Thursday evening was my last night in Drayton Valley. It was nice, I made dinner for Des and we just hung out because on Friday morning I was leaving for Calgary on the greyhound. I came to Alberta 2 weeks before I was scheduled to start work at the camp so that I could have some time to visit and hang out with family and friends. My first stop was Drayton for a week, and then I planned on spending a week with my cousin Amy in Calgary. So Friday morning I set off from Drayton with all my gear in tow to catch the greyhound. A few days before I went and bought my ticket so that I just had to walk down to the Husky and hop on the bus. I made it to the Husky a few minutes early and took a load off to wait for the bus. When I was sitting there a little white bus pulled up and I payed no attention to it, seeing as it was a tiny bus and it didn't say Greyhound on the side. Then the gas station attendant came out and told me that was the bus I was waiting for. I gathered my stuff and headed over to the bus. When the driver opened the door I asked him if it was the Greyhound to Edmonton, and indeed it was.
It should be noted that Drayton Valley is located southwest of Edmonton and northwest of Calgary. So in order to take the greyhound I actually had to go up to Edmonton first, transfer, and then head back south to Calgary. This entailed a 6 1/2 hour bus travel to my destination, which is actually longer the flight from Halifax across the country!
So I hopped on the bus, gave the driver my ticket and got settled for the first leg up to Edmonton. My first impression of the driver was that he was a bit of a grump, he probably wouldn't talk to me much, and that I could just chill with my headphones in or maybe sleep for the 2 hours it takes to get to Edmonton. Boy was I wrong! The bus driver was actually very chatty, and in the end I felt maybe it was the best choice to stay alert during this leg. I was the only passenger on the bus and the bus driver didn't put me at ease. He started out chatting about general things, the weather, my travel, etc. Then he started to freak me out a bit. You know when you just get a bad feeling about someone? The heebs? This guy gave me a serial killer vibe. We passed a truck that he normally passes on his route and he was talking to me about he sees a lot of the same trucks and things on his route. He also told me about a woman he sees jogging on his route in great detail, and how she probably doesn't even know he sees her everyday. Then he turned his attention to me. He asked "So, is your family going to miss you while you are away?" I told him of course, I talk to my mother regularly, and lots of people know where I am........even right now. Then he said, "So you must not have time for a boyfriend with all that travel? Maybe a few one night stands, but no boyfriend. Haha" This time my hair cut came in handy, I just rubbed my buzz cut and said, "Oh no, I don't do that either." Then we had to make our first stop in a small town. I was already freaked out because of his demeanour and weird conversation up until now so when he turned off the highway I thought for a second that this might be it. I texted both Destiny, here in Alberta, and MC at home the type and number of bus I was on and where I was heading. I was on a small white First Canada bus # 3000 heading toward Edmonton from Drayton Valley. That way I figured if he did kill me, they would be more easily be able to figure out who did it, and when. I also discretely took my pocket knife out of my bag and put it in my pocket. I wouldn't be going down without a fight! We stopped at a sketchbag auto shop and he asked me if I would like to go in and use the bathroom or anything. I didn't care even if my back teeth were floating there was no way I was going to get off that bus. I politely declined and waited for him to get back. The Moreeeny luck was on my side because he got back in and we started off back towards the highway. Yes! Of course it didn't help that I was reminded that a few years ago there was a beheading on a greyhound bus in Alberta!! Some guy freaked out on the bus and killed another passenger. That was in the back of my head, but I tried not to think about it.
As we were driving down the highway to the next stop he was telling me a story about how a gunman in Edmonton took a shotgun into the Workers Comp building and shot some people. This story is understandable, I do know how exasperating these people can be, and this guy clearly had enough. However he then said that when his friends heard about the standoff happening they all started calling his house because they thought it was him. Great! So even your friends think you are a serial killer! The rest of the drive went by, I tried to stay alert and always agreed with what he was talking about as to not enrage him. When we pulled into the Edmonton Greyhound garage I was pretty thankful I made it without seeing the bad end of a gravel road somewhere. He told me to check with the ticket counter to see what time my bus for Calgary (that he wasn't driving) left. I said thanks, good luck and jumped off the bus.
I went to the ticket counter and asked them what time, and I had an hour to wait till the bus left. I sat down in the station and opened my computer to watch some stuff I downloaded to pass the time. I was just unraveling my headphones when the damn bus driver scared the crap out of me! He came up behind me and just said "So what time does it leave?" I thought that guy was gone! I nervously said when my bus left, and hoped to god he didn't sit down! He didn't, he just walked away. I waited the hour and boarded by bus to Calgary. I took the first seat next to the door in case of any beheadings I could make a quick escape, and made it to Calgary in one piece.
So there you have it, a weird and crazy situation, that because of the Moreeeny luck just turns out to be a good story!
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