Three Hour Tour

Picking granddaughter up at the bus station this morning was a nightmare. Arriving at 9:00 for her expected 9:10 arrival, her bus did not get in until a little after noon.

The bus had been trapped in a freeway shutdown – the 10 Freeway, shutdown in both directions, due to a car-to-car shooting earlier in the morning.

Of course, both she and I did not know this. By the time she was advised, I’d sat -- locked in the car, nervously looking around because the area is not safe, for over an hour.

She texted me at 10:00 saying they weren’t even close. Not only that, but because the freeway wasn’t moving, the driver had managed to exit, but did not know how to find the terminal from where he’d exited. One of the passengers went on Google Maps and was acting as navigator.

In the hour I’d been locked in the car, I’d seen some strange sights, not the least of which was “working girls” walking up/down the street, “Johns” pulling over, taking the girls away or into the motel across from the bus station, a crack head running down the street.

Running from?

Probably nothing.

Running to?

Probably nowhere.

The running crack head was kind of hilarious because of what his fashion sense necessitated he do – pants deliberately hanging so low they were midway down his butt, he was holding his pants as he ran to keep them from falling completely off.

Then there was the dancing streetwalker.

Feeling stressed from being in the bad area of town for such a long time, and feeling sad about how some people are having to live, and depressing thoughts entering my head about my own unsure future, after granddaughter texted she didn’t know when, I decided to find a Starbucks to wait it out.

The GPS sent me a half mile away to a center filled with tacky little shops, stores, and a superior court house.

Still not the best part of town, but a step up from where I'd been, the Starbucks must have been the only one within miles, because it was bedlam with no place to park, and a line of cars.

Not wanting to deal with the chaos, I turned to the PokémonGo app and found, though the Starbucks was a PokéStop, there wasn’t much in the area …. except a mile or so away was what looked to be another PokéStop heaven.

I’d already decided, because of the reports of the Creepy Clowns coming to the Inland Empire, targeting schools and universities, it not wise to head back to the University alone to collect PokéBalls, Great Balls, Razz Berries, so I drove to the area I spotted and found myself near City Hall, where Route 66 and Third Thursday Food Truck events are held.

I’ve been to Route 66 and always planned to go to Third Thursday, but never did because I didn’t see a food truck that interested me. Having found so many inviting PokéStops in the area, I’m now itching to go to the next event.

It doesn't get any more inviting than this

I’ll be back sooner than next Third Thursday, if I need more tools, because I’m staying away from the University until we get an all-clear on those Creepy Clowns.

Along about noon, three hours after I’d first arrived at the bus station, I was happily walking around collecting good stuff when granddaughter texted she was near. Her bus pulled in about four minutes after I arrived back at the terminal. Streetwalkers were still walking, bunch of guys sitting in a corner sharing a bottle.

I’ve never not once seen a police car in this area.

The terminal really needs to be relocated to a more inviting area.