Observations on a Bus

Several weeks ago I rode the bus from Missoula, MT to Minneapolis MN—three buses actually. It was the first time I have taken the bus in the US. It was an interesting experience, albeit quite long. Twenty-three hours long. Below are a few observations I made between reading and napping:

• The seats look and feel comfortable for the first five minutes, but it's false advertising, a conspiracy. As soon as you are settled in, the bus has pulled away, and you have no where to go, then the seats launch their attack. Perhaps the seat is avenging itself for the 500 pound dude that sat there the previous day. I don't know. Whatever the case, the enmity between one's backside and a bus seat can get quite fierce over the course of 23 hours. 
• Wait, you say. I can always recline my seat. "Ha, got you there," cries the seat. "You think six inches of reclining is going to make you comfortable?" I had to concede quickly—reclining made little or no difference. The seats also came equipped with a bar for resting your feet, supposedly for short people. If you didn't happen to be short it merely go in the way, both up and down. 
• If 14 rows of bus seats provides a window into American culture at large, the American  family isn't doing all that well. While on the bus I overhead three guys talking, and all of them were divorced. Several rows in front of me I heard a woman rejoicing when she found out her husband had been put in jail. Across from me there was a harried and worn down single mother with her boy. 
• Whatever legal and cultural battles have been won against "big tobacco", American's are still puffing up a storm. Somewhere between half and a third of the bus riders disembarked immediately at every stop to light up, without fail. 
• Talking about stops, they came every couple hours, and they were always too short to really take a break, but always too long when you wanted to move along. 
• Driving through Montana, even on a bus, is beautiful.

So what's the point? Does there have to be one? If you pressed me, I would tell you to look. Everywhere there is something to see and learn. Driving through the night on an uncomfortable bus surrounded by strangers, don't check out. There's still plenty of the world to see, to wonder at, to intrigue.