Rats and Routes
I left my place for the evening at about 5pm last night. I was going to walk down to the new liquor store between downtown and the Crossroads, called Cellar Rat. From there, my plan was to walk down to the bus stop at 19th and Main and catch the next bus to Waldo, where I was meeting the kickball team for off-week drinks.

It escaped me before I left that traffic is abominable downtown at 5pm, but it was absolutely horrible. There were cars stopped in every direction. I walked with ease between gridlocked cars peopled with angry suburban drivers, cursing the city. When I got over to my normal bus stop, at 13th and Wyandotte, I saw what was holding everyone up. A semi truck was rolling back and forth, assisted by police, diagonally across the intersection, barring the way for anybody to move. As I got past this spectacle, I saw two northbound MAX buses within three or four cars of each other. These buses run ten to fifteen minutes apart, during rush hour, so these two being right next to each other showed me that they had been stopped there for quite a while.

This made me worried about the bus at 19th and Main that I'd planned to catch at about ten 'til six. But that was over a half hour away, so I put it out of my head. I arrived at the new liquor store to find a relatively austere beer selection, but still worlds ahead of anything else within walking distance. Theresa, who I assumed was the manager or maybe the owner, told me that they were going to add a lot more beer, and also pointed out that they had no Big Three beers on display. To my delight, she pronounced it the same way I do: Budmillcoors. I think this is a great idea. There are plenty of places where Big Three swill can be had downtown, and it doesn't need to gum up the shelves at a nice liquor store.

Even though I wasn't there to buy anything, Theresa was happy to help me out, and answer any questions I might have. After perhaps ten or fifteen minutes, I thanked her, and went on my way. I cut across the parking lots to get over to Main, listening to something or other on my mp3 player. I started walking south toward 19th, past the big construction project at 18th and Main on the old TWA building, where Barkley Evergreen will be relocating sometime in the future. As I passed Gallup Maps, three MAX buses roared past me, one after another, in what appeared to be a frantic attempt to get back on schedule.

I was in no hurry, so I just kept walking, past the Crossroads, past the Freighthouse, past Union Station, through Washington Square Park, and stopped in the shade of the Sycamores at Crown Center. I waited for about ten minutes, and a Waldo bus pulled around the corner. I arrived in Waldo just as Chris was parking his car. We went inside to enjoy some delicious Katy Trail Pale Ale from Flat Branch Brewery in Columbia, while we waited for all the others to arrive. Everyone filtered in, some grievously late but welcome all the same, and KC's best St. Louis-style pizza was had by all.

We went over to the brewery for an after-dinner drink, and shortly after I got there, I decided it was timwe to head home. I got to the bus stop at 74th and Broadway, and saw on the electronic readout that the next bus wouldn't be departing for twenty-five minutes. So, I stepped into Tanner's and grabbed a quick pint. I came out 19 minutes later, and saw that it was still about six minutes. For whatever reason, I didn't feel like standing around listlessly for another six minutes, so I just started walking. I walked to 59th before I'd had enough, and waited perhaps fifteen minutes for the next bus.

In other news, I got my car back today! I'm back in my properly-functioning, cruise-controlled, power-locked, power-windowed, remote-entried, well-engined, well-suspensioned, standard-trasmissioned car now, and I suppose absence made the heart grow fonder. It was a joy to drive after that crappy, no-feature Cobalt that I got from Enterprise. I liked the newly-reacquired performance so much that I drove down to Waldo and got a hair cut, drove up to Westport and got groceries, drove to the bank in Midtown and deposited some checks, and drove happily home, not to drive again for several days.

upcityfolksbehind was sure you'd want to know:
damn you hypocritical, snobby city folk for hating on the suburbs. you city punks bitch about the suburbs the same way you complain that us johnson county folk bitch about the city.

4:11 PM, Aug 17, 2006

bahua interjected:
That's awesome!

4:50 PM, Aug 17, 2006

kilo11 blurted:
you got a hair cut you dont have hair

5:04 PM, Aug 17, 2006

bahua wants you to know:
Well, I have a Jean-Luc Picard type head of hair, and if the sides get too long, it becomes too much like a comb-over, and that's no good.

5:18 PM, Aug 17, 2006

Jeff said:
In suburb traffic news: Last night it took me 50 minutes to get from College and Roe (left at 5:30) to Shawnee Mission Park (79th and 435, arrived at 6:20). Google says (http://tinyurl.com/ppkev) this should take 12 minutes. Pfffft.

Now tell me which is worse?

11:39 PM, Aug 17, 2006

dick responded:
you should just shave it. your friends at daddy's would enjoy it.

10:26 AM, Aug 18, 2006

dick commented:
stop riding a frickin bike, 40 year old virgin.

1:10 PM, Aug 18, 2006

Rachel spoiled the calm with:
Whoa. Fl4med.

8:52 PM, Aug 24, 2006

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