Last night we rode the 26 up to Fremont to watch my friend Coby‘s band, The Goats, play at the Dubliner. The show was excellent, and it’s a good thing, since it took a bit of doing for us to get there.

Fremont is not a common destination for me, so I didn’t pay much attention to Metro’s reroute announcements when the bridge construction started back in May. I should have.

By the time we realized we had missed our stop (which, it turns out, is currently closed), we were almost at 65th–and, I might add, the only people left on the bus. We had to take another 26 back to 40th & Aurora, and then (thank God Bus Nerd installed Pocket Streets on his phone) navigate our way through the fun maze of crooked intersections, extra-long crosswalks, and pedestrian underpasses to our destination–thankfully, in time for the show.

Coby (aka ‘Bus Chick’s favorite rock star’) is also a full-time bus rider.

Coby’s performance was worth all the effort (and then some), but I definitely (re)learned a few lessons:

1) On routes you don’t ride regularly, never assume you’ll “recognize” your stop–especially if you’re going somewhere at night. Find out the exact location in advance.
2) Until Metro provides a system map that includes all the street names, carry a city map in your bus chick bag–or make sure it’s installed on one of your electronic devices.
3) In case you forget to follow rules 1 and 2: A well-prepared bus nerd can come in handy in a pinch.