I posted slideshows for every day of Evan’s DC adventure. I wrote about the things that we saw and did. I failed to write about the travel to and from DC on the Megabus. If you follow Doug or me on Twitter, you know that we tweeted the entire journey. It would have been easy to make a post consisting only of the tweets sent while on the bus. That would have been an incomplete picture of our journey.

The ride from Knoxville to DC was completely packed. There were zero empty seats for stretching out to nap. Granted, that didn’t stop some passengers from spending the entire journey with their seat reclined so that the passenger behind them had zero leg room. There was no wi-fi and most of the power outlets didn’t work. The bus passengers were noisy, like elementary school bus loud. All of those issues were overshadowed by the broken a/c and the hot summer sun baking everyone thru the glass sunroof of the bus. When we disembarked in DC, we looked like we had been caught in a rainstorm. Let’s just pretend that we left that smell on the bus.

The ride from DC to Knoxville was something entirely different. The air was cool and comfortable. The only noise was the gentle hum of the a/c. Every other seat was vacant so that people could stretch out or curl up. People slept, read and slept more. When we disembarked in Knoxville, we were rested and relaxed.

Truth be told, we enjoyed the entire journey. It was an adventure. Obviously, the ride home was comfortable and relaxing. The ride there wasn’t physically comfortable in any way, but it was funny. Everyone on the bus talked to each other. Strangers joked and laughed together. Because of the excessive heat, the bus made an unplanned stop. Planned stops are always a McDonalds. Our unplanned stop was between a McDonalds and a convenience store. All the children from the bus bought ice cream and popsicles. I paid way too much for a cup of grapes and in that moment, they were the tastiest grapes in the entire world. Our bus driver sounded like a cheerleader whenever he spoke to the bus passengers.

Megabus riders are there because of economic necessity. As such, we have all suffered things far worse than no air conditioning. We are a class of people experienced in patience and coping. Hot and sweaty doesn’t even register on the scale of real world problems. Nobody got angry. Everyone laughed.

Would I travel Megabus again? Sure. It’s cheap compared to other forms of travel. Would I Megabus with a young child? I don’t know. Probably. I think that his memories of the trip will be playing games with his dad, coloring with mom, reading comic books and watching movies. Actually, I think that is what I want to remember most about the trip, too.