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FRIDAY I needed to go get my hair cut this morning so Darlene went with me. We walked to west of us to where the #166 bus has a pick-up and got a real nice lady for a driver. Both Darlene and I had our walkers but the buses here have ramps to let down for a person to get on the bus with walkers and wheelchairs. I told her we were new at riding the Metro buses so she was very helpful. I asked her if she stopped where I wanted to go and she said "yes, right before I turn the corner to go to the Transit Center". This lady driver even talked to us to say we were near our stop. I got my hair cut and when we came out I asked Darlene if she would like to go home on the 183 and she's usually game to do whatever I suggest. We walked out the back of the shopping center where we were, across the street, up the ramp and around to the glass elevator that goes up to the bridge crossing the tracks. Darlene is afraid of heights and didn't like the idea of the glass elevator so I told her "if you want to cross the tracks, this is the only way" (Once I got home I figured out another way so she didn't have to get on the glass elevator.) She shut her eyes so when the elevator stopped, we got out on the bridge and walked across. She told me "I've never done this before" so I told her "neither have I but it's fun to learn something new". I don't think she agreed with me. She didn't realize we had to go back down on another glass elevator to get on the other side of the tracks. We met some lady that's only lived in Kent for two years and she said she had to learn all the ropes of riding the buses and she loves Kent. She lives in Gowe Court (Shag unit) in downtown Kent. Darlene told this lady that "she's {meaning me} the leader, I'm the follower" and that is so true. We found the "bay" for 183 and had to wait more than 30 min. If I would have checked the time schedule in the bay for #166, it left shortly after we sat down to wait. The #183 bus is a small bus so we decided we will take the #166 to go to Kent and come home from now on. I wanted to walk around through the shops while we were up there but Darlene said "it's too far" so we just came back home. The bus driver coming home on #183 thought he was driving a motorcycle and just missed two different cars when he was changing lanes in a zig zag manner and took the curb as he went around the Smith curve. All in all, a real neat and fun experience. We learned a lot about where the buses go today. While we sat there waiting for our bus I told Darlene "you were born and raised here and haven't ever ridden a city bus and it takes me moving here from another state to show you how". She just laughed but she said she's willing to start riding them wherever I decide "we" want to go. The schedules are all changing on 10/1 so I need to get up to the Library and pick up all new ones. SATURDAY I asked both Darlene and Linda if they wanted to go across the street to Taco Time and have a cup of Chicken Chili for dinner so they both said yes. We left here at 5 p.m. and had our "dinner" so then I said to Darlene "are you ready to go next door to Burger King and get one of their soft serve sundaes ($1.29 and they are small)" and she said yes. Linda is on Weight Watchers so she didn't get one. We sat there and ate it. As we were waiting to cross Meeker to come home, a car was coming real slow toward us. When it got close, it was a police car so we all had a good laugh and glad we didn't cross in front of him. If he looked in his rear vision mirror he would have seen us crossing after his car went by so both the girls thought he would turn around and give us a ticket (no crosswalks where we crossed) but he just went on. Of course, all three of us had our walkers. When we got even with our building, I told the girls I was going on and walk faster than them so I did. They walked also but 1/2 block or more behind me but we all joined up as they cheated and didn't go as far as I did. What a lovely evening to be out there walking because it's just 57 but really nice because there wasn't any wind. All three of us said we should do this every evening. It's amazing how early it's getting darker now. Linda was hurting real bad from our exercise this afternoon but neither Darlene or I were sore. I felt like I wanted to keep on walking or just sit outside because it is so nice but I came inside when the other gals did.
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