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< a four-course meal of horse, of course
That sounds like a difficult experience. Not unlike the one I had for 2 1/2 days in Kalispell, Montana at the beginning of this month. I had jumped ship (metaphorically) on a failed Amtrak trip to Eugene, Oregon. Going from St Louis, MO. > Chicago, IL. > Portland, OR. > Eugene. OR., the Amtrak got delayed for over 24 hours in a remote town in North Dakota, and we (me and all the other Amtrak passengers) stayed at a couple hotels in the area. The next day, we left "____", North Dakota (I can never remember the name), and went directly to/through Montana. I got to see/photograph a lot of Glacier National Park, but that is where the trip stopped being cool/fun, because we were alerted there would be ANOTHER delay at the following stop, in White Fish, MT. Instead of boarding a bus to Spokane, WA. and then transferring to Portland, and then to Eugene, I said "fxxx it" and took a cab to a hotel near the airport where I planned on flying back to St Louis. If not, I had the money to catch a cab to a bus terminal to take a bus back to St Louis.
Or so I thought...
The hotel was expensive as fxxx when I got there. I stayed for a single night, but the small airport the hotel was near (Glacier Airport) was tiny, tiny, *tiny*, and only a few flights went to Seattle, and the quickest, most efficient way for me to get back to St Louis, would be to go from Glacier Airport, to Seattle, to Los Angeles, and then straight to St Louis. And that would have ran me $1,200+, easy.
So, I would take a bus, yes? But, the nearest busline (American Lines, which sort of replaced Greyhound in the Northwest) was in Missoula, MT. 120+ miles away!
So, I had to come up with more money for...something. I called some people, tried to arrange for a Western Union so I could (somehow) get to Missoula (no one was gonna fork out $1,200 for a plane ticket, and I didn't expect them to), and the nearest Western Union nearby was in Evergreen (5 miles away). So, I hoofed it! I got down to Evergreen, went into a Wendy's restaurant, ordered fries and water, typed (texted) feverishly on my phone, and narrowed down this Western Union location (another mile away).
Jumping ahead (because I could go on!), my feet were battered and blistered to hell after more walking (a single step was painful as hell), so I called an EMT and they took me to an ER in Kalispell, MT., one municipality away from Evergreen. I got bandaged up, tried to figure out the money/transport situation, and after nearly three days of eating gas station chips, drinking water refilled in gas station bathrooms, sleeping in an overgrown wheat field alongside an old biking path, consulting with a nearby homeless shelter, and meeting random (good) folks along the way - I was able to get the bus ticket back to STL, and off I went back to my apartment here in South St Louis County.
I slept for a DAY when I got home! And ate properly, too. The Greyhound situation I described earlier (a day without eating and the mental status that followed) that happened, too. But I was glad to be home when my ride got me from the St Louis Public Library.
A trip, indeed.
Stay safe :)
Jesus, sounds like an experience. I was forget how big the US actually is.
meeting random (good) folks along the way
This was the best part of my experience too, the sheer kindness of random strangers, especially at bus stations