This Is My Stop. Isn't It?

My first cover article for Ace Weekly was about my experience riding the LexTran system to get around town, and how much nicer that journey would be with the addition of some aesthetically pleasing to the eye bus stops created by the folks at Art-in-Motion, a grassroots organization that held a contest for ideas for construction of these cool bus stops.  The first was on Versailles Road, with Ale-8 bottles, and others began to spring up as Art-in-Motion moved through Lexington's chief corridors and erected the bus stops designed by the contestants.  

When the article was written, my bus stop was a mud puddle in the mornings, and upon my return in the hot afternoons, I would stand in the pencil thin shadow of the bus stop sign on Nicholasville Road in front of Best Buy and pray I didn't faint or die at the hands of the bridge/exit confusion.  I was tempted to sit on the overturned grocery carts that others used as seats, but fear of physics and human error kept me standing in what I could fit of my frame into the skinny shade provided until the bus thankfully would arrive and ferry me down the road a few miles.  I did love my bus drivers, especially my morning lady, who I likened to a character in Herman Hesse's Siddhartha.. As much as I liked the people I met on my bus path, one thing was certain: Lexington's bus stops were "in piss-poor shape," as my Dad would've said -- and with the Alltech Games a-coming, it sure was a fabulous of Art-in-Motion to find great ways to spruce up the place for when the world came to visit.  After all, the mark of a community is more than lofty buildings and manicured lawns -- the air and attitude of a town to all of its people is what is never overlooked.  

I say all that to say this.  Thanks thanks thanks to Mayor Gray and his folks at LFUCG who manage LexTran!   I've ventured outside of campus and downtown lately, and I've noticed that nearly every stop between downtown and Wal-Mart on Nicholasville Road is blessed with a nice metal bench that has the LexTran name emblazoned within its design, and the benches are often covered, with bus schedules visible and shade/shelter provided for the average every day bus rider like me.  Oh, and no more mud!  The benches are in concrete, they're not going anywhere until the next Revolution.

Speaking of which.  I have to get to the television to see how Revolutionary and Orb perform in today's Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Park which takes off in about an hour or so from now.  It's been a rainy but not weepy day.  I walked a goodly walk to campus and back for breakfast, though I originally left with the intention of going to Farmers Market, but the rain clouds start getting drippy with me, so I crossed the street and headed back home.  I don't mind a little drizzle, but not just after I've flatironed my hair.  After all, I have priorities.  lol  

By the by what is going in the Bluegrass today, anyway?  Lots of tour buses are parked at the old Campbell House, whatever it's called now, downtown is surging with happy drunks, and music is throbbing like the heartbeat of a songbird.  There's something new in the air, the wind has changed direction, the air is light and breezy and ripe for transition, ready for arrival ... but what could it be?  

Something tells me it's not Mary Poppins.