NYC Day #1

Tons o' fun so far! Had to be at the school at 5:45, left at 6:20. We lucked up and got a bus with the least amount of people out of the 4 buses we had. burt and I managed to get two seats each, so we didn't have to get too cozy.
Burt and I watched Monty Python's "Holy Grail" on the laptop, always a treat! "Bring out your dead!", "Very small rocks", "Come and see the violence inherent in the system", "I'm being repressed!", and so on.
BTW, Mom's Air Card worked very well. It's nice having an internet connection while running down the highway. Also nice checking the radar when you're driving in lightning and rain for 6 hours straight. We managed to stay right in the middle of the mess all the way to Virginia.
Did I mention we didnt have as many folks in our bus? Short lived. The newest bus in the fleet broke down and the remaining 3 buses had to take on the 47 passengers and luggage from bus #3! Yeah! Got to sit by a stranger, crampt up against the window for 2 hours. Then got moved to sit with another person I knew somewhat. Got to hear more than I wanted from her.
So, at this point we are 1 hour behind schedule.
We drag into Roanoke VA about 6 o'clock. I am sure the resturaunt would have preferred us getting there on schedule instead of their busiest time. You know they gotta love seeing 170 folks drop in at one time. Luckily it was a cafeteria, and we were in and out in about an hour.
Arrived at Natural Bridge Inn just before 8:00. I wont explain the luggage quag, but let me say this is a very old Inn with one very slow elevator. So 170 people had to lug their luggage up 6 flights of stairs. The men got to do theirs, the women's, and the girl's, also!
So far, everything about as expected. Loud obnoxious boys, squeeling chatty girls, crampt long bus rides.
The good news is the replacement bus is to be here in the AM. The other good news is our 14 hour ride today is the longest we will have till next Friday night, and I have mucho sedatives for that trip! I warned Burt, I am gonna start taking one sleeping pill per 30 minutes until I pass out. May need paramedics to wake me up in Moody next Saturday morning!