Traveling Days 3-5
Wednesday was a long day. I got up at 6 am in order to get dressed, grab a quick breakfast, and head to my college for orientation day. I’m glad I spent the day before getting my bearings (meaning getting lost but finding the place in the end) since it took me nearly an hour to get to the college. Thankfully I had planned for it and got there with a half hour to check in and grab a bite to eat. Through the rest of the day I learned a lot about my school and answered some of my questions. It seems I was the only one there with my major (not surprising since it’s a specialized history degree) so no one from my specific department was there to answer questions about my courses. Still, I’m happy with my classes and rather excited to start them all. (Okay, not the math class but the sooner I get that requirement done, the sooner I can get better classes.) I got done around 3 pm and decided to go searching for my dorm before heading back to my room. As I wandered the campus with a general idea of where I was going, I called my parents and filled them in on my updates. It was hot out and I finally got sick of wandering so when I saw my dorm in the distance, I turned around and headed for my room. I stopped at the local co-op for supper, picking up a local shake and a dish of cold Thai noodles. Weary from the long day with unfamiliar people and two hours in the sun, I kinda zoned out and wandered the internet and channel surfed for the rest of the day.
Thursday was a day of forced idleness. I got up in time to get breakfast from the hotel and tried to pack everything up. My usual travel outfit was jeans, since it was recommended for my college trip and dealt with the air conditioning in airports, but that day I had planned walking outside so I didn’t want to wear the heavy jeans. I hadn’t realized how much space a long pair of jeans took up compared to the lighter summer outfit I chose to wear. I finally had to just throw everything together and I had my bags closed a half hour before check out at 11. However, my bus didn’t get to town until 6 pm. I explained the situation to the lady behind the front desk and she kept my bags while I went to get lunch at Dominoes up the street. After lunch I came back to the hotel and sat in their small lobby with my Kindle (a definite plus for technology. I can now easily carry a library with me without extra heavy baggage to tote around. The electronic book holder doesn’t replace the feel of reading an actual book but for a bookworm like me, it is a must-have for traveling.) I finally left the lobby at 3 pm to have time to get to the gas station that served as the Greyhound station in town. Since I’d figured out the map earlier, it was easy enough to get to, just an annoying half hour walk with my suitcase and heavy backpack. I got there much earlier than they usually let people hangout but it was a slow day so the attendant let me take a seat and I read more. About 5 pm I had a supper of cheesy bread I had saved from my trip to Dominoes at lunch and waited for the bus. It was forty minutes late and there were no empty pairs of seats so I shared a pair of seats for the hour long trip to Kansas City. I finally got there and another long taxi ride to the hotel meant I got there about 8:45 at night. I freshened up and redid all my packing so I could just leave in the morning.
It didn’t quite work that way. I didn’t look at the paper the hotel attendant had given me so I wound up getting a forty dollar taxi ride instead of the twenty dollar shuttle ride I needed to book three hours in advance. I got there as my plane started to board. I checked in and got through security (both had longer lines than I had anticipated for such a small airport) in time to get on the plane as the line ended. I was not the last person on the plane, thankfully. A few people got on after me and the “last person” moniker was an Asian woman about twenty minutes later. The plane was in the air ten minutes later than expected, but that was due to traffic in Chicago, not anything in Kansas City. We finally got to Chicago and after a really long walk (I had forgotten how big the place was) I got to baggage claim to wait, and wait. Turns out my bag had gotten off the plane but somehow wasn’t on the belt. The attendant assumed it was still on the cart somewhere and would show up so I filled out the paperwork for them to take it to the hotel and went to get my bus. I grabbed a sandwich and a drink on the way and got to the hotel early afternoon. The plan for that night was to get settled in the hotel, get supper at the restaurant attached to the hotel, and spend the night de-stressing and catching up on various things I’d let slide while traveling. Um, yeah, I picked up my Kindle and no work got done. I did get down to the Harry Carry restaurant attached to the hotel.
Harry Carry and his guests
I got down there when there was a half hour wait for the dinning room so I opted for the bar which had self seating. I ordered a cheeseburger, mainly for the simplicity of the choice (the other options all seemed a little off the normal I would have expected) 
and because it’s really hard to go wrong with a handmade cheeseburger. When it comes to comfort food, some things are really hard to cook wrong, especially when it says “classic” or “original”. Burgers are definitely a classic American item I can rarely get enough of now that I’m back in the States. (I just wish they were healthier. 🙂 ) While looking on the drinks menu I saw something I couldn’t miss: a watermelon martini. Hm, watermelon and fruity alcohol? Sounds like a party and it tasted like one too! What a treasure for a fun Friday night! To not leave you in suspense, I stopped by the hotel lobby on my way back up to my room and my suitcase was waiting for me. Now on to Chicago!
Oh, the joys of a Friday!
Tagged with: america cities • traveling america • traveling day
Filed under: Travels • U.S. Travels
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