Adventures on the Greydog

It's been about 12 years since I have been on the greydog.. but after sitting around their terminal in L.A CA for 2hrs for a layover (TWICE) it is definatly not something I look forward to ever doing again.. no matter where you tried to sit back and relax at the terminal it smelt like a rotten urinal both inside and out.... I was originally on my way to ROCOR to start to drive for them but about 3/4's of the way there my wife had called and told me my G-ma had a MAJOR stroke soooo change of plans and had to head back to Cali all in all I think I spent about 1.5 - 2 weeks on the dog or in terminals and that was Central coast Cali to New Mexico and back....

 

My experience with them are few, and that's because that's all it took for me to never use them again. It was when I was first starting out in trucking and had to get to the terminal in Gary, In. from Detroit. This is about a 3.5 - 4 hour drive. The trip took easily 7+ hours. The people you get to share this ride with leave a lot to be desired socially.

When I left a company I worked for in the Little Rock area I took the train home. That was pretty cool and still to this day want to take a cross country vacation on a train with the first class sleeper.

When I started with my current company they offered a greydog from Columbus to Chicago. Typically a 5.75 - 6 hour drive. On greydog... between 8.5 and 12 hours. NO WAY! I got on Southwest website two weeks early, got a ticket for $85 ($25 more than grey) and was from my apartment to my hotel within 3 hours.

I will NEVER take a grey dog ever again in my life.

 

How is Greyhound still in business and Amtrak always having funding issues? Nobody likes Greyhound. Everyone has one of these stories. I wouldn't have made it past St. louis on GuysLady's trip.

 

Never road one, never will, I'd hitchhike to Cali from NY before I'd ride a greyhound. You ever seen them on the rode? No thanks.

 

Cause The Greydog stops in more locations than Amtrak !!! but I'd still never ride on it again if I ever have a choice !!!!!!

I know from Auburn CA (20 min NE of Sacramento) to Salinas CA takes about 2.5-3 hours in a car... Greydog took 12 hours when my G-ma had come down to visit one time (not the one that had the stroke but my other one) They stop in every little whole in the wall town and she was on the "express" bus !!!!!

 

My first and only experience with Greyhound was August '74 when I left for college and my mom and dad put me on the bus from NYC to Tampa. I still, after 35 years have nightmares about that ordeal.

 

I got to take the Greyhound home from Sterling CO. after I was fired then rehired, Quit,Rehired and then fired from the same job in about an hours time!!!,..

The bus ride was a blast!!!!!!,........I can still remember the people I was riding with.....A pair a Japanese kids touring the states,..A runaway girl from Chicago that made it to Wyoming before turning around to go home,..A slick con-man kid from Minneapolis,..A chick from Holland on her way cross country to New York to catch a flight home,She was in a collage exchange program and wanted to see the country before going home,..And another chick from WI,..........We all were in our early 20's and got to talking and were having a blast....When we pulled into Ogalala Nebraska we had a 1 hour wait for some outbound freight,..Greyhound hauls freight...Who knew???

We ventured into a pub and the Japanese kids decided to through a party!!,....Shots and beers all around and a couple of bottles of schnapps for the road at the insistence of the con-man kid who was also smoking my cigarettes,.....WOW was the driver pissed when his passengers showed up at the buss with a good old buzz started!!
Some how the con-man kid talked the driver into letting us on the buss and away we went,..Talking and drinking and enjoying the ride...

We had to change buses in Lincoln,..Again with a delay which led us to think it would be a good idea to go down the street to find a local pub for a few,...I would suggest never going into a pub within walking distance of a Greyhound station,..Not the best neighborhood,...But we closed the place down and returned to the station to promptly miss our buss,..But the good folks at Greyhound let us on the next one,..Not sure how the con-man kid who was still smoking my cigarettes talked them into that,...

Everyone but the con-man kid that smoked my cigarettes and Iwent east at Demoines,..He and I continued north for the rest of my trip,..Drunk,Hungover and tired we rolled into Minneapolis,...Where the con-man kids dad was meeting him at the station,..The kid asked his dad for a couple of packs of smokes to replace the ones he smoked and his dad gave them to me,..So he77 even the con-man kid turned out to be a good cat,....

It was a very memorable trip for me,...I sometimes wonder where life took those that I was lucky enough to share a road trip across the mid west with...