HockeyDude!: THE HOME STRETCH!!!

[muon2]

When I was in graduate school I used Greyhound a number of times to get between Boston and St Paul. My advice is to pack quite a few snacks. If the schedule gets delayed you can find yourself in stations with nothing open or on a long stretch when it would be nice to munch. The overnight legs can be particularly dull, especially if you feel rested from a full day sitting. Bring something to keep you occupied.

[muon2]

I hope the lack of reports means you're getting some great scenery coming in on I-70. I driven it a few times between Glenwood Springs and Denver and find it to be one of the best long stretches of interstate.

[muon2]

Damn, if your trip home were a week later you guys could have made a Bushie sandwich! Oh well.

I know!  Pity.

He would have taken a rain check, unfortunately.

Or wait 'til next month when I'll be in KC for Thanksgiving.

[muon2]

When you were delayed out of Denver I had a question, which I think I now have answered. The question was whether the bus would try to make up time by shortening rest stops. The answer seems to be no. I wonder if they started a fresh bus from KC at the normal time?

[muon2]

On the topic of Kansas (and Nebraska too), I have to say that the tourism people out there are extremely resourceful, despite having almost nothing to work with. Lots of people pass through, and Kansans, trying to get people to stop and drop a few dollars have thought of a million kitchy tourist things for people do along the way. Come see the world's largest ball of twine. Seriously. http://www.kansastravel.org/balloftwine.htm

When I was a wee lad, we stopped off at something advertising THE WORLD'S LARGEST PRAIRIE DOG!  It was a 15' tall wooden.....thing.  They also had large boxes full of rattlesnakes and wire cages with raccoon in them and several "freak" farm animals (goats with two heads, cows with 6 legs...ya know, the kind of thing you get if you inbreed your livestock for several generations).  Oh and an American Bison (I refuse to call them buffalo since they aint) nearly crushed my sister.  It was all very depressing....even to an 8 year old that should have been impressed with such things.


...and Googling shows me it still exists and is still depressing.  link

That reminds me of my encounter in KS with Big Brutus during a road trip I reported on here.

Day 13 This was the long leg with over 750 miles of driving. We planned only one stop to see the Oklahoma City memorial. For those of you too young to remember, it recognizes the 168 victims of the domestic terrorist bombing on April 19, 1995. The memorial is quite nice, fitting into the space of the old Murrah federal building, and noting the victims of the attack.

We didn't have a second stop planned, but serendipity changed plans for us. We needed to gas up near the OK/MO line and I chose to exit at Miami, OK. I also noted that we were close to Kansas and some geneological research I did last year suggested that I had ancestors in Cherokee County, KS just after the Civil War. Since that county was immediately north of where we were I decided on a side trip to see what the area looked like.

As we drove towards the town of West Mineral there was a sign for something called Big Brutus. Before long we saw a large structure sticking out above the trees. It turns out that the second largest coal scoop ever operated has become a tourist attraction. It is truly BIG, measuring 16 stories and 5500 tons. The admission lets you climb into the rig and get a sense of its immensity.


After that hour+ diversion, we got back to the road. We ended late in the evening in St. Louis in the Hyatt hotel fit into old Union Station. The space has preserved much of the station's character and our room looks out on the mall that fills the old platform space.