The Union County journal. [volume] (Marysville, Ohio) 1875-1951, 1949-02-24

Letters of travel, relating COM
mon-place experiences and OBJ
Servations, are of great interest
to many readers, not only to those
who have travelled much but to
those who have travelled little.
While / have returned home from
my vacation, these articles will
continue for few issues. Much
of the contents was written in
Brownsville and San Antonio,
Texas, but some Of it since my
return to Marysville.
The forward three-fourthS of the
Greyhound bus is very COM
Portable, the rear quarter pro-
vides fairly rough travelling, be-
ing over the rear wheels and
trunks. The rule of Greyhound
travel is that once you get your
seat on the bus you keep it for
the duration of the trip and when
passengers get off for the rest
or lunch periods they are admit
ted to the bus before any new
passengers are allowed to enter.
Thus the traveller gets the full
benefit of the half-hour lunch
period or the ten-minute rest per-
iod. When buses are changed fre-
quently, as they were going
north, there was the usual
scramble to get on before the
seats in the frout half of the bus
were occupied.
Before leaving Dallas, tn he
driver announced that, because
of the ice, he was requesting that
there be no cigar smoking. He
said it was going to be a rough
night: Hold on tight, here we
go" Many times he stopped to ex-
anime fallen wires and to chisel
the ice from the Windshield
wipers. Side windows, of course,
were frozen over with ice. On in
to the night we crept, along into
Tulsa At Tulsa l bought my
first package of cigarettes, but
after trying one or two, gave the
pack away. Personally l could
not see why cigarette smoking
should be permitted but not cigar
smoking.
All the next day until four o.
clock the bus forged ahead, hours
late, until we reached Springfield,
Mo-, where the driver announced
that that was the end of the trip
until the ice storm subsidized. We
were given tickets by bus from
Springfield to st Louis and told
to find hotel Accommodations. II
registered at a hotel and sent a
night wire home that l was
stranded in Springfield by the
storm.
After getting a good supper!
and 1T was one swell meal,-Il
walked over to the bus station
and learned that all travellers
who wished to leave would be
provided with railroad tickets
over the Frisco lines to st. Louis,
in special cars to be attached to
the midnight train. / hustled
back to the hotel and checked
out, and was told to get on the
bus which was to take us to the
Frisco station. I had standing
room on the bus for about a half
hour while waiting for the rest
of the travellers to arrive.
To me this trip to st. Louis
meant another night of torture,
but / found in the crowed bus a
general carnival spirit prevail
ing. Most of the people on the
bus were from the storied Ozarks.
/ heard several people brag that
they had never been on a rail-
road train before in their lives
and the fact that the Greyhound
bus company was paying their
fares by railroad to st. Louis
overwhelmed the most of them |
with joy. One old, toothless hag
yelled an obscene remark across
the bus to the auditor who was
to distribute the tickets, and most |
of the people seemed to think the
remark was highly humorous.
Within Is minutes after getting
on the Frisco car, the drinking
water tank was empty. This car,
of course an old one, was the
height of luxury to many of the
people and the idea of being !
able to get a drink of water on
the car was so novel that they
soon drained the tank.
Outstanding among the pas
sengers was a group of fine look
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