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Well, we seem to have been in a lull for a few days now, and its slow going right now, so of course, I shall burst forth in a story...Hence begins my saga of my experiences of Greyhound Bus Riding...

I had never been on a Greyhound Bus until the summer that my dad got diagnosed with cancer...My mom and dad had come up to Washington State for a visit, and to get Andy, and take him with them, for a few weeks vacation down in California....they spent a few days with us, and then off they went, Dad, Mom, and Andy...a week later, I got a phone call, telling me Dad was very ill, ,and in the hospital, cancer was suspected, and BigDom and I needed to get down there ASAP, which we did...

We all spent a few days down there..not all the tests were in, but having had gone through a cancer experience with Michael, I told Dads doc, I wanted no BSing around, just tell me up front, what you think, even tho the tests are not firmly confirming your suspicions...he just looked at me, and agreed, it was cancer...so we spent a little more time with dad, and then headed home for Washington, not wanting to leave Andy down there, to again, have to watch someone deal with cancer as he had when he watched Michaels struggle....

BigDom and Andy would stay at our home in Washington, and I planned to go down and live in California to care for dad...mom was already in mid-stage Alzheimers, so even if she wanted to, she could not care for dad...so I packed my bags, kissed the men goodbye, left the freezer and fridge full of lots of homecooked meals that I had prepared ahead of time, and now face taking care of mom and dad...

Now Mom and Dad lived in Redwood Valley, California, which is a few hours north of San Francisco, on Rte 101...no close airports(tho I hate to fly, so probably would not have flown even if there was nearby hospital), and so since there was a Greyhound Bus station here in Olympia, Washington, and also a Greyhound Bus Station in Ukiah(just 7 miles from Redwood Valley), I decided to travel down to Mom and Dads via Greyhound Bus...and thus began my days of being the 'bus lady' as Aunt Helen, and BigDom and Andy came to refer to me....

I had no idea what to expect riding the Greyhound Bus...just knew, that I could leave Olympia at about 4pm and get to Portland Oregon at about 6pm...wait an hour or so, at their station, and then catch another bus for Ukiah, and be down there by noon...so it seemed like a quick overnite journey...

I had decided not to drive this distance, as both of our cars at the time, were older cars, and having to get to Redwood Valley would involve mountain and freeway driving, and I was not exactly really to tackle that with an older car...

So Greyhound was there to fulfill my needs, and it was quite an adventure...

More to follow as time and lulls permit...