the wheels on the bus go round and round

I finally did it. I finally used the bus to get myself downtown to the DMV office in order to relinquish my California driver's license for a Missouri one. Yes, folks, I'm a Missourian now. The things I do for in-state tuition.

Anyway, back to the bus story, it wasn't too bad. There's even a trip planner online similar to the one I use back in the Bay Area. Plot in the addresses and then voila, you have instructions on which bus to use to get there.

Fortunately for me, there is just one bus, called The Max, that goes from my apartment straight to the downtown area. The Max came at the exact time it was supposed to come, and it cost $1.25 to get on. I didn't know where to put the money, so the driver probably thought I was some country bumpkin trying to make it big in the city. He had to tell me take the transfer from the machine because I didn't know the machine had the transfers, I thought the bus drivers would hand out the transfers manually, like they do in San Francisco.

The bus was really CLEAN and not packed at all. Of course, I was on the bus at three in the afternoon, but still, it was close enough to peak travel hours, no? Anyhow, it was a pleasant thirty minute ride downtown and the computer lady announced each stop along the way. And there were no crazy, stinky, weirdoes or homeless riding on the bus either. The majority of the riders were elderly people, so they were just slow in getting off the bus, which is not a problem when there's no rush to get anywhere.

And since it took an exceptionally quick forty minutes at the DMV office to change my license, I was able to still use the bus transfer to take the bus back home without paying another $1.25. Score!

And I realized on the bus ride back home that we would pass by a Burger King. If it wasn't raining, I probably would have gotten off to make a fast food stop.