John M. Hubbell, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau

Williams, Colusa County -- It seemed like just another Greyhound bus, traversing just another highway. Same as always, it pushed south toward Sacramento on Friday under a pale blue sky streaked with thin, high clouds, the country turning to city as feedlots slowly gave way to almond orchards and farms gave way to new homes.

But first, between Redding and the capital, a stop here in Williams, a two-exit town that declares its name in an old-fashioned arch over the main downtown street and where rows of Latino cowboys could be seen sitting on a fence at a small afternoon flea market nearby. A town where the bus depot is a Shell station that used to be a Texaco station but that people here still call "the Texaco."

Change happens slowly here. But after today, change will pass Williams without stopping.

In a little-noticed shift that loosens the formal tethers between California's big and small towns, Greyhound is ending service today to 62 dots on the state map. Williams is among them. So are towns such as Chowchilla and Imola and Hopland. So are Manteca, Mendota and Soledad.

Wheels of progress roll right past 62 bus stops, continued