Route 18 - Indianapolis - Part B

The Starbucks Stalker - You would not need to go very far here in Indianapolis to find a Starbucks coffee shop.  As with 7-Eleven stores in Pensacola, Florida; they seem to be on every street corner.  Here in the Nora area of the north side there is one inside of Target and yet another one across the parking lot in the neighboring strip mall.  Luckily for me there is also one across from The Cheesecake Factory , where I work in the Fashion Mall.  Though you will find the same types of coffee drinks, pastries, espresso and various overpriced machines to make such drinks in the comfort of your own home; I wonder if all Starbucks come with their own personal Stalker such as the particular stores I mentioned above.  I will see this guy on the bus from time to time, and from what I can gather, he simply travels from one Starbucks store to another throughout the day.  He is never drinking coffee, only sitting outside drinking water; or standing if he is smoking a cigarette, which is pretty much 99% of the time.  The first couple time I noticed him I thought nothing of it, but then as I pass one or more Starbucks through each day, he is always there.  He has an air of creepiness about him yet seems pretty harmless and every so often I am tempted to ask him what his story is.  Usually, however, though he begins to talk to the invisible people around him and I just walk away.

The Broadripple Brewpub Babe - The Broadripple Brewpub will be celebrating its twentieth anniversary at some point in 2010.  I have personally never been there and I doubt that I ever will, but you never know.  According to their website they open at 11am everyday for lunch, and every morning there is a woman waiting at the bus stop I sometimes use around 8am waiting to head in that direction, wearing not only a brewpub 10th anniversary t-shift, but a short black servers apron as well.  Perhaps this lovely lady has been with them since the doors opened almost twenty years ago, thus accounting for the lack of care or concern in the way she presents herself at this point.  The bandanna which attempts to keep her hair under control is not to be outdone by the cut-off at the knee blue jeans, with many well worn through holes or the apron which is long overdue for a trip to the washing machine.  Now I do not describe this "babe" to insult her in as much as I cannot imagine what I would do if I were to visit an eating establishment and she were to walk up to my table as my server.   As with the Starbucks Stalker this woman enjoys her friends that only she is able to see; though she speaks much more vulgar with them than he does.

These are just two of the many people I have so far come into contact with on Route 18, there are several more and I will share them with you from time to time.                                              

Route 18 - Indianapolis - Part A

I find it utterly amazing how different public transportation can be from one city to another, not to mention how the demographics change so immensely from smaller towns to larger cities and even more so in the major metropolis areas of the country.  I am not claiming to be an expert on public transportation, but I most certainly know the good from the bad, the safe from the dangerous, the clean from the not-so-clean and the one constant that I have found in any city when using PT(Public Transportation) and that is the common everyday strange person, wacko, crazy person....well you get the idea.  They are everywhere and depending on who you are, they are you!  Obviously what is strange to one person may not be so strange to someone else, but you would have to agree that sometimes, not matter how much you may not want to say it, some people are just out there!

     Indianapolis is a very spread out city and there are many neighborhoods North, South, East & West that people needs to get too and from on a daily basis and therefore you might think that PT system, IndyGo, would be quite extensive and very adequate for a city in upwards two-million people and ranking in as the 23rd largest city in US.  Think again!!  It blows and not a good blow either.  Take a look at the system route map and you will see it is like a spider.  Almost, if not every single route goes through downtown and that is pretty much the only place to make transfers.  The majority of the routes run Northwest and Northeast from downtown with no connecting routes once you get further and further north, although the routes become further and further apart....totally stupid.

     Somehow it seems that in most cities the Northside and Southside are total polar opposites in the types of neighborhoods, safety, demographics and people in general that occupy these areas.  So by this assumption you would think that the Northside of a city would have less oddball people that say the Southside.  I am here to tell you that is not the case here in Indianapolis and the bus route that I use the most, Route 18 is a perfect example of how the freaks are everywhere!