Blonde Moments

The last couple of days, because of late meetings, I've taken the bus in the  morning.  Normally, I ride in the truck with my coworkers, but I didn't want to go to work that early only to work late.

So, today I chose to take the bus again.

It left promptly, and the day was looking to be another boring one, when the driver decided to go through the route that had been detoured.  They were rebuilding the road and, in the beginning, it was probably the smoothest road we have on base.  Then he came to some huge gravel piles.  There were two choices: go to the left side and have to face oncoming traffic (which was pretty light because most of the traffic had been detoured around), or go to the right side which looked muddy and washed out.   Our brain surgeon chose right.  Or wrong, however you want to look at it.  We made it about a hundred yards in the thick mud and finally, stuck solid with the mud up to the bus step, could go no further. 

When it became clear to the driver that we weren't going anywhere, he left the bus running and hopped out, leaving us there.

There were five of us in the bus:  two indian guys who opted to stay inside, me and two other contractors.  After a stunned look at each other like, "Did he just leave us?" the contractors and I decided to hoof it the rest of the way into work.

On our way, several of the local national children came up along the fenceline brandishing slingshots.  There were a few hairy seconds there when I thought they were going to pelt us, but, they were kind enough to wait for the next victims to pass.

A lot of cars passed us by, some full, some empty.  Finally, a bus that had two soldiers in it stopped and offered us a ride.  We gladly accepted.  The two guys who were with me who I had jokingly told I'd protect (they both topped 6'5"), told me that if I weren't with them, they probably would have had to walk the whole way.  I asked them if that was why they stuck with me, jokingly, and they said, "Of course! We know which side the bread is buttered on!"

The joking and teasing made a fun adventure out of something that could have made me crabby all day.  I'm glad that, of all people, I was stuck in the mud with those two guys.