Getting to UT (aka fun with Greyhound)

Due to my cousin's wedding on March 18th (which was beautiful and lots of fun!) and the beginning of my Aspen instructor course March 29th at 9AM, I chose to go Greyhound from Long Beach, CA, to St. George, UT, for the first leg of my journey. Packing my Xtracycle Free Radical into a bicycle box to put under the bus was a bit of a challenge, but I worked it out (almost forgot to put the wheels in the box! duh...). My brother and mom drove me to the bus station at 7:40PM for the 7:50 departure. I figured since I already had my ticket and just needed to check my bags and board the bus, that would be sufficient time...as we drove into the station, there was a bus getting ready for departure, but I have seen that before. I assumed it was not my bus and went into the office to check in as it was driving away. She checked me in and handed me my baggage claim checks and then paused for a minute...that WAS my bus. She had figured since everyone present 30 minutes prior to boarding was already on the bus, he could go ahead and leave 10 minutes early...harumpf. Fortunately(?), the bus to St. George goes through Las Vegas and there was another bus departing at 9PM. She reisued my ticket waiving the $10 itinerary change fee, and my mom and bro and I went out to dinner. We enjoyed the additional visiting time and returned to the station in plenty of time for me to board the next bus.

The ride itself was a usual greyhound trip--fortunately not too eventful. Schlepping my bicycle box along with my backpacking pack full of clothes and gear for the trip and my small carry on backpack through the LA bus terminal was not much fun, but I'm a habitually heavy traveler and a frequent greyhound rider, so it was not abnormally difficult for me. I had my own seat from the LBC to San Bernadino where the bus filled completely till Barstow, where I got my own seat again till Vegas. I walked the Frontier Experience downtown at 3:30AM while the bus was serviced in Vegas, lost $2 in nickel slots (oh well), and reboarded at 4:30AM for the final leg of the bus trip. Since I was the only one getting off in St. George, the driver put me in the handicapped seat up front (I didn't like that so much...I usually sit about half-way back on the bus. nice and anonymous-like). I felt very singled out, but the feeling passed and the last few hours of my over-night bus journey were quite pleasant. The sunrise over Nevada's desert was beautiful, guilding the eastern sky in golden-fringed clouds.

The greyhound station in St. George is the McDonald's...so I dragged my box and gear across the parking lot and assembeled my bike right there. That took me about 2 hours and 3 people came over and talked to me during the process. That was pretty cool. One guy had done some cycle-touring himself and had actually heard of the Xtracycle--I was very impressed. One other guy told me about a girl that had been chopped to bits while hitchhiking a few years back and that I should be careful of weirdos, and all three wished me luck and safe travels. I changed from greyhound traveling clothes to cycling clothes, filled my water bottles, and called my mom and Jim, the very cool assistant field director at Aspen, to check in before hitting the road at around 11AM.