A half-written script

A small portion of my journals from my trip to Kansas and Colorado. To be continued

3:45 am, and everyone is tired. And I mean real tired. The way the skin is sagging off their bones. Sniffling their noses and it's always followed by a sigh. I can't help but bounce my eyes back and forth at every person.
"where are they going?" A rather large woman with blonde hair is sprawled across a seat in the lobby trying to catch a final wink of sleep. She has an old worn comforter draped across her face in vain efforts to block out the penetrating
Amtrak light. So we bored this bus, 3:45 am. Darkness all around us. No one says a word we all ease into sleep. Jarred awake occasionally by the forceful winds and thunder swirling about the bus. This phased none of us. We just kept groping for sleep. Rolling about, trying to find comfort in a tiny two seater compartment.

5:30 i'm in effingham, Illinois. Stopping for a break. I order a couple breakfast items from the McDonald's attachted to the gas station. The driver gave us ten minutes. I grab my food and cantine and hustle back to the bus. We all load and begin to drive away. I look back at the gas station and wonder if anyone was left behind and what they'd do
stranded in Effingham at 5:30 in the morning. What would they think? They'd probably curse, kick the ground in frustration, smoke cigarettes fiendishly and curse some more. That's what I would do anyhow. Coming out of the gas station we play a polite game of "no, you first" with a hardened truck driver. He waves us forward and the driver obliges. I notice from my window
an older black man chasing down the bus as if he life depended on it.. As we round the corner he slams up against the bus, staying close to it, banging his fsts upon the sides. he runs to the door, banging on it. "let me on!" Our driver pulls over and the man boards. Panting heavily the only thing he mutters is "Fuck, shit, fuck" He answered my question. If the bus left anyone behind, they'd chase it down.
His actions made me realize how quickly I would've given up

7:40 or so we arrive in St. Louis, groggy-eyed we shuffle off the bus into the lobby. It's all so unfamiliar to me, it's still grey out from the storm. I find my way to the bathroom and stare at myself in the mirror. I look as if I've been on a bus for a while. But, I enjoy this. I find our terminal and wait with the rest of the passengers. Then, what up to this point had been a good and painless trip took a turn for the worst.
I hand my ticket to a surly looking woman and ask, "does this bus go to Lawrence?"
"Nope" she replies, "Texas"
My eyeballs about fell out. She directed me to the ticket desk. And after several minutes of delibiration, she agreed to take me on her route to Springfield, Missouri. Where I could potentially catch a bus to Kansas City. A direct route to Lawrence is completely out of the question, so this little bit of grace I quickly snatch up as mine.

I just departed from Springfield with a rather jovial group of people. Very chatty, very happy to be going whereever they're going. I'm still too scared to talk to anyone. I promised my mom I wouldn't talk to strangers, but these people don't look like convicts or rapists....well, actually, there was the one, but I avoided eye contact with him.
I'm on my way to Tulsa, Oklahoma right now. What a round about way to get my destination, but I've never been to Oklahoma, so I'll take it as a chance to some scenery. From Tulsa, I'll head to Kansas City.
Farewell until then!!!!

In the stations I noticed all of the black people working. It made me think of the porters from the 20s and that makes me wish I had my book Babbit with me. I can't believe I left my book :(

I wound up in Tulsa around 6pm. Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was anticipated in Kansas 4 hrs before. Such a turn. The ride to Tulsa was beautiful. Green everywhere, trees, hills. A nice break from the forced sleep I endulged in. I'd like to back track and note that the bus driver I had was an angel. I trully believe this. She stuck by my side for the entire journey and got me to Kansas safely
I cannot stress that what she did for me was above and beyond kindness. She was amazing. I wish I could've gotten her name. So anyhow, I wind up in Tulsa with an hour to kill and about 15 hrs without a cigarette. Not a huge deal in normal circumstances, but after 15 hrs on a bus that's enough to make a non-smoker crave a cigarette. There is not a single gas station within visible distance of the Tulsa greyhound station. After walking several blocks into downtown Tulsa to no avail
I returned to the station and asked a worker for a cigarette. His last one. Does no one in this fucking town smoke cigarettes? Introduce the bum, "You need smokes? I can take you to the convient store, it's right up the road." My first mistake. I followed him foolishly, as we walk he was quick to chastise me for walking along with a stranger, telling me that I should consider carrying a weapon for protection and that a lot of bums around town were known for mugging. We arrive after walking several, several blocks.
I give him 8 dollars for the help and purchase a pack of six dollar camels. And to think I bitched about cigarettes back home. I arrive to the station, greeted by a fellow traveler. He has a look of concern. "Are you alright?"I reply with a quick yes, shocked and confused as to why he's so concerned for a stranger. "Don't ever go off with a stranger like that, me and another woman were so worried about you. Thought about following you, but I was afraid I'd miss my bus. If you needed anything you could've asked me. I'm from Tulsa.
If you needed cigarettes, hell you could've bought them from me. Don't do that." I was appreciative of this concern. I really was. In hindsight, what I did was the stupidest thing a traveller could've ever done. The bus arrives around 8 pm to head to Kansas City. This was the most dreadful part of the trip. I was thankful that it was an express. four and a half hours no stops, just straight travel. This was good and bad. I forgot to fill up my cantine and with a sore throat, this sucked. ARRIVAL!!! I'm greeted by a familiar and lovely face. and then another!!!
What great people. My time in Kansas has been brief, but a wonderful experience. i'm tempted to type them all out, but I don't believe that I could describe them. What wonderful people I have in my life. That is all I can say. Tomorrow I leave for Colorado. I'm definitely coming back to Kansas. Oh, stellar show at the Jazzhaus.

Denver Colorado, all aboard!!! Meagan awakes me around 8 am. A quick clean up and a wave goodbye to her boyfriend, Johnathon we head out to the Pick n' Pay. A small gas station in Lawrence that also serves as a greyhound pick up and drop off destination for Greyhound. A little bit of lingering and the bus arrives. We say our goodbyes and onward to Salina Kansas. About two hours south of Lawrence. I fall asleep with ease. Nothing was too memorable about Salina except the semis full of mooing cows. I found this cool and also sad. heading to their deaths.
We reboard this time with a new driver. He seems cool enough. Off we go, our next destination was RS Colby Kansas. At the gas station was a subway. I walk inside and boy the teenagers hanging out there had the strangest looks on their faces. Welcome to the country I suppose. All outfitted in their american eagle and etc. I'm not sure they knew how to take all of these eccentric travellers. I decided agains t their subs and smoked a cigarette instead. We reboard. A newcomer to the bus named willum asks if he can sit next to me. I oblige of course and we immediately strike up conversation.
What an inspiring man. He was from a town of 400 people and worked on farms and drove tractors. He went to school at KSU and majored in theater. He packed up his bags and decided that he was moving to LA, California. One bag and one night in a hotel. He planned on finding a job and persuing acting, "I probably won't make it, but I'd like to say that I tried. I've never seen the ocean and I'd really like to learn to surf. if nothing comes of acting at least I can surf." He had a light, all smiles, all excitement. Ready to shake up his life and go big. There are a lot of stories on the bus. I just remembered!!
On the way to Kansas City, I met a woman who had been kicked out of her house by her roommate in San Diego and was headed back to Minnesota. He was a bipolar schizophrenic with delusional issues. She was an interesting character, she shared her gum with me. She wasn't very pleased with Greyhound. She'd been travelling for over two days by bus. Enough to make anyone grumpy. Coming back to Colorado. We hit Burlington, and we were slammed by a massive snow storm and to think that four hours before just before the kansas and colorado border it was 68 degrees. I found that humourous. Here I am in the middle of a snow storm wearing shorts and a sweater.
Once we hit Denver, I'm pretty sure I fell in love. No snow, mid-sixties, and a beautiful sunset. We pull into the bus station all of us eager to unboard when we're greeted by Denver's finest and a couple of police dogs. They informed us of the surprise raid and made us line all of our luggage up on the sidewalk as the dogs sniffed past, burrowing their noses in our private knick-knacks