Showing posts with label Road Trips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Road Trips. Show all posts

Friday, July 5, 2013

Friday Photos: Monument Valley, Utah

Click images to view full sized
Friday 19, October, 2012 was the day I ‘died and went to heaven’, and here are the photos to prove it. Ok, so my idea of heaven may be different from yours, but I will take Monument Valley’s stunning landscape any day, over some mythical landscape in the hereafter.



The area is part of the Colorado Plateau. The elevation of the valley floor ranges from 5,000 to 6,000 feet (1,500 to 1,800 m) above sea level. The floor is largely siltstone or sand derived from it, most of which was left behind by the rivers that once carved out the valley. The vivid red colour comes from iron oxide exposed in the weathered siltstone, while the darker, blue-gray rocks in the valley get their colour from manganese oxide.


A very modest $5.00 will get you entry into the park, where the adventurous can embark on a 17-mile (27 km) dirt road route that passes some of the largest and most spectacular land formations.


The buttes are clearly stratified, and reveal three main layers. The lowest layer is known as the Organ Rock Shale, the middle is de Chelly Sandstone, and the top layer is the Moenkopi Formation.


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Thursday, July 4, 2013

Monument Valley, AZ/UT

Words fail... Click to view full size
My travel journal entry for Friday 19, October, 2012 begins:

Today I died and went to heaven - and I have the photos to prove it.

Yes, that was the day I fulfilled a life-long ambition to visit Monument Valley. The valley spans the Arizona/Utah border, with the most iconic buttes and mesas on the Utah side. It was everything I expected it to be and more. Even in the middle of the day the setting was larger than life, with massive red monoliths dominating the landscape.

I had been driving my Dodge rental car up from Flagstaff, Arizona for several hours, watching as the landscape slowly changed from pine forested open country to vast expanses of dry desert covered in the valley's distinctive vivid red―a colour which is produced from iron oxide exposed in the siltstone covering the valley floor. In many respects the colour of the earth reminded me of the rich reds and ochres of the Australian outback, especially in an area often referred to as the ‘red centre’.

Welcoming billboard on the Arizona/Utah state line
Monument Valley (Navajo: Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, meaning valley of the rocks) is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of vast sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft (300 m) above the valley floor. It is located on the Arizona-Utah state line near the Four Corners area. The valley lies within the range of the Navajo Nation Reservation, and is accessible from U.S. Highway 163. [Wikipedia…]
The American director, John Ford used the location for a number of his best known films, including his now classic 1939 movie, Stagecoach, and The Searchers, while the latest Hollywood film to feature scenes shot in the valley is The Lone Ranger, which coincidentally opens today in the cinema complex a few minutes walk from where I sit writing this.

One of the massive outcrops in Monument Valley

To my surprise, the cost to enter the park was a very modest $5.00. Once inside the park visitors can drive on a 17-mile (27 km) dirt road (a 2-3 hour trip) that passes some of the largest and most spectacular land formations. Guided tours are also available, as are horse rides and overnight camping trips. Apparently, hot air balloon flights are also available between May 1 through October 31, although I did not see any during my visit.

Sadly, my day trip to Monument Valley was over way too soon. The eleven hour round trip outing left me tired but exhilarated, and wanting much more. Far from removing the valley from my ‘bucket list’, the area remains among the top ten locations on the planet I want to visit or return to. When I do return to Monument Valley, I want to make the Navajo Tribal Park a major part of my experience, and I figure the only way to do that properly is find accommodations inside the Tribal Park.

Thankfully this is easily done following the construction of The View Hotel, located right inside Monument Valley.

The View Hotel [image courtesy The View Hotel website...]

The View Hotel is the only hotel located inside Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park adjacent to the Monument Valley Tribal Park Visitors Center. Each of the hotel’s 95 rooms features a private balcony with unobstructed views of the valley floor, and the massive sandstone monuments that tower out of the stunning landscape.

Just writing and thinking about my visit, makes me want to pack my bag and catch the next flight to Los Angeles! But patience is the order of the day, at least until next year. Then all being well, I will make my return to the valley of my dreams.

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Friday, June 7, 2013

Friday Photos: Morning Glory

The Morning Star, Venus, hovers above a rising sun
My photographs today, feature a selection of images taken during the early morning hours, either before the sun had risen above the horizon, or soon after. In the image above, you can see what is popularly known as the ‘morning star’, although the planet’s official name is of course, Venus (also known as the ‘evening star’).

Early morning countryside. Mr Fox is out there somewhere.

Early morning country field somewhere along Australia’s Mallee Highway (Route B12), not far from the Victoria country town, Ouyen. I remember watching as a fox slowly loped across this open field, while presumably on its way back to its den after a night out foraging for food. I had pulled into a parking bay along the highway the night before where I slept in the back of my station wagon.

The Mulwala Bridge linking Victoria and New South Wales

Early morning at Lake Mulwala, where the twin towns of Yarrawonga (in Victoria), and Mulwala (in New South Wales) are joined together by the Mulwala Bridge, seen here soon after dawn. The name, Yarrawonga, is thought to be derived from an Aboriginal word meaning ‘place where the wonga pigeon rested’. Mulwala derives its name from an aboriginal word for 'rain'.

Early morning fog haze over Sydney

The early morning sun is rising through a haze of fog in the image seen above. This, and the photo below was taken during a visit to Sydney in 2009. In the image below, the sun has risen higher and is burning away the morning mist to promise a beautiful day out and about on Sydney Harbor.

Early morning Sydney skyline
...

Someone to watch over me. My early morning 'angel'.

And finally, the early morning sun throws my shadow 50 feet just before continuing my 2009 road trip from Adelaide to Sydney.

Click images to view larger sizes.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Armchair Travel: Norway’s Atlantic Ocean Road

Image courtesy of Peter Kvalvikfjellet [http://www.kvalvik.no]
The Atlantic Ocean Road is an 8.3-kilometer (5.2 mi) long section of County Road 64 which runs through an archipelago in Eide and Averøy in Møre og Romsdal, Norway.

The road traverses an unsheltered part of the Norwegian Sea, connecting the island of Averøy with the mainland and Romsdalshalvøya peninsula. The road is built on several small islands and skerries, which are connected by a number of causeways, viaducts and eight bridges—the most prominent being Storseisundet Bridge.

The route was originally proposed as a railway line in the early 20th century, but this was ultimately abandoned. Serious planning of the road started in the 1970s, and construction started on 1 August 1983. During construction, the area was hit by twelve hurricanes, but despite the hazards involved in completing the project, the road was opened in July 1989.

Today, the Atlantic Ocean Road is preserved as a cultural heritage site and is classified as a National Tourist Route. For reasons that will become clear as you watch the video below, the road is a popular site to film automotive commercials, and it has been declared the world's best road trip. There are four rest areas along the road from which stunning views of the surrounding landscape (or should that be seascape?) can be viewed.

The video below was filmed by Heine Schjølberg, who lives in Kristiansund, Norway, a city and municipality with a direct connection to the Atlantic Ocean Road. Schjølberg states on his YouTube page that the video was shot with a GoProHero 2 and a Sony XDCAM EX1 camera. He goes on to say that the footage was recorded the day after Cyclone Patrick (renamed Dagmar by the Norwegian Weather Service) hit the area on Christmas Day, 2011.


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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Web of The Week: Planning Fun Road Trips

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Depending on where you are accessing this blog from, you are either half way through summer or half way through winter, with varying shades of the seasons in between. Wherever you are though, you can still hit the road for an extended road trip in pursuit of better weather or the long awaited break you have been looking forward to for many months. With that in mind, this week’s Web of The Week could be just what you need.

Tara Waechter started Planning Fun Road Trips back in 2009, to share her love of the open road. As Tara writes on her site: “What I love most about road trips is how accessible they are... There's nothing like the freedom of being able to just jump in your car and drive off down the road in search of adventure!”

In addition to her love of travel, Tara is a great believer in the power of planning – and she has incorporated lots of great planning aids and tips in her website, where you will find a Road Trip Calculator that helps you work out how much to budget for your road trip. You will also find suggestions for North American road trip routes, and tips on healthy eating, keeping the kids occupied and happy, and much more.

Planning Fun Road Trips is a good place to start your research if you are going to hit the highway before the end of the northern summer, or in preparation for summer in the southern hemisphere. There is much to be gained from a thorough look through Tara’s site, and I am more than happy to recommend it as my Web of The Week.

-o0o-

Monday, November 22, 2010

Greyhound Bussing America (Pt.5)

Image: Greyhound’s iconic racing dog image adorns Mobile, AL, terminal building


If you are still with me after my four previous extended road trip reports, and you are contemplating your own road trip using the Greyhound Bus company or a similar carrier, an important question you might consider asking me is, Would you do it all again?

The answer, based on my personal experience is, Yes. I will write more about this in a forthcoming entry, but for now suffice to say that I am already considering making another overland trip across America using Greyhound either next year or in 2012. If I do so, I plan to use a 60 day Greyhound Discovery Pass to try and complete a full circuit of the United States. I’ve got plenty of time to research and plan that trip, and the prospect of that journey is already firing my imagination.


The other option I have is to purchase a cheap car and drive myself. While more expensive, I does give me the option to follow my whims and explore out of the way locations. As I wrote in Part 3 of this trip report: For me, a great road trip should involve lots of stops and diversions. It should allow time to follow interesting back roads, and minor highways. It should get me off the beaten track, exploring quiet corners and grand vistas. It should be challenging and relaxing by turn.


And so it should. But all that is way down the track. The purpose of this entry is to provide some sage advice to other travelers – so let’s get on with it.


According to Greyhound’s own statistics, the Top 10 busiest Greyhound Bus terminals based on passenger volume in 2008 by Rank and Terminal were:

1. New York, New York

2. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

3. Los Angeles, California

4. Atlantic City, New Jersey

5. Richmond, Virginia

6. Washington, D.C.

7. Dallas, Texas

8. Atlanta, Georgia

9. Nashville, Tennessee

10. Chicago, Illinois


So bearing that in mind, here as a community service to potential long distance bus travelers everywhere, is a comprehensive collection of the best travel tips and advice gleaned from my own experiences, and collected from numerous sources across the internet.

Image: Greyhound Bus schedule. Buy online and early to save money.

Purchasing Tickets

  • Buy online as early as possible – Web Only fares are great money savers
  • Check Greyhound’s website to see if you qualify for discounts. Children, Students, Seniors, Military Personnel and Veterans all qualify for money saving discounts
  • Buying tickets well in advance of your trip saves up to 50%
  • Buying one full-price fare gets you up to three companion fares at 50% off
  • WARNING! Buying a ticket does not guarantee you a seat on the bus. Get to the station early and line up to maximize your chances of securing a seat! The First Come – First Served rule applies here
  • If you are departing from a limited number of cities (Boston, MA; Framington, MA; Newton, MA; Springfield, MA; Hartfoed, CT: New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; and Washington, DC), you can purchase Reserved Seating* for an additional $5.00
  • Want to make sure you get a good seat? Pay an extra $5.00 for Priority Boarding*. If you plan to use Greyhound Buses regularly, sign up for the Road Rewards program
  • Planning the ultimate road trip? Then purchase a 30 day or 60 day Discovery Pass
  • On busy routes, buses that travel between the same two destinations may take different routes which can result in marked differences in trip lengths, so make sure you are travelling on the fastest, most direct route – if that is what you want

*What’s the difference between Priority Boarding and Reserved Seating you ask? To be honest I don’t know. They seem to offer the same thing – sort of. Priority Boarding lets you board before the general rabble, but doesn’t let you reserve a seat, while Reserved Seating lets you claim a favourite position, but doesn’t necessarily let you board before the impatient mob! At least that is my reading of the information on the Greyhound website.



If a Greyhound Bus company representative reads this, maybe they can confirm or deny or clarify my reading of the company website.



NOTE: I never made use of either service, so I have no idea how they work in practice. For example, if you are boarding an already crowded bus, does your Reserved Seating ticket give you the right to ask a passenger who has taken your seat to give it up? Probably, but are you prepared to risk the ire of that person to stake your claim?

Image: Greyhound Bus station Nashville, Tennessee [Source: Internet]

Greyhound Stations and Terminals

  • Arrive at least an hour before departure if you need to pick up or buy a ticket.
  • If you are departing from one of the ten busiest stations (see above) arrive even earlier in case you end up at the back of a very long queue.
  • Once you have your ticket line up! The first 20-25 people to board get the pick of the seating. However there are exceptions to this rule. See notes below…
  • This is especially important if you are travelling with a companion. On crowded buses the chances of you sitting together is virtually nil if you are at the back of a long queue!
  • It is acceptable to leave your luggage in the queue to claim your position in the line, at which point you can find a seat and relax – while at all times keeping a close eye on your bags of course.
  • Drivers do not check to see if passengers have returned to the vehicle before setting off on the next stage or the journey. Nor do they check to see if new passengers have boarded the bus. Therefore…
  • The onus is on you to pay attention to driver announcements about the length of brief stops to pick up and discharge other travellers along the route, and the length of any rest stops. As long as you do that, you do not have to worry about missing the bus. Also…
  • Pay attention to station announcements as well, especially during layovers. Sometimes the departure gate/door number changes, and you could be left standing in front of the wrong door watching your ride disappear down the highway in a cloud of dust!
  • If in doubt – ask. I you are still unsure – ask again.

Notes: I wrote above: “The first 20-25 people to board get the pick of the seating”. This only applies to coaches at the very start of their journeys. If a coach is already in transit, previous passengers obviously get to board first so they can return to their seats. Only then are new passengers allowed to board. It follows then, that if a coach is already crowded, new passengers may have to share a seat with existing passengers.

  • WARNING! Buying a ticket does not guarantee you a seat on the bus.

Sometimes a worst case scenario occurs: a long queue waiting to board an already crowded bus. If you are at the back of that long queue you may not be able to board the bus! If you are lucky, Greyhound will add another bus to the route, but only if the number of passengers warrants it. Otherwise you have no choice but to wait for the next available bus. It’s worth repeating again, and again – get to the station early and line up to maximize your chances of securing a seat!



Onboard Coaches

  • Don’t take up two seats when you have only paid for one!
  • Keep your trash to yourself
  • Pack tissues and/or toilet paper! On long trips the paper supply may run out
  • Pack Wet Ones or similar and wipe the toilet seat down before use. Wet Ones are good for personal cleanliness as well
  • Some people love the long back seat at the very rear of the bus. I prefer to leave it alone as it is right next to the toilet and I did not want to put up with the constant coming and going of fellow passengers – or the odors they might leave behind.

Image: Greyhound Bus station Recharge Bench

Safety & Security

  • If you see something – say something!
  • They don’t happen often, but assaults on drivers and fellow passengers have taken place on Greyhound coaches and those of other carriers. If you see signs of a weapon onboard the bus (a federal offence by the way), say something. The same applies to drug taking or alcohol consumption.
  • According to the Greyhound website, “Greyhound uses approximately 90 company-operated bus terminals and 850 agency-operated terminals or sales agencies. Including all stops, Greyhound serves more than 1,700 destinations in the United States.” That’s the good news. However…
  • Some travelers report being dropped off late at night at isolated stops from where they must make their way home. Other travelers report stations/agencies closed when their coach arrives.
  • Clearly the onus is on you to arrange for someone to pick you up if your arrive at your destination late at night or after a station/agency has closed for the night.
  • If you have a cell/mobile phone (and who doesn’t nowadays) you can keep it charged at the Recharge Bench (see image above) now found in most Greyhound Bus stations, so pack your cable in your carry-on luggage.
  • Print a copy of your travel schedule, keep it close and refer to it often.
  • Because many bus stations are open 24 hours, they tend to attract homeless people (handy for bathrooms, air conditioning, panhandling, etc). This doesn’t mean stations are unsafe, but stay alert and watch your belongings.

Note: I have been unable to find out how many stations/agencies operate 24 hours and how many close at say, midnight. If a Greyhound representative or someone else is able to provide that information, I and my readers would be very grateful.

Image: Greyhound Bus station en route to New Orleans



Missed Connections

  • If your journey involves transfers, be aware that the bus on the next leg of your trip will not wait for you if the bus you are travelling on is delayed due to heavy traffic, road accidents or breakdowns. Just as airlines and train operators don’t hold up flights or train departures, so don’t expect Greyhound or other bus companies to delay scheduled departures for you.
  • If you are lucky, the next scheduled bus might only be an hour or two away. If you are not – be prepared for a long wait.
  • If you do miss your connection and you have to wait more than 10-12 hours for the next bus, consider getting a room in a nearby hotel – especially if you face an overnight wait. At least you can get some sleep and freshen up before continuing your trip.

Luggage & Carry On Bags

  • Unless you pack very lightly, your main luggage will go under the bus. Keep a close eye on your luggage and make sure it goes in the luggage compartment, and doesn’t come out before it is meant to
  • Keep carry-on luggage to a minimum. Storage compartments above the seat are quite narrow, so don’t expect to be able to store large items there.

Traveling With Children

  • Pack a mini-DVD player with a couple of their favourite movies, a Game Boy or other portable games, or an MP3 player with their favourite music.
  • Don’t forget to pack headphones or ear buds!

Bathrooms and Rest Stops

  • No-one, but no-one has anything nice to say about restrooms on Greyhound buses, and in my experience, station restrooms are only marginally better – but not by much. It is worth repeating …
  • Pack tissues and/or toilet paper! On long trips the paper supply on buses (and in restrooms) may run out
  • Pack Wet Ones or similar and wipe toilet seats down before use. Wet Ones are good for personal cleanliness as well
  • Take advantage of station rest stops. You may only have one or two before you get to your destination, and in some cases there may be no stops.

What Have I Forgotten?

I don’t pretend to have all the answers, and I encourage other long distance bus travelers to add their own gems of advice and insight to this entry.



You will have to create an account if you haven’t already done so, but that will only take a couple of minutes. If you already have a Google account: Gmail, Panoramio; or some other, you may be able to add a comment without creating a Blogger account, but don’t quote me on that.



I look forward to your contributions.


Read The Full Greyhound Bussing America Trip Report:
[Part 1]
New York City to Philadelphia, PA…
[Part 2] Philadelphia, PA to Raleigh, NC…
[Part 3] Raleigh, NC to Mobile, AL…
[Part 4] Mobile, AL to New Orleans…
[Part 5] Tips and Advice…
[Part 6] A Final Word…

Friday, November 19, 2010

Greyhound Bussing America [Pt.3]

Atlanta, Georgia to Mobile, Alabama. Distance: 329 Miles (529 kms)

In which I continue to push my luck…


The older I get, the more I want to travel, and the more I travel, the more I want to undertake one Great American Road Trip. Or even two.


This journey from New York City to New Orleans isn’t it, but it’s close.


For me, a great road trip should involve lots of stops and diversions. It should allow time to follow interesting back roads, and minor highways. It should get me off the beaten track, exploring quiet corners and grand vistas. It should be challenging and relaxing by turn. It should give me the opportunity to stay in cheap hotels, eat large, greasy hamburgers – and yes, I do want fries with that – and give me a reason to get up in the morning complaining about the lumpy bed and roach infested bathroom.


Damn it – I’m getting old and soft, and I don’t like it! I need to push myself more, and test myself more, and I need to do it now, not in ten years or even five. The road may go forever, but I won’t. The clock is ticking, and time is not on my side.


But I digress. Where was I?


Ah, yes, I was travelling down the I-85 towards the state line that marks the boundary between Georgia and Alabama. It’s 7.25AM, and a golden sunrise has just broken above the horizon heralding a beautiful day ahead.


Now read on…

Image: A page from my pocket notebook which records the following…


8.40AM: Crossed into Alabama. Now off freeways down rural two lanes. Unleaded Petrol $2.40 a gallon. Alabama is a land of a million churches; abandoned weatherboard, shingled shacks and homes; donkeys; West 80 (two lane road); cows; horses; rural farms; crops; trailer homes; roadside memorials marking fatal auto accidents; lumber trucks; plantation timber; into Macon County; fibro and cement; countless billboards.


FINALLY GETTING TO SEE AMERICA!


At last. This is it! This is what I have come to see. For hundreds of miles we’ve been speeding along multi-laned Freeways, down Thruways, over Turnpikes, traversing Parkways and I don’t know what else, but now – for a brief moment in time – we are finally off the fast lanes heading towards Tuskegee, Alabama, on West 80, a two lane road that winds roughly parallel to the I-85. But more importantly, it winds past a landscape that is almost a perfect copy of the images of the American South I have in my head.

Pleasant Valley Church. Photo courtesy of Mary Alice...

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Every few hundreds yards or so there seems to be an old one-roomed weatherboard church. Some appear to be still in use, others are well passed their use-by date. Some properties remind me of old cotton plantations, and for all I know they are old cotton plantations. Trailer homes can be seen nestled under trees, and the usual collection of farm yard debris seen on farms all over the world (old cars, rusting farm machinery, wood piles, oil drums, worn tyres, broken play equipment, etc), is scattered about in back lots or no longer used parts of the property.


Small roadside stores appear and disappear quickly as we speed towards our next stop. Ancient clapboard shacks, paint peeling, walls askew, windows broken and doors ajar, are dotted across the landscape. The only thing missing is the aged black bluesman sitting on the porch singing Cross Road Blues. We pass small farm machinery franchises selling John Deere tractors, little used car yards filled with cheap battered trucks and SUVs, and always, always, the ever-present tiny, local Southern Baptist Churches. A phrase keeps popping into my head: weatherboard and shingle, weatherboard and shingle, and I write:

Weatherboard and shingle,

Fibro and cement.

A thousand tiny churches,

Alabama came and went.

© 2010. Jim Lesses. All Rights Reserved.


Tuskegee, Alabama

At 9.25AM, we reach the roadside service station on the Martin Luther King Jr. Highway that doubles as Greyhound's Tuskegee Bus Station for a five minute pick up and drop off stop, but who cares? It gives me an excuse to write about Tuskegee, Alabama, population (in 2005) 11, 950.


A sign nearby points to Rosa Parks Plaza. Rosa Parks, the African-American civil rights activist was born in Tuskegee on February 4, 1913. It was Rosa Parks whose refusal to give up her bus seat to white passengers became the catalyst for the year-long Montgomery bus boycott that began Monday, December 5, 1955 and lasted 381 days. Although Rosa was not the first person to refuse to give up her seat, her decision and the arrest which followed was the 'straw that broke the camels back', and gave hope and focus to the growing civil rights movement across the United States.


Another famous resident, Lionel Richie, was also born and raised in Tuskegee. He graduated from Tuskegee University, and of course has gone on to be a highly successful R&B singer, songwriter, composer, producer and occasional actor.

Tuskegee Airmen - Circa May 1942 to Aug 1943 Location likely Southern Italy or North Africa [Source: Wikipedia...]

This small, rural Alabaman town was also the training ground for the famed Tuskegee Airmen, a popular name bestowed on a group of African-American pilots who fought in World War II. Formally, they were the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps, and its members were the first African-American military aviators in the United States armed forces.


So much history – so little time. And I would dearly love to have time to visit every place of interest I have passed over the last eight hundred miles. But it is not to be.


If this entry is in danger of turning into a black American history lesson, I apologise… Actually, no I don’t. I’m on a Greyhound Bus travelling through the heart of the American south, for goodness’ sake, and this part of the country is steeped in the history of black American relationships with all the baggage that entails. After all, the fledgling American nation went to war with itself over the way blacks were being treated in the south (and in the north). And some would say that ‘war’ has been going on ever since.


I could of course, have chosen to spend a week at the Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa, located in Hoover, Alabama, where "The natural beauty of a Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail championship golf course surrounds this renaissance-style luxury hotel." Then I could have regaled you with descriptions of the resorts "refined comfort and sophistication," and described how I spent each morning play a round or two of golf, before resting by the pool in the afternoon sipping martini's while a resort beautician trimmed my ingrown toe nails! Somehow, I don’t think so. As I am sure you have worked out by now, that is not the type of experiential travelogue you are going to get from me.


But I digress again.


Back on the I-85 we speed our way towards Montgomery, and I bid farewell to West 80. High above dense woods in rural east Alabama, I spot a flight of four birds of prey circling, watching, waiting for their morning meal. Which reminds me: I haven’t eaten anything substantial since ‘breakfast’ at 4.30AM in Atlanta, Georgia. Thankfully, it’s less than an hour to Montgomery. I hope the coffee is hot.


Lot’s of interesting names flash by along either side of the highway: Waffle House; Piggly Wiggly; Grease Monkey, an auto mechanic where Our certified crew is here to help you; Hide Away Bar & Grill, I wonder if people have trouble finding it!; Chick Filla with its breakfast, playground and diner; Arby’s, where bus drivers eat free, but presumably only if they bring a bus load of passengers in with them; Whataburger; Shoney’s; Colonel Dixie and their World Famous Dixie Dog (‘World Famous’? Really? We seem to have missed that news in Australia.); and on and on. Damn – all these burger joints and roadside cafés are making me hungry!


A roadside billboard proclaims: Selma, Alabama: Historic Places and Social Graces.”

Image: Participants, some carrying American flags, marching in the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965 [Source: Wikipedia]

During the Civil Rights Movement in the early and mid-1960s, Selma was a focal point for desegregation and voting rights campaigns. After numerous attempts by blacks to register to vote resulted in over 3,000 arrests, police violence, and economic retaliation, the campaign culminated in the Selma to Montgomery marches – which represented the political and emotional peak of the modern civil rights movement.


On March 7, 1965, approximately 600 civil rights marchers departed Selma on U.S. Highway 80, heading east. They reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, only six blocks away, before being met by state troopers and local sheriff's deputies, who attacked them, using tear gas and billy clubs, and drove them back to Selma.


Following that attack, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders went to court to argue for the right to march from Selma to Montgomery, the site of the state capital. The Federal District Court Judge for the area, decided in favour of the demonstrators, and on March 21, 1965, approximately 3,200 marchers departed for Montgomery, walking 12 miles per day, and sleeping in nearby fields. By the time they reached the capitol, four days later on March 25, their strength had swelled to around 25,000 people. [Source: Wikipedia… ]

More billboards advertising hotel and motels; fast food outlets and real estate offices; and state attractions. They dominate open country, spoiling views and quite frankly are a blight on the landscape. They are urging, insisting, nagging at you always to stop and spend and eat. Which reminds me – again – that’s it’s time for some nourishment.


At 10.10AM we pull into the Greyhound Station in Montgomery, Alabama, a city steeped in America’s modern history. Central to the Civil Rights Movement, the rise of Martin Luther King Jr., and the transformation of race relations in late 20th century America.


Our stop in Montgomery is a brief 30 minutes, and I only have time for a coffee – yes, it is hot – and a couple of cookies. Anything more substantial and nourishing will have to wait until Mobile where we have a full hour between this leg of the journey and the final run into New Orleans.


A highway exit sign (Exit 114, or thereabouts) directs travellers to the Hank Williams Boyhood Home and Museum in Georgiana, Alabama. Hank wasn’t born in Georgiana, he was born up the road in the small town of Mount Olive, about 10 miles north of Birmingham, AL., but Georgiana became his boyhood home, and you can find it at 127 Rose Street. I wonder if Mount Olive has their own Hank Williams Childhood Home and Museum?

Image courtesy of Kayaking The Mobile-Tensaw River Delta...

Seemingly, out of the blue we are travelling over water. Signage indicates that we have reached the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. Not to be confused with its giant neighbour, the Mississippi Delta, the Mobile-Tensaw Delta is a vast region of wetlands known by various names, including the Mobile delta, or simply the delta. The area is home to some of the most diverse wildlife in Alabama, and indeed in the entire United States. The delta is Alabama's principal remaining natural terrain, and because of this it has been designated a national landmark. [Source: Encyclopedia of Alabama...]


The I-65 rises and falls over wide swathes of water, allowing boats and other marine craft to pass under the highway. The bridge over the Mobile River is particularly high, allowing larger river craft (or small merchant ships) to pass beneath it.

Mobile-Tensaw Delta image courtesy of Forever Wild...

Green. Green. Everything is green. Scattered cumulus clouds, heavy with moisture pass high overhead. If they get together I expect they could unleash a pretty impressive downpour, but for now they seem to be content to float by reserving their contents for other parts of the country.


Mobile is the last major city in Alabama, and then we hit Louisiana. But first – a meal break in Mobile. Later, after a breakfast/lunch of hamburger and chips, soda, coffee and a muffin (I did say “nourishing” didn’t I?), I’m ready to roll again. Only another 4.5 hours before we reach New Orleans. Yeah!


To be continued…


Read The Full Greyhound Bussing America Trip Report:
[Part 1] New York City to Philadelphia, PA…
[Part 2] Philadelphia, PA to Raleigh, NC…
[Part 3] Raleigh, NC to Mobile, AL…
[Part 4] Mobile, AL to New Orleans…
[Part 5] Tips and Advice…
[Part 6] A Final Word…

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