Bus ride

I have been wanting to train the Fine Young Man to take the bus to the high school by himself all year, but just haven't got around to it. Well, the brakes on the van are squealing and sound like metal is rubbing on metal, so I have been doing my best not to drive it. So today, the three of us walked the probably 1 mile to the bus stop, and rode into downtown. Once we were down there, I instructed my FYM on where and how to get back on it for the ride back, and then the Young Miss and I set out to do some errands.

First we went to the bank, and deposited all the monies and checks from the Piano Girl Recital. We also got a bunch of coin rolls so we could work on that here at night while watching the telly. Then we had lunch at Qdoba, an okay fast food chain. We both had mango chicken salads, with no cheese or sour creme, so we at least ate healthy. But I wasn't very impressed. For one thing, I just really have this problem when restaurants charge me for guacamole when I don't get sour creme and cheese, but that is just probably me being cheap again.

Then we hit the grocery store, stocking up on everything we need to make some healthy snacks for our group hike tomorrow. We are headed for Wallace Falls. A friend of mine will pick us up at 8 am. So don't count on a blog post till later tomorrow.

There is an optometrist in the grocery, so we stopped there to fix my blue glasses- I woke up this morning, put them on, and the arm-thingy on the right side just broke off in my hand. So they were nice and put a new screw in for me.

Then we headed to the bus stop, and yes, when we got on, the FYM was on the bus. Yay! I know he is fifteen, but he is such an absent-minded professor when it comes to some things, that I was a tad concerned. We walked the mile home, and are all now complaining of tired feet! Wonder what tomorrow will bring!

Taking the bus made for some interesting conversation about how to be safe out in the world. I have never been one to give my kids the generic "do not to talk to strangers" line, but rather to go with your gut and your sixth sense- you know, the one that makes you want to cross the street when you see a particular kind of person walking behind or in front of you, etc. We ran into an obviously mentally-challenged man who repeated every word he said, a young drunk man who was drinking right out of a bottle in a brown paper bag on the bus, and the kind of young men who all sit together in the back of the bus being loud and obnoxious. We got to talk about all kinds of safety issues with just one bus ride. It kind of freaks me out, but I have to let go to him a bit, and give him some freedom and some control over his own life. He is so much more sheltered than I was at fifteen, but then, a lot of the responsibilities I had at that age were forced upon me. So all is good in the end. He will be fine.

The who trip only took an hour and a quarter longer than if we had taken the car, and we all got some reading in, so that blows my main excuse for not riding the bus. I also got at least 3 miles of walking in. I do think I need to track how far we really walk to and from the bus stop, so I can count that much walking!

Ok, time to go make some yum balls (ground nuts, dried fruit, honey, coconut, sesame seeds, and protein powder all rolled into balls and rolled in more coconut. A good source of protein for hiking!), and then scrounge up something for supper.
TTFN,
LB