@WanderingWilbo is cruising and carousing on the buses of the Muskegon Area Transportation System.

I think I finally have the bus system all worked out. Tonight, I
boarded the Lakeshore bus at Sherman and McCracken and rode it to
Walmart. I had a conversation with a man twenty years my elder, and
I'm liking elders more because I am rapidly joining their ranks. He
was just taking a casual ride to pick up some videos on Henry Street.
He warned me to check the seats before I sit down. One of the regulars
is having a bout with urinary incontinence, he explained There but for
the grace of God go I. I had to admire this regular rider, pursuing
independence in the cold of winter on a bus that had no facilities.
One can't just give up. I got off at Walmart and made my way to Pints
and Quarts at 6:22 PM. I had a nice evening there. I talked to a woman
who drank a PBR with her nice beef dish. Chatted with a woman who
looked just like a friend from work, whose parents own one of the
popular bars in town. Her friend writes cell phones stories about
bulldogs and she's considering breeding them for fun and profit. One
woman loves to sing Karaoke at Naughty's, but she hasn't made the
Wednesday night session in a while. I didn't connect as well with her
friend, who looked a lot like Marlo Thomas. I think I was friendly,
funny and brief. And I left and marched over to Meijers of Norton
Shores MI and cooled my heels until the 8:19 Sixth Street bus arrived.
This bus driver contacted the Harvey Street bus, which delayed
departure to pick me up in Muskegon Heights, near Peck and Broadway.
This I was happy to learn was the second to last. That meant I could
pass almost a happy hour at the Barnes & Noble near the Lakes Mall,
catching the 9: 45 last run home.
As you probably don't know, the Muskegon Chess Club meets in the B & N
coffee shop and today the club had two boards active for a round robin
tournament, with chess clocks even. I have put my dignity at risk a
few times before and been soundly routed in most games. One of my
betters confessed to me, after the checkmate, that he had survived a
stroke in 2007. I was in admiration.
Before sitting down to tweet, I sallied forth on a few encounters. I
met a woman searching the entire Fiction & Literature section for a
book her mother hadn't read, her mother being a member of the Book of
the Night club. One woman told me a lot about the Lake Michigan shore
in the spring and how it becomes a migratory bird funnel. She was
buying a book that matched bird songs on tape to bird pictures. Any
woman who knows how to birdwatch can find herself a suitable mate and
she had. I had a few minutes before the bus and I talked to a woman
who had written a paper for her graduate class in special education
for the last 8 hours at the bookstore. She was charming, named Anna,
and I didn't think she would give me a ride home. So with a nice
goodbye, I set off to catch the Harvey Bus. The route sign was missing
lights for HAR, so I boarded a night bus called VEY.

WanderingWilbo is written by Wilbo in response to his travels for business and pleasure.