To KC and back

It took three buses, a $9 taxi ride, one train and a bit of cheating. But, I did it. I managed to get to Kansas City (Westport’s Ernie Biggs Dueling Piano Bar to be exact) on a Friday night and return the same day — without driving. Well, not exactly on the same day, but close enough.The Amtrak train pulled into the Lawrence station a little past 12:30 a.m. This was the part of my no-car week that had given me the most pause.The event was a must-attend. One of my friends had won an office party at Ernie Biggs. That meant free food, free drinks and no cover charge. The only problem was it started at 6 p.m., which even on a good newsroom day would be difficult to make. During the week when I had traded my four wheels for my two legs, it seemed impossible.But these are the challenges one must face in life (or in my case the blogosphere). For the past two weeks, I had been planning for the night. First I would take the K-10 Connector from Lawrence to Johnson County Community College. Then, I would catch a bus downtown and from there to Westport. With a quick call to The JO (short for Johnson County Transit), I had all the routes and stops mapped out.Because the K-10 Connector doesn’t run late Friday evenings or at all during the weekend, I had to find another way home.The idea of a 50-mile bike ride back to Lawrence the next day was one that appealed to me. However, my bike-shop friends informed me that the city of De Soto was less than friendly to bicyclists.For a day, I thought I was either going to have to break my vow of carlessness or miss out on the fun. Then genius struck (or a co-worker gave me a good suggestion. I can’t remember.)What about the train?As luck would have it, once every day Amtrak leaves Kansas City traveling West and passing through Lawrence. And, it just so happens to be at 10:55 p.m. And, I could buy a ticket for $17. My plan was foolproof. Until 3:03 p.m. Friday.That’s when I realized if I wanted to catch the bus from downtown Lawrence to Haskell Indian Nations University to meet the K-10 Connector, I had to be at the bus stop in exactly one minute. I was nowhere close.I was defeated before my first step. I roamed the News Center asking anyone I saw — reporters, photographers, editors — if they were by chance heading toward Haskell in the next 20 minutes or so. I had a taker. Well, technically, he was going to the downtown courthouse. And, that technically was cheating. But, I had a larger plan to consider. When we pulled up to Haskell, there were no signs as to where the bus might stop. No signs, except for a college-age man talking on his cell phone and milling about in the north parking lot. I took a chance and decided to wait nearby. The bus pulled up on time. Because it was declared a high-ozone-level day in Kansas City, the fare was reduced to 50 cents. The ride over was one of pure pleasure. I leaned back, pulled out a book and didn’t once worry about those jerk-of-a-drivers in front of me. We made it to Johnson County before I finished the first ten pages of my book. I was now ready to take on The JO.A bit unfamiliar with Kansas City and completely new to it’s bus system, I was the bus driver’s worst nightmare — shuffling through my purse for the exact change, asking if this was the bus that would take me downtown and then checking every couple stops to see if I needed to get off. Though annoying, it’s a tactic that works. And, I successfully exited that bus to wait for the next one. And that was where error number two was made. It wasn’t until after I boarded the next bus and was headed toward sky scrappers that I realized something wasn’t right. When everyone else got off — including the driver — I knew something had gone terribly wrong. It turned out, I should have crossed the street when I transferred buses. Fortunately, the driver informed me that after he took a short bathroom break he would be headed in the direction I needed to go. The mistake resulted in a 20 minute detour. But, soon enough I found myself in Westport. Start to finish, it was a three hour journey that cost $1. The way back was a little more expensive. Around 9:40 p.m., I ventured out of Ernie Biggs and to the side of Broadway. According to the nice man I called at The JO, the bus I needed to be on would arrive at 9:54 p.m.It did arrive — on the other side of the street. My failing sense of direction was getting embarrassing. Not sure when the next bus would come and knowing I had just one chance back to Lawrence that night, I panicked and hailed a cab. It was a $9 ride to Union Station. As it turned out the train was delayed and I had a good 30 minutes to burn. So, I called my sister, chatted to the nice gentlemen next to me and did some highly-entertaining people watching.This was my first Amtrak experience and even at 11 p.m. I wanted to soak it all in. When we boarded, I was surprised by how big and comfy the seats were. The leg room was well beyond the first-class standards of airplanes. If it wasn’t for the constant wailing of the train horn, I might have fallen asleep. Just before the train reached Lawrence, an attendant made sure I was awake and ready to depart. When the doors opened it was to an empty sidewalk and a dark night. This was a part of Lawrence, I had never seen before. It took me a few seconds and several circles before I spotted the lights from downtown just four blocks away. My eyes burned and my feet hurt, as I walked the last part of my journey. When I reached home, the light by my front door had never looked so welcoming. The trip back to Lawrence took 3 hours 20 minutes and $26.