How to Make a 45-Minute Bus Ride Last 4 Hours

I take a bus to work every day. The bus ride takes about 45 minutes, give or take, most often give. On Thursday the trip home took me 4 hours though. It was enlightening, so I thought I would share it with you. There is a bit of luck, mostly bad luck, involved in making this happen.

1. Hop on the bus, and just assume that it is your bus. It is parked in the same spot as usual, right?
2. If the bus driver is not the same bus driver, don’t think that is anything strange. The usual bus driver could be busy with million other things.
3. Go to the end of the bus and doze off or start reading something, or watching a movie.
4. When you see that the bus takes a slightly different route, just missing by one street, remember that there could be many explanations, such as: the bus driver (since he is substituting) just doesn’t know the route, the real route is under construction, or you just forgot the what the real route is.
5. When you see people getting on during the wrong route, they just knew that the route has been changed by one street. There are probably thousands of signs on the other street.
6. When you see that the bus gets on the highway going north instead of south, you can always explain it by…. well, ok, you can’t really explain that one. But of course you took the express bus that doesn’t stop until the final destination, which, if you want to make this a long bus ride, is the closest possible to Nevada.. say Tooele.
7. When you see the Great Salt Lake, instead of the Point of the Mountain, you can be sure that this will be an unforgettable bus ride.
8. Now you have to wonder how to get back. Of course there aren’t any express buses coming back. Just take the slowest bus, that stops on every stop. If it make a sidestep at the airport, even better.
9. When you step off the bus, make sure you have to run to catch the local train. Again, there won’t be any express buses to rob from the enjoyment of this seemingly lifelong trip.
10. Finally catch another bus from the train station to your town.

By the time you get home, you have seen a lot of new places, enjoyed Utah. Some of the things that you have seen are:

• Great Salt Lake
• Saltair
• Bonneville Salt Flats
• Grantsville
• Stansbury Park
• Tooele
• Tooele Army Depot
• A ton of Salt Lake City surface streets
• etc

You also realize that by this time you could be all the way in St. George UT, Elko Nevada, or half way to Boulder, Colorado…

Nice tripping.