Greyhound Bussing America [Pt.1]

Image: Modern Greyhound Bus departing Port Authority Bus Terminal, NYC.
(Source: Wikipedia. Photo: Adam E. Moreira)

Maybe I was lucky.

Reading through other trip reports of passengers travelling on the North American Greyhound Bus network, one could be forgiven for thinking that only the foolhardy (or brave), use the network as a means of travel in the United States and parts of Canada. Online travellers tales are full of warnings and horror stories of cancelled departures, over booked buses, smelly fellow passengers (and even smellier toilets), crying children, and cranky staff.

Like I say, maybe I was lucky.

On the morning of Monday, August 30, 2010, I boarded a Greyhound Bus deep beneath New York City’s massive Port Authority Bus Terminal for the first leg of a bus trip that would take me south through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, DC., Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and finally to New Orleans in Louisiana.

The first leg of the journey was going to be short and sweet. New York City to Philadelphia, PA., was an easy ride of 2.5 hours for a cost of just $6.00. A bargain in anyone’s language. So quick and uneventful was the trip that it only warranted one and a half lines in my travel journal. I was however, very excited to be on one of the newer coaches in the Greyhound fleet which offered free WiFi, a service I happily took advantage of.

I spent four nights in Philly (see Streets of Philadelphia) and early Friday morning boarded another Greyhound for the twelve hour ride to Raleigh, North Carolina.

A woman, three seats back talked to herself constantly. I was hoping she would go to sleep but she kept up a constant flow of whispering and animated conversations with the voices in her head before disembarking in Wilmington, Delaware – less than two hours into the trip.

Apart from one or two other Caucasians, all the other passengers appear to be either African-American or Hispanic. Interstate and intercity bus travel definitely seems to be the poor man’s mode of travel. I was going to say, the poor man’s preferred method of travel, but preference has nothing to do it. I suspect it is simply a case of necessity. They, like me, can’t afford to travel by plane or train, probably don’t own cars, and so have no other option but to take a bus to wherever they need to get to.

My journal records: There are two children on board (male and female, and both about the same age (8-9 years)). Thankfully they are both quiet and well behaved.

The journal also notes that the bus does not have WiFi – unlike the one between New York and Philadelphia. In fact, a check of the Greyhound Bus website shows only six routes equipped with the newest WiFi enabled buses (and yes, New York City to Philadelphia is one of them). One can only assume, and hope, that all their coaches will eventually be so equipped. I also wrote: This bus is older, noisier, and seems to rattle and shake over every bump in the road.

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Image: Screenshot of Greyhound Bus website promoting their newest coaches

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It occurred to me that long distance coaches should be fitted with drop down trays – of the kind airline seating has. Drop down trays would be a great boon to passengers who want to rest books, magazines, food or laptops on something more stable than their knees.

At some point we passed Lincoln Financial Field and it strikes me just how dull and unimaginative corporate sponsorship can be. Like Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, AAMI stadium in Adelaide, and other football stadiums around Australia (and the world?), the names have no resonance, history or nostalgia to excite the imagination of fans or visitors. Later on, crossing into Maryland and entering Baltimore I notice another dumb corporate stadium name: M&T Bank Stadium.

It really gets the heart pumping, doesn’t it? Yawn.

Which reminds me.

The man in the seat behind me sleeps through several phone calls. Finally, after at least six attempts and one or two hours of trying, his “baby” manages to wake him up and get him to answer the phone. “Hi baby – wassup?” he intones drowsily, before explaining the he has been asleep. Then… “You’re breaking up… I’ll call you back,” he says, before promptly nodding off again.

The views along I-95 consist mostly of dense green vegetation which occasionally opens up to reveal rich farmlands, or housing developments which seem newer than the ramshackle homes on the edges of most cities and towns. We pass a semi-trailer. Window open, cigarette dangling from a corner of his mouth, the driver steers with one hand while trying to write something in a small notebook with the other.

The towns slip by in a blur of motion and odd familiarity. Each one seems to have a Walgreens, Burger King, McDonald’s, and pizza parlour on the edge of town – sometimes several. Then there are the hotels and motels that line America’s highways. Comfort Inn, Econolodge, Marriott, Hilton and dozens of others. Large concrete slabs which act as sound barriers, line parts of the highway. These indicate some sort of life beyond the eight-laned freeway system we are speeding down.

On the outskirts of Washington, DC.., a sign points to President Lincoln’s Cottage.

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Image: Lincoln’s Cottage (source: Wikipedia)

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President Lincoln's Cottage is a national monument on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home, known today as the Armed Forces Retirement Home. President Abraham Lincoln and family resided seasonally on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home to escape the heat and political pressure of downtown Washington, as did President James Buchanan before him.

The historic Cottage, built in the Gothic revival style, was constructed from 1842 to 1843 as the home of George Washington Riggs. Lincoln lived in the cottage June to November 1862 through 1864 and during the first summer living there, Lincoln drafted the preliminary draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. [Source: Wikipedia…]

At 11.16AM I catch my first and only glimpse of the White House, and immediately regret not allocating a day or two for visiting the national capital.

After a short layover in Washington, DC, we hit the road again. This leg of the trip finds the bus pretty much completely full. I notice, however, that the seats immediately behind the driver are empty, as are the first two seats on the right nearest the door. This is something I note again and again as the trip progresses. It is only while doing some research for this entry that I learn why. On October 3, 2001, just weeks after the momentous events of 9/11, a deranged passenger tried to cut the throat of a Greyhound Bus driver. The driver survived the attack, but in the crash that resulted from the assault, the assailant and five other passengers died.

Again “…on September 30, 2002, another Greyhound driver was attacked near Fresno, California, resulting in two passenger deaths after the bus then rolled off an embankment and crashed. Following this attack, driver shields were installed on most Greyhound buses that now prevent passengers from directly touching the driver while the bus is in motion, even if the shield is forced open. On buses without the shield, the seats behind the driver are normally off-limits.” [Source: Wikipedia…]

Based on my observations, these seats are still left empty, even when there are shields installed on Greyhound Buses.

I am feeling much better now that I’ve had a coffee and sandwich during the layover in Washington, DC. As we head out of town we pass the Pentagon on the right. We are within clear view of the building and while we are some distance from it, it is obvious just how big the massive structure is.

Heading south on I-95 again, we quickly leave the Washington DC, city limits, and enter Virginia. We pass into Fairfax County, where highway signs point to Manassas, Fredericksburg and other towns that featured prominently in the American Civil War. It was near Manassas that the first major battle of the war (often referred to as the Battle of Bull Run), was fought on July 21, 1861. Somewhere off the highway is Chancellorsville, where Confederate general Robert E. Lee achieved his greatest victory. Again I can’t help feeling regret for the lack of time I have to explore this part of the country.

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Image: Confederate General, Robert E. Lee, checks to see if the Yankees are coming. They are!

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As we approach Richmond, Virginia, we encounter our first traffic delay which slows us down to about half speed. Since the coming Monday, September 4, is Labor Day, a national holiday, I assume the hold-up is a result of holiday traffic heading out of Washington to destinations further afield. In any event, the bottleneck soon passes, and we quickly get back to our regular speed.

Occasional glimpses of rolling green country passes on both sides of the highway, but the view is mostly obscured by thick growth along the roadside verges. Sudden openings reveal edges of towns and small regional cities here and there, before the view closes up again.

A line in my notebook observes: No wildlife and no road kill along the highway!

If this journey were taking place on Australian highways, our route would be marked with the putrefying bodies of the occasional fox, careless magpies and crows, and dozens of kangaroos – large and small. But on this trip I don’t recall seeing any signs of road kill, anywhere.

Somewhere along the highway I started writing this:

Chewing up the highway, spitting out the miles,

Greyhound Bus America, crowding in the aisles.

New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC,

Richmond, Raleigh, Stoney Creek, New Orleans by the sea.

Rolling down the Interstate, they call I-95,

Mighty glad to see you folks; glad to be alive.

Gonna take the easy road, just so I can see,

This land they call America, from sea to shining sea.

© 2010. Jim Lesses. All Rights Reserved.

Quote of The Trip: The African-American behind me receives a call from his lawyer talking about a possible upcoming trial for an offence which seems to involve a vehicular accident. They talk for quite some time, and he becomes more animated and louder as the conversation progresses. During their conversation he delivers the Quote of The Trip: “I ain’t afraid of no trial – I’ve been on trial all my life!”

Right on, brother!

Strangest Road Sign of The Trip: It is while driving through Virginia that I spot the Strangest Road Sign of The Trip: SPEED LIMIT ENFORCED BY AIRCRAFT. Since I wrote about this only a couple of days ago, I won’t repeat myself here, but it certainly caught my attention.

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Image: Speed Limit Enforced By Aircraft. [Source: The internet]

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Along the I-95, the state border between Virginia and North Carolina occurs about half way between Richmond and Raleigh. With the late afternoon sun casting long shadows across open farmland, it doesn’t take long before we pull into the Greyhound Bus station on Raleigh's, West Jones Street, and my bus travels for the day come to an end.

That’s it. Twelve hours on the road, and not a thing to complain about. In deed, at each stop along the route, the bus arrived and left on time and without incident. There were no screaming babies or whining children, no psycho killers or objectionable passengers, and no breakdowns or major delays.

Drivers were polite, and the announcements at the start of each leg were brief and to the point: No smoking on board the coach – including the restroom; phone conversations were to be kept as quiet and as brief as possible; other electronic devices (MP3 players, portable CD/DVD players, Gameboys, etc), should be used with headphones or ear buds only. That type of thing.

Having access to WiFi would have helped keep me amused and occupied during the journey, but when all is said and done, it wasn’t a major issue.

Travel Tip: 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. 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.

In Part 2, after a weekend stop in Raleigh, North Carolina, the journey continues to the Crescent City, New Orleans.

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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…

New Orleans

Image: The paddle wheeler Natchez…

I don’t do humidity well at all, and unfortunately, every time I stepped outside of my New Orleans hotel room at the Parc Saint Charles, that is exactly what I was hit with. A wall of oppressive heat had blanketed the Crescent City, and there was no escaping it if you were going to get out and see anything, so I just had to sweat it out like everyone else and get on with it.

Clearly three nights and days were nowhere near enough to explore this amazing city, but it’s all I had time for. I took a cruise on the Natchez, which is the only true steam driven paddle wheeler still operating out of New Orleans. The two hour cruise, complete with commentary above decks, and a jazz pianist below, takes you some two miles up river to explore some of the more interesting features of the third busiest harbor in America.

Unlike New York harbor, where most merchant ships berth well away from Manhattan, a steady flow of shipping is constantly making its way through New Orleans 150 miles up the Mississippi to Baton Rouge, or some 95 miles back down the shipping lanes to the Gulf of Mexico. Ships can only navigate the river with the assistance of licensed river pilots who are in a sense the direct ‘descendents’ of the old river boat pilots, which once included the author Mark Twain.

From the deck of the Natchez, damage from Hurricane Katrina is still visible along many parts of the shoreline, despite the five years since that storm hit. However, there is little in downtown New Orleans to indicate the extent of the damage the city suffered when the levees gave way in August 2005.

The Superdome, which served as a makeshift shelter for thousands of displaced people is of course fully functional. In fact, in one of those happy serendipitous moments that can occur when you travel a lot, my visit coincided with the start of the National Football League season across North America, and I was soon caught up in the hoopla that surrounded the first game between the New Orleans Saints, and the Minnesota Vikings (for the record, the Saints won 14-9).

This gave me an opportunity to see my first major parade, complete with sports stars, marching bands, an air force flyover, brief performances by Taylor Swift and the Dave Matthews Band, and thousands of celebrating NFL fans.

… Image: Not for the fainthearted, the heat and humidity testing even the fittest…

Of course, I also went looking for some of that famous Cajun cooking New Orleans is famous for. I can definitely say the Gumbo is a real winner, with Jambalaya coming in a close second. I also lunched on a catfish Po-Boy, a large bread roll stuffed with salad and crumbed catfish (with fries on the side).

A po' boy (also po-boy, po boy, or poor boy) is a traditional submarine sandwich from Louisiana. It almost always consists of meat or seafood, usually fried, served on baguette-like Louisiana French bread.

There are countless stories as to the origin of the term po' boy. One theory claims that "po' boy" was coined in a New Orleans restaurant owned by Benny and Clovis Martin, a former streetcar conductor. In 1929, during a four-month strike against the streetcar company, Martin served his former colleagues free sandwiches. Martin’s restaurant workers jokingly referred to the strikers as "poor boys", and soon the sandwiches themselves took on the name. In Louisiana dialect, this is naturally shortened to "po' boy."

[Source: Wikipedia…]

… Image: New Orleans Po-Boy… [source: internet…]

Then there are the famous French pastries that visitors and locals rave about – and the most famous of these are the French-style doughnuts called, Beignets (pron: bin-yay). More than one person told me the best beignets in New Orleans were to be found at the Café Du Monde, and who was I to challenge that?

The original Café Du Monde Coffee Stand, at 800 Decatur Street, was established at the upper end of the New Orleans French Market in 1862. Since then it has been serving its chicory flavored café au lait and French-style beignets 24 hours a day, 7 seven days a week, except for Christmas Day and when "the occasional hurricane passes too close to New Orleans."

Beignets were brought to Louisiana by the Acadians. These were fried fritters, sometimes filled with fruit. Today, the beignet is a square piece of dough, fried and covered with powdered sugar. The French-style doughnuts are served in orders of three at Café Du Monde. [Source: Café Du Monde website…]

I can’t say I was blown away with my first beignet, but by the time I got to my third one I was warming to them in a pleasant sugar high kind of way.

I paid a visit to the Louisiana State Museum on Chartres Street, and enjoyed a look through their extensive exhibitions. Of particular interest was the exhibition Unsung Heroes: The Secret History of Louisiana Rock n Roll, which documents the contribution musicians from Louisiana have made to that genre.

I could write much more, and may return to the topic of New Orleans at a later date, but as I said at the start of this piece, three days is nowhere near enough to even get a decent feel for the city, let alone a good understanding of the people who call it home.

The Countdown Continues

Click on image to enlarge

At the beginning of June (in The Countdown Begins), I wrote about my nascent plans for my next major overseas trip planned for 2010. Back then I’d been home in Adelaide eight months following my last trip, and I was counting down the ten months before my expected departure.

Now here I am, two months later and find those numbers have been reversed. I’m now ten months back with eight months before I head off again around the end of March.

My plans are still no clearer in my mind, with respect to what I want to do, and where I want to go, other than I want to undertake a major road trip across the United States, and once again end up in Greece for an extended stay. Greece is the ideal place as the final destination of my travels because I have two sisters living there, and the free use of the original family home on the island of Ikaria.

Regular readers of this blog will know I have been conducting lots of research in the form of reading (and reviewing) books – old and new – in preparation for my trip. I’m a great believer in trying to get a broad understanding of the cities and the landscape of countries I am travelling through, so I can better enjoy the experience. Knowing something about the history, culture, and lives of the people I might meet helps build insight and awareness into the overall travel experience. The more I research and learn, the more I am able to see the world through the eyes of the locals and modify or drop my own preconceived ideas of how I think they should or should not be living or behaving.

And so to America. So far my thoughts are thus: I will probably fly into Los Angeles. I will then catch up with various relatives on the west coast (San Diego; Tucson, Arizona, and elsewhere).

I will then embark on my road trip. But for how long and to where exactly? This is currently my great dilemma. The United States is so vast and varied that there is far too much to see and do in one road trip no matter how extended it may be. My plans have ranged from a circumnavigation of the continental United States that would involve driving some ten to twelve thousand kilometres (assuming Google has done the maths correctly), to much shorter drives of four to six thousand kilometres.

I am currently more inclined to aim for a shorter drive where I can spend more time savouring the journey and the destinations along the way, but I’m still a long way from deciding where my road will lead me.

My latest Google mapping exercise has me plotting a route from Los Angeles across the southern states as far east as Alabama, and then up to Nashville before driving back to L.A. along Route 66 (see map illustrating this entry). However, at around 5,300 miles (or 8,500 kilometres), even this road trip looks like hard work, and vacations should not be hard work. They should be relaxing and fun, and stimulating and exciting.

Not that I am baulking at the distances involved – even though I will probably be on my own. One thing Australian drivers learn to do early – whether they like driving or not – is drive long distances. We know that short of flying between major capital cities (or taking a train or coach), the most convenient way to get anywhere is by car. And since we hate to be without a car at our ultimate destination, driving our own vehicles to our final destination is almost always our preferred option.

Anyway, I know I will return to this theme several more times before March, so bear with me, and if you have any ideas or suggestions, please pass on your tips via the Comments box below.

Never to Old to Live and Learn

~ Yesterday, I signed up for a ten week Spanish For Fun and Travel course at an Adelaide based institution, the WEA. The Workers' Educational Association was founded in 1913, and is Australia's largest non-government adult community education organisation. It provides learning opportunities for anyone aged 15 years or older in its nearly 1800 short courses – for which the Association receives over 30,000 enrolments annually.

Using a concession card my ten week by two hour course cost me just AUD$112.00. That breaks down to a mere AUD$5.60 per hour! Even at the full price of AUD$124.00 the course is still incredibly cheap. Further down the track I may even sign up for a French or German language course. And why not? At the above prices, learning a language for ‘fun and travel’ is pretty much affordable to everyone.

I’ve decided to tackle Spanish first because next year I want to drive across America. I will probably start on the west coast at Los Angeles and either drive Route 66 to Chicago and New York, or drive across the south towards New Orleans and then up the east coast to New York.

After spending eight weeks in New York City last year, it quickly became apparent that a basic knowledge of Spanish would be very useful – not just in New York but wherever I happened to be in the United States. Of course it will be even more useful if I decide to take a side trip into Mexico during my road trip.

I know there are regional differences between Spanish as it is spoken in Spain as compared to Mexico (and indeed throughout Latin America), but I figure the little I learn during this course will be better than the complete lack of knowledge I now have.

From the USA I will be going to Europe, and since I have never been to Spain, I am considering a trip to that beautiful country too.

Life is for living and learning, folks, and now that I have the time, I plan to live and learn and travel as far and wide as my finances will allow.

By the way, the WEA is not unique to Adelaide. There are similar institutions elsewhere in Australia and overseas, so if you want embark on a journey of life-long learning, check out the sites below, or ask at your local public library for information about similar organisations in your city.

Links to Associated Sites

• WEA Sydney
• WEA UK
• WEA Illawarra
• Council of Adult Education Melbourne
• Adult Learning Association
• International Federation of Workers' Education Associations (IFWEA)