Abq Snafeaux

Two days in a row now I've missed my #2 bus connexion, arriving in time to actually see the number two bus a couple blocks north of Central (Historic Route 66) and fading fast into the distance. Yesterday it was the consequence that was the snafu, and today the missing of the conexion was the consequence of an earlier snafu. Stop me if I go on and on about really boring (to anyone but me) stuff.

Yesterday the #66 bus just had more stops than normal. It seemed as though somebody wanted to get on or off at every turquoise bus stop sign on Central. What started out as "plenty of time" to get to Eubank by 5:31 turned into a 5:34 arrival. Now there are times when the #2 runs late, but a glance at the empty bus stop showed that it had gone by. Further study revealed the back of a bus way up the street. The next one was scheduled for 6:00.

There is a small problem with the 6:00 bus. Unlike the 3:30, 4:00, 4:30, 5:00, 5:30 or 6:30, the 6:00 runs the midday schedule: instead of going Eubank to Academy to Ventura and past my development, this one goes Eubank to Layton, to Academy and back to Eubank - bypassing Ventura and letting me off about a mile from my house. The alternative: let it go by and wait for the 6:30. I opted for the walk. I like to walk.

So I'm on the 6:00 and Carmen calls. She's working until about 6:30. I tell her to look for me on Ventura and at least wave as she goes by. So we get to Eubank and Layton, and the driver keeps going on Eubank! Cool, I thought, he doesn't know about the rogue schedule. I'll just keep my baloney lips zipped and ride on down Ventura. So he gets to Academy and stops. He gets up, carrying his written route directions, and asks the two passengers if we know how he's supposed to go. We both want to go down Ventura, so that's what we tell him. He doesn't buy it so he gets on the communication device and phones home. They tell him he should have gone on Layton. "Oh well," he says to us, "I guess I'll just stay here until time to go back south on Eubank. There'll be another bus along shortly." I decided to walk.

That is how my one mile walk turned into a two mile walk. It was after 7:00 and I was almost home when Carmen called again. She was just now ready to leave work. No wonder I never saw her go by and wave.

Today, on the other hand, was a #66 glitch. We were cruising along, with plenty plenty plenty of time to make the 12:41. I was even thinking of walking up Eubank to "The Chile Addict" store to see what they had in books about growing green chiles (I don't believe they'll be as easy to come by in Pennsylvania) and maybe some seeds. There was a beautiful little 10-year-old girl in a wheelchair on the bus, and that could take some time to unload, but even so, plenty plenty plenty of time.

And then we got to downtown, to the Alvarado Transportation Center. There in the bus loading/unloading zone out front was an old beater of a car, "parked" about three feet out from the curb. In trying to maneuver to the #66 bus stop, our bus barely scraped a corner of this car. Some yelling occurred, and the Transit Police came out in force. After many minutes went by, we were told to exit the bus. We did. Another #66 would be along shortly. Suddenly, the old beatermobile drove away! So, after many minutes, we were told we could reboard the bus. We did so, but just before we pulled away, the car returned, more yelling ensued, and we were asked once again to exit the bus. This time a #66 pulled in behind, and we all boarded that one, including wheelchair girl and her family.

Of course, after all of that plus the unloading of the wheelchair along the way, we made it to Eubank at 12:43, just in time to see the back of the #2 bus fade into the distance. The next one was at 1:41.

The good news: I now have a great book about growing chile peppers and two packets of seeds!