Written last night (before safely arriving, an hour late in Des Moines):
There may be a thief among us, here on the Megabus bumping along Interstate 80 in rural Iowa on a dark December night, but you have to wonder why someone on this bus would leave his diamond ring and watch in his coat pocket and then leave said coat unattended during a rest stop near Peru, Illinois. As the theft, or whatever it is was, was duly reported, my fellow passengers looked aghast. Now we had to wait for the police and a possible search of the bus and us (or so one rumor went) and our 7 hour bus ride (from Chicago to DSM, which should normally take 6 hours tops) suddenly threatened to get a lot longer.
Fortunately the police arrived fairly quickly (who knew police drive White Ford 150 pickups?), talked briefly to the alleged victim and the driver and we were on the road again after a 1/2 hour delay. It was a reminder of the downside of taking the megabus (along with yakking passengers and the overpowering smell, in close quarters, of McDonald’s cheeseburgers) but there are upsides too — including the affordability ($41 for this ride) and easy on-and-off – and so I am sad to see megabus service between Chicago and Omaha end, which it reportedly will as of early January.
I’ve always thought the area just beyond Lake Shore Drive on Sheridan Road in Chicago looks more like Miami than the Windy City, with its old school highrises blocking the lake views, with names like “Malibu” and “Tiara.” So it was interesting to finally see what the public beach looks like beyond those highrises. Gorgeous views of the endless water and to the south, the towers of downtown Chicago looking like a glittering, far-away Oz.
