Bus stops: the place where adventure began, and ended

When was the last time you rode on a bus? I do not mean a school bus; I mean a Greyhound or a Trailways, a bus that took you where you wanted to go. I remember as a youngster riding the bus with my aunt, Marzella Burchard.
We would travel from Gonzales to Columbus to visit relatives, making stops at Waelder, Flatonia, Schulenburg, and finally Columbus, all located on U. S. Highway 90, which at the time was the main road from San Antonio to Houston. And the bus would be full.
People rode the bus all the time. This was before easy credit and zero percent interest made automobiles and trucks so accessible to the prospective buyer. Not everyone owned a car when I was growing up. The bus was a needed means of transportation for everyone.
I remember riding the bus to Austin to visit my grandmother, Vena Newberry. The Austin bus terminal was located on Congress Avenue right in the middle of town. That is where all the bus terminals were located, right in the middle of town, not out somewhere on a freeway or bypass.
The first bus terminal in Gonzales that I remember was downtown on St. Joseph Street in front of Michelson’s Cafe on Confederate Square (St. Joseph Street was also the main highway through town). Passengers would purchase tickets in the cafe, and board the bus at the curb. This is the place where so many of the young men from Gonzales caught the bus to San Antonio to report for military duty in World War II, or maybe boarded a special military bus sent by the War Department to take them to an induction center.
And, this is the spot where many of the men of Gonzales and Gonzales County stepped off the bus when they returned home from the war. Every time I walk by or step into the old Michelson’s Cafe (which is now the location of Cafe On The Square) I think of all the emotions that our people expressed at that bus stop; telling scared young men goodbye -- welcoming home soldiers dressed in their snappy uniforms. The bus taketh away, and the bus bringeth home, to paraphrase a verse.
In 1946 or so, a new bus terminal was built in Gonzales at which the busses could park off the street and not block traffic. It was built at the corner of St. George Street and St. James Street, one block west of the old location of the First National Bank. The busses would drive down an alley to arrive at the terminal. The building was two story, with a cafe on the ground floor, and offices upstairs. The cafe was called the Terminal Cafe, which I hope was a reference to its location rather than the effect its food had on its customers. Sometime in the early 1960’s, the bus stop moved to the bypass in Gonzales, thereby losing some of its glamour and uniqueness. It seems the bus company did not want to drive into town, and then drive back to the highway to continue its journey.
So, the bus stops are gone and so are the busses. And that is sad, because that is the way we used  to live - riding the bus to visit; riding the bus to see the country; riding the bus on vacation. Going somewhere to see someone. We still do that, you know, but it is different.
But, my attitude may be affected by my memories as a youngster, standing on the curb at Michelson’s Cafe, craning my neck to catch the first glimpse of the bus - the bus that would take me to new and strange places, to places of fun, excitement, and learning, but always to places where I was welcomed and loved.
And, that is part of our history. The history of Gonzales. Gonzales, Texas is the Birthplace of your Texas Freedom.