The Wheels on the Bus

Hold on to your seats, because I'm about to impart my Top 10 Reasons Why Hopping Aboard Chemung County Transit is a Great Idea.

Buses may not seem glamorous, but they're actually pretty awesome, and in a multitude of ways. Just ask Keanu.

I almost don't feel as if I need to say more than that in regards to the awesomeness of buses (or awesomely bad acting?). But I will.

I had never been to the Chemung County Transportation Center before, but since that's where you can get the lowdown on all of the available routes, I started there.



I decided, at random, to take the Southtown, Elmira-Corning, Shopper Shuttle and Mall Express routes. And these were some of the many enjoyable aspects of my public transportation quest:

1. Unexpectedly enough, blasts from video games past. How pleasantly surprised was I to see this baby helping populate a game room in the Transit Center?

I haven't seen a "Game Over" screen like that since the late eighties. Nostalgic.

It reminded me of many a childhood hour spent trying to beat my little brother at Nintendo. And if you're waiting for a bus, it's always nice to have something to do.

2. Saving money. Gas prices are nuts. Opting for the bus, even if it's every once in awhile, gives you the opportunity to use funds you'd normally be spending on a tank of gas on something else.

For the vast majority of routes, you only pay $1.25 to ride. And it's only .50 cents if you're a senior citizen (plus, you'd ride free on Mondays). Use the bus enough, and the amount you save will quickly add up. I was already feeling more cost-efficient.

Also, if you're taking to the skies and want to avoid airport parking costs, the Elmira-Corning bus that I rode includes the airport in its service area.

3. Exercise. I walked to the Transit Center, and a little throughout the afternoon to get to and from bus stops. It's a good way to get some extra steps in each day. And if you like to bike, you can easily leave your bike right at the Transit Center.

Bikes are trying to sneak their way back into another blog entry ;)

Plus, all of this increased healthiness for you is also healthier for the environment.

4. Route selection. You can get anywhere you'd want to go locally. The routes hit up plazas, schools, apartments, business districts, grocery stores, hospitals, fairgrounds, the Eldridge Park walking path, industries, service providers, museums, government buildings. It's extremely comprehensive, and you can also ask for route deviation and on-request stop service if need be.



Chemung County Transit also ventures out of the county (heck, it even ventures out of state, as you can hop a route to Sayre, Pa.) in the name of serving people who live or need to get here. Want to take a day trip to Ithaca? There's a bus for that, too.

5. Sense of community. I was pretty floored by how many of my fellow passengers knew each other by name, were happy to chat and catch up with each other, and knew where folks would be getting on or needed to be dropped off. At one stop, a woman who had gotten up out of a wheelchair was boarding, and other passengers immediately greeted and helped her to a seat.

I mean, the bus obviously provides people with a mode of transportation, but it's also providing many of them with a valuable social component and support system as well.

6. Friendly drivers. I was regularly greeted when I got both on and off the buses. Plus, this is the only bus service I've ever been on where if the driver thought we were going to be even a few seconds past scheduled arrival time, he or she would radio ahead to other buses to have them wait a few moments so that their passengers were sure to make their connection.

7. Time to ponder. I find buses to be good places to sit back and reflect. Riding along instead of having to concentrate on driving gives you time to collect your thoughts. Or make a grocery list. Whatever suits your fancy.

8. Two words. Shopper. Shuttle. This was my personal favorite. And not just because it's free (though that didn't hurt!).

Last weekend, I had a bunch of errands to run over in Horseheads. I drove to the mall, then drove to one of the shopping plazas, then drove to another one of the plazas, and then drove to ANOTHER one of the plazas. Had I known that this shuttle existed, I would have saved myself some trouble. It runs between all of the plazas and the mall every half-hour, so it's a great option if you have a little or a bunch of shopping to do.

At the mall and want to know when the next bus is passing through? 

Just in case all this bus riding has you working up an appetite.

9. A chance to explore some local regions that you otherwise might not go to. I had never really seen the part of Big Flats that the Elmira-Corning bus passes through, with Minier's. And I haven't spent much time over on Southside, either, so riding the Southtown route gave me the chance to see more of what's over the bridge.

There were some shops, parks and restaurants that I hadn't heard about and thought would be good to check out sometime, plus this route hits Notre Dame High School and Southside High School, and I hadn't known exactly where they were before, either. It's definitely a good way to get to know the area if you're a newcomer like me.

 Southside is home to its own homage to the Mark Twain Study.

10. Trolleys! Chemung County Transit also keeps those running, and checking out a guided tour is definitely on my summer to-do list. (On Tuesdays through Saturdays, July 1st through August 31st, trolleys depart on the hour from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from the Holiday Inn Riverview.)

So next time you have to get going somewhere, consider hopping aboard. You just might find that you enjoy all the benefits.

Chemung County Transit

Business Office - First Transit, 1201 Clemens Center Parkway

Elmira, NY 14901

(607) 734-5211, www.chemungtransit.com

Night at the Museum

There's this book I read when I was a kid called "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler." It's by E.L. Konigsburg and was published in 1967, and it's about two kids who run away from home to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you haven't encountered it before, it's a great read about how they manage to go undetected in the museum and get wrapped up in a mystery involving a Michelangelo statue.

If those kids had been from this area, however, I imagine that they might have trekked up Harris Hill to live in the National Soaring Museum. Judging by the night I recently spent there, they would have had a fun stay. (Plus, they wouldn't have had to worry about food. That's for sure. :)

I took part in the overnight program that the museum offers for kids so that they can learn about soaring. Lots of Scouts take part in this, as it helps them earn requirements toward badges, but it's open to all sorts of youth groups.

Not gonna lie, when I chose a night to stay over, I was kind of rooting that I'd be staying with not all boys? And then the Powers That Be smiled down upon me and granted me Girl Scouts. It was amazing.

The night starts with a tour, during which I enjoyed getting to examine the gliders and exhibits up close. There are all kinds of moments in soaring history on display that'll make you appreciate the innovation and progression that went into getting us off the ground: 

These next three represent my personal museum favorites. The oldest glider in the collection, and then a piece of cloth from the wing of the Wright Brothers' 1903 glider (which they used for their historic first flight). There are only two places in the world where you can find this cloth, the other being the Smithsonian.

Rockin' since 1928.

A wing rib. Which we would shortly be building. 

The Albatross. 1930's National Champ.

That issue of Life featuring a war glider is from 1942, when it was 10 cents a copy and $4.50 for a yearly subscription.

Eileen Collins memorabilia.

After the tour, it's wing-rib buildin' time. Let me just say for the record that I'm pretty terrible at all things construction-related. I've got this truly tragic little wooden box I made in an eighth grade technology class to prove it. These Scouts, though? Like ducks to water in the shop.

I helped hold their wing ribs steady so that they could hammer, and supplied them with paper towels. It was the closest to being a Girl Scout that I'll ever get.

Impressive, no?

The overnight also includes trying out gliding and landing in flight simulators:

 I was looking pretty good at this point in the landing. So I'll just leave it at that.

Then everybody hunkers down for the night. Easily the winner of the Most Unique Place I've Ever Slept Award.

Air mattresses are a wonderful thing.

I have to pause here for a moment to comment on the menu while you're staying at the museum, because when Norm Smith, the operations and education director, said that everybody would be "well-fed," he really wasn't kidding.

He's been doing this overnight program for years, and believe me when I tell you, in addition to all of his soaring expertise and how well he engages the kids, he's also got some finely-honed food preparation magic going on here. It'll blow you away how fast everything gets rolled out and then rolled back in.

A snack break during the wing-rib building process included nachos, mini corn dogs, mozzarella sticks and even some homemade "famous in Rochester" cookies sent along from Norm's mom. There were late-night ice cream sundaes:

Looks pretty professional, right? My first summer job was at Friendly's.

And the breakfast spread:

 

 Regular and blueberry.

After breakfast, there was paper airplane instruction, which resulted in the best paper airplanes I've ever made in my life. The Scouts then went to town with contests to see whose flew the farthest, and proceeded to try and drop their paper helicopters down into pots.

The morning wrapped up with a trip to the Glider Hangar, where the Scouts were able to climb in and out of glider cockpits to their hearts' content.

And because I don't think a trip to Harris Hill is complete without taking a few minutes to appreciate the view, I went down the road to do just that:

This is also a fantastic time to visit the museum because an exhibit from the Smithsonian is currently on display. It's called "In Plane View: Abstractions of Flight." The exhibit is made up of 56 photographs by Carolyn Russo that focus on the aesthetic quality of some of the National Air and Space Museum's aircraft.

I got to sneak a peek on the overnight, and I'm excited to check it out. The exhibit is running through August 5th.

So if you have the opportunity to go see what makes Harris Hill the Soaring Capital of America, definitely don't pass it up! You can explore the museum, go for a ride, or just hang out and watch the gliders in action.

Despite the fact that I'm a bit claustrophobic and have a fear of flying, I might have even inched closer to giving a glider ride a try.

The National Soaring Museum, Harris Hill, 51 Soaring Hill Drive

Elmira, NY 14903, (607) 734-3128

www.soaringmuseum.org