Today we took our first bus ride...we got on at the Park and Ride at the corner of White and Elm and got off at Triangle Town Center.  It was clean, well run, efficient, and FULL of people!  The express line is free until next week, so we took advantage of it this afternoon.

Lana loved it, of course.  She loves buses, and begs to ride on them all the time, so she was delighted when we got on and headed down the road.

My favorite part was the fact that it was full of people who live and/or work in our community.  It's so easy to get caught up in our "seminary bubble," and that's not a good thing.  We're called to be salt and light to the world, and I find it hard to do that sometimes.  The bus is a great way to meet people I would not normally meet.  Lana is, of course, a wonderful conversation starter, so it was easy to begin chatting with the people around us.  Dan & I talked to several people each way, just meeting them and getting to know who they are and what they're doing.  Several of them knew each other because they ride the same route to and from work together each day.  We are trying to figure out if there's a regular route we can ride so we can really begin to build relationships with some of the regulars. 

Seminary wives, we need to get on the bus, if for no other reason than to reach out to our community.  They need to know that we're here, and that we care about them and what's going on in their lives.  We have such a wonderful support system in each other, but it's not enough to go about our day to day activities, mostly separated from our world in Wake Forest as we take care of our children and husbands and homes.  (Not to mention that riding the bus saves gas!!)

Dan is going to help me look at the routes and figure out what bus goes where at what time.  I'm going to try to use it  to go downtown to Marbles, to the Raleigh museums, to the mall, to the library and post office, etc.  I know it picks up right across the street from our neighborhood; I've just got to figure out where it connects to the main line and what times the routes run...I think they're kind of limited right now.  I'm excited about this opportunity for our family to get out into the community.

If you're at all interested in using the bus, let's go somewhere together!  The main line into downtown Raleigh is free until January.  The Wake Forest loop costs $2.50 each way, but it's 50 cents cheaper during midday, and children under 10 are free.  Please e-mail me and let's plan an outing!  RachaelMDavis@earthlink.net