Has anyone taken a long bus trip like with Greyhound or another big interstate company? I'm thinking of taking a long distance bus trip when I graduate. Maybe I can fly to Houston and take the bus from there to Los Angeles and get to see the Southwest. Is this a good idea?

I got this idea last month when we went to Philadelphia.We had to take the bus instead of the train. Unknowingly, we mistakenly got on a local bus which stopped everywhere between here and Philadelphia. I thought I knew New Jersey, but this bus was stopping in quaint little hidden places I'd never heard of. Some of the places were beautiful, some awful, but I learned a lot and a whole new world was opened to me. Some people suggest that I get a couple of friends together and drive, but to me the idea of not knowing where I'll end up along the way is fascinating.

Once I went from the very southern tip of Illinois to central Ohio via Greyhound. That made me swear to never ever take the bus again. A labmate decided the same thing after a trip from Ohio to Indiana. A rental car would be well worth the extra money, IMHO.

I rode a Greyhound from Amarillo to Los Angeles. I got to the bus station too late to ride the express and had to take the "local". We stopped every few miles, picking up and dropping off indians, cowboys, college kids, you name it. I figured that I was really going to lose a lot of time. Just outside Needles, CA, the driver slowed. Sitting directly behind him, I asked if he had seen a cop. He replied, "No. That's the express just ahead of us and company policy says I can't pass him." LMAO.

I think if I had to do it again, I would probably take the local. Got to experience a lot more of the local color that way. Of course, it might also depend upon what part of the country I was passing through.

Wes

Back before I had a liscence... my friends and I took a Greyhound from Columbus to Cleveland for a basketball game. We vowed never to ride in a greyhound ever again. You got some weird and freaky people on those busses. Some might even have JUST GOTTEN OUT OF THE PEN!