The people on the bus

I can't tell you how many interesting discussions I have had with people on the bus. Just ask questions and you will get entire life stories. But you do have to be tolerant of all sorts of folks. Poor folks ride these buses, so if you think cabbing is a step down from your limo, you may feel uncomfortable. If you have already stayed  downtown, I expect you are confident and at ease at lower economic levels. It is not any different than a bus or subway in larger cities around the world. It certainly is more entertaining than being isolated in a cab and the cost is equal to the cab tip.

• Solo it is just great on the bus. I have  met so many interesting people. 
• I met a crane operator who will retire after 30 years in Vegas and sold his 90 grand house for 900 grand to buy an RV; he plans on just traveling for a couple years. 
• I met the most delightful woman who was as excited as a little kid to have found a sale on jackets and bought a winter, down-like jacket that came below her knees for just $7 at some store called SaveMore. I met an old drunk trying to hit on some European blonds. 
• I met a Black preacher in the DTC with the most friendly manner who welcomed me to someday come back to Vegas, but assured me that if he were not here when I returned, he knew where he would be. "Well, I'll see you there, then."I replied, and he was so pleased at that response. 
• I met cowboys with accents that fascinated me and kidding banter different from what goes on in my family. 
• I rode for quite a while with a great looking little cowgirl from North Carolina who had just spent the day at Cowboy Christmas.

All those were in just one trip.

• I remember in another meeting a middle aged fellow coming from the airport and helping with strategies around motivating his daughter at school.
• I remember too one delight young black girl who reminded me of my former students.  She knew buses and once I asked a few questions, she started to rattle off all the routes she knew and how to take them and which were better in traffic.  I could use her on this blog.
• I once sat in the front of the Deuce upstairs to get the fine, avoiding the damned Vegas noir experience of the advertisement wrapped buses.  A fellow sat next to me who knew Vegas history and insider stories and entertained me for the entire trip.  Again, I did not take notes for the blog.
• In this same seat I sat with a trucker who had left his truck a good ways North broken down and waiting for something.  He had decided not sleep in the truck but do an all nighter in Vegas and found his way to it all on buses.
• An old Vietnamese woman, stooped and just able to walk, told me the long story of her back and all  she had done to try to fix the problem and how it just kept coming back to her.
• A young fellow told me how to get in to many Vegas social events by getting a press pass.  It was a bit expensive, but with the right credentials I could get inside some interesesting events and might even be invited to some functions.

I have not made long term relationships.  There is no twenty something young girl as I met in Costa Rica on a cheap Tico bus where for four hours she talked to me in English and I responded in Spanish.  I ended up being shown around by her on my next visit and  we still write to one another.  I found and sent to her the original music of "Rain, the Park, and Everything" by the Cowsills.  She had been trying to find the "Flower Girl" song that she remembered as a child singing to her now dead mother's record player.
But enjoying strangers and  their stories in cosmopolitan Vegas  is just a whole lot of fun.
And for references to inexpensive spots to eat or other locals spots of interest, especially along the residential route, the bus is a goldmine.