Text 36613, 99 rader
Skriven 2010-04-07 16:17:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: outing 1 29
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So I had a free day, and I hadn't visited anyone of note in a
while, and the forecast was for bright, sunny, and hungry. So
I got in touch with the Shipps, who consented to pick me up at
Burtonsville and spend the day toting me between beef-a-rama
landmarks.

I took the 42 bus to the S4 to Silver Spring. The 42 is the
infamous loonies, crack addicts, and cross-dressers bus, but at
this hour the clientele was mostly shoppers and other relatively
standard folk, the only anomaly being that the driver was
quite cheerful - probably because he was having a relatively
smooth uneventful run. Speaking of running, when we got near
16th St., I found that the stop I wanted to get to was across
a park and down the way, so I actually sprinted through the
park and diagonally across a big intersection in order to get
to the S bus, which was just pulling up. This driver too was
quite cheerful, and I began to reflect on the niceness of the
weather and the general good feeling all around. Either that
or someone had put drugs into the DC water supply. Turns out
that this driver was in a good mood because his shift was
ending! and a few stops up the way, he abandoned us to a
trainee and trainer, both of whom were unaccountably cheerful,
though the former was a little on the nervous side, as he'd
apparently never driven a bus before. It was a long trip, but
I'd built an extra half hour in, because it was my first time
to try this route: every few blocks the trainer would stop the
guy and give a little lecture or some tips on how to handle the
equipment or the clientele. Eventually we did get to Silver
Spring, though, not before some loony who had clearly belonged
on the 42 sat beside me and fidgeted constantly - I thought
that perhaps his aim was to liberate my wallet from me, but in
retrospect he may have been too nonfunctional to do that;
still, when another seat opened up, I took it. Silver Spring
is unrecognizable from when I had last been there. Back in the
day, the 6-story building where my dentist had his office was
one of the tallest in town; now, it would be hard to find amid
the monsters, if it exists at all. And the Metro station is
being expanded and updated to accommodate the new ways, so the
bus stops are strung along a number of neighboring streets.
Luckily, there are maps of where the stops are, which is far
better than the situation at many of the stations, where
inspired guessing is the only way of finding a bus.

The Z6 is a peculiar route - it goes all the way up to
Burtonsville, but not by the main highway: it threads through
residential areas and office parks and takes an hour to go
its 12 miles (counting twists and turns), and I bet nobody
besides me actually takes it from beginning to end.

I had my computer with me, hoping to either do a little work
or read about Italy, but some girl trying to find an address
was panicked and striking out with the bus driver, so I offered
to help. After some poking around, we determined that she had
written Millwood down on her instructions, while the street was
really called Hillwood. She got to her destination okay, but had
it not been for the map on the computer, she'd have ended up in
Burtonsville, far from where she actually wanted to be.

Off topic, but along the way we passed a Congregational
church, whose sign out front read "the empty grave proves
our Savior lives" - I reflected on how the standards for
proof seem to have diminished over the years, and the
standards of faith seem to have disappeared altogether.
All that proves, thought I to myself, is that some guy
had a shovel ... also that people nowadays don't know
the difference between a grave and a tomb.

Another weird guy, also quite fidgety, got on, and at length
asked, "have we gotten to the shopping center yet?" Which
shopping center. "The one with Starbucks." Which Starbucks. The
driver determined, after some astute questioning, that we had
in fact passed the appropriate shopping center, and that this
Starbucks had been two stops, about a quarter mile, after the
guy had gotten on. The guy was dumped off at a stop and told
to wait for the next one in the opposite direction. He looked
very anxiety-ridden when we pulled away.

As there were few others riding, we pulled into Burtonsville
5 early. What happens is that the guy parks at one end of the
shopping center, away from the Park and Ride, has his break,
and then drives to the Park and Ride to begin the return trip.
He told me that if I chose, I could wait and ride the hundred
yards, or else I could walk. I chose to walk and found the
Shipps waiting at the parking lot at the other end. They're
looking pretty good and were up for a carnivorous field trip.
So we went back northward to Pioneer Pit Beef, the smokehouse
near Baltimore of which echo picnic alums have fond memories.
A regular 5 oz sandwich, adequate for ordinary people, is
just under $6, and the super, 8 oz, is just over $6 - so
cholesterol and triglycerides be damned, why not go for the
big one? We got two supers and a regular. They were just as
delicious as I remembered, though slightly less rare. Also:
the carver still gives out a taste for while you wait for
your sandwich to be made. In our case, that was under a
minute, but we still got our free slice. Back home to relax.

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