommodation. The motel was on a big hill. Phew, but that hill was steep. I certainly burnt a few calories carting all my stuff up there! The room said outside it was an Executive suite, not sure what kind of executives they have in Arizona, but at least the bed was comfortable.
Another early start
Up early the following day for the ‘inclusive’ breakfast, that didn’t take long. Won’t bother with that again, not the best food experience. Down to reception at 8:20 to wait for my 8:25 pick up for the Grand Canyon tour.
The thing the struck me most about the journey was the constant view of the mountains. I had been told that they run all the way down the country from Canada to Mexico. The other thing that struck me about the journey was that the landscape just changed immediately we got to New Mexico, it suddenly became much greener. I will leave you now as I think the Grand Canyon needs a whole section to itself.
