I love it when things go wrong. Well, not really. It just makes for better copy. Who wants to hear the same story day after day - the commute was good. Nothing to report? That get's old quick.
Today was a good day for the morning commute. Cool and calm. I got out of the house early so I took it easy rolling to the bus stop and ended up with plenty of time to get my seat and cool down a bit before the ride.
Riding the bus started as usual. Strapped the bike in at 5:50. Bus pulled out at 55. Checked my email and calendar for the day at 56. Started reading my book by 57. Pass the Eagle River north exit at 6:18. Pass Hiland at 6:20. Then something goes wrong. Honestly, I was absorbed enough in my book and tunes that I didn't notice anything amiss until the bus was at an almost complete stop on the side of the road. Sixteen miles from my office and the bus was sitting on the road.
Not good.
The first meeting of the day was at 9, so if I had to ride in, I should have plenty of time, I thought. But I just wasn't sure about it, as I had never ridden that ride before and wasn't sure about the route.
So we sit for a bit. Just a little bit. The driver makes a few calls and next thing I know, we've got another bus on the way and we're going to limp it to the weigh station just a few miles down the road.
Five minutes later we are at the weigh station and the follow up bus is pulling in right behind us. We disembark, pile into the other bus, most folks finding seats. I elected to stand rather than try to find a seat.
In the end, we were all dropped off at our bus stop no more than 7 minutes later than scheduled. That's awesome. To be able to remain pretty much on schedule even with a breakdown is great.
I just can't complain about the commute at all. The weather has been near perfect all summer, the buses run on time, and I've not had any major mechanical failures on the bike. And when your view from the bus stop is this, what more could I ask for?
No comments:
Post a Comment