On the road. . .

As blogged below, Kansas Defenders will be in Washington DC this week for the Ventris argument and Obama's inauguration. This post details my odyssey on the bus from Lawrence, KS to Washington.

Part 1

St. Louis 6:00 pm Sunday

This is the line to transfer buses in St. Louis. We were delayed because of a traffic accident; so no time for dinner or finding tylenol for my headache. I've already met some very nice people on the trip, three of whom are also going to the inauguration. They've been on the bus since Los Angeles. Four days each way for them. They must really love Barack Obama.


Now, it's off to Indianapolis, with stops in Effingham, IL (where my mom earned her college degree) and Terre Haute, IN (where I once excelled in a pinewood derby competition). Maybe by the time we get to the Wabash, the kid in the back of the bus will stop screaming.

(Update- I was able to score McDonalds in Effingham, the cure for hunger and headaches)

Part 2

Columbus, OH. 5:00am. Monday

I just had a nice conversation with a professor from Howard University. He earned his doctorate from Georgetown and currently teaches world diplomacy at Howard. He described how he has tried to emulate Dr. King (he earned his undergrad degree at Morehouse- same as Dr. King). All in all, a good person to sit next to on a bus headed for DC on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day (to watch the first black president be sworn in no less). He did make me laugh when he said he doesn't think he could have handled law school (which he said before he knew I was a lawyer).

Part 3.

Monroeville, PA. 10:00am

Our bus broke down for the second time. Apparently, there is something wrong with the air brakes. We tried to "push on", but I guess brakes are important. We have to wait for a replacement bus.

Here is a picture of the broken-down bus.

Part 4

Union station, DC. 6:00 pm

The crowd inside Union Station was crazy. The escalator was quickly unloading everyone into a crowd of people, and there was no room for anyone to move. It got pretty hectic. Eventually, a transit worker stepped up and wouldn't let people get on the escalator, but not before it threw Jeremy Schaap of ESPN into me.