Start: Gas and Shop, 27th and Wildcat Drive, 1:18 p.m.

Finish: Red Robin, 27th and Pine Lake Road, 2:14 p.m.

Time: 56 minutes.

Miles: 16 (because of downtown loop).

Cost: $1.25

Stops: 23

Comfort: 4 (on a 10 point scale)

If you want to see the town from north to south and throw in a driving tour of downtown, the university, the Capitol, the State Office Building and both ends of 27th Street, this is the way to go.

Bob the bus driver said I didn’t need to know his last name. But he was friendly enough.

At the Dairy Queen about two blocks from the Gas and Shop where I got on, we pick up a guy in a Yankees hat. I don’t want to talk to him.

Did you ever notice that on the north end of town, the shopping has themes? At the far end are cars. Thousands of cars. To the east of 27th and Superior, it’s sleepy land: Slumberland; Bed, Bath and Beyond; Bedroom Expressions; Sofa Mart. Just a thought.

By 1:28, as we cross Cornhusker, it occurs to me I have four books waiting to be read, a new Sports Illustrated, a new Economist, a new ESPN Magazine and a new New Yorker at home. I also have an iPod and even an old Walkman at home. But noooo. I had to hurry and catch the bus.

A woman in a plain baseball cap offers me her copy of the Daily Nebraskan.

At 27th and Cornhusker, we pick up a guy with a West Coast Choppers sweatshirt and a Ford hat and a guy with groceries.

Near the pink gorillas in front of Guns and Roses, we pick up a woman who didn’t want to be named who had in tow two very young girls, Destiny and Diamond.

Diamond did the bus-stop waving. Destiny announced each time the sign on the bus read “Stop Requested.”

The girls were warned not to pull the “stop” line that runs along the interior of the bus.

We gather a few more souls on our way west on Q street. We lose a woman at Centennial Mall and Q, and stop for two minutes behind a bus. Nobody knows why.

Did you know that the sculptures “Bump and Lump” that used to be at 9th and O streets are between Q and R on Centennial Mall?

We execute the weave to the university stop at 12th and Q, then cut four lanes to make the left turn at 11th and Q. After three short stops, we lose Destiny and Diamond at 11th and O, and a woman who was assured by Bob the driver that she’d make her connection to Havelock.

Hey, we’re finally headed south on 11th. Oops, we’re headed back north on 14th.

Did you know that you cannot trespass in a bus shelter from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.? Who’d want to trespass in a bus shelter but someone who really needed a break from the weather?

Finally, at P we turn east. At 16th we’re headed south again. Yeah.

We hit K Street and head east. Somewhere K, which further west is Rosa Parks Way, turns into Capital Parkway. Around 27th Street it turns into Normal Boulevard. Too many names and not enough streets.

We slip past the Sunken Gardens at 27th and Capital, er, ah, Normal, and to the east we see what was once and will be the future rose garden that has been missing for 18 months with nothing but grass, weeds and a lovely orange plastic fence around it.

Now, we’re picking up speed. We lose two girls with cell phones at 27th and Washington.

We lose the West Coast Choppers guy at 27th and Capital. Did I mention the Yankees hat left at 27th and Calvert? I think we all felt a little more comfortable.

One final stop at 27th and Lone Tree Circle, which is indicated to the right and Coronado Drive to the left (using the K-Capital-Normal principle). We lose a guy at 27th and Ridgeline.

Finally, I’m the last one off at Red Robin.

John Mabry said it took him 20 minutes to get here. Kendra Waltke said it took her 23 minutes.

I lost an hour of my life.

Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or khambleton@journalstar.com.