Thursday 9th October 2003 - Day 26/273 - Memphis, Tennessee to Winchester, Virginia
Well actually it's only 17.00 the day before and we're about to embark on a 21 hour trip to Winchester, Virginia. Between us we would have liked to have gone to Nashville, Knoxville, Dollywood, Metropolis and Dayton, Ohio, but we didn't feel that any place warranted a break in the long journey or the expense of an overnight stay. The Greyhound schedule also wasn't very conjusive to a stop over either.
The route took us the width of Tennessee, stopping at East Memphis, Brownsville, Jackson, Nashville, Nashville Airport, Knoxville, Kingsport and then into Virginia and onto, Bristol, Whitfield, Christiansburg, Roanoke, Buchanan, Buena Vista, Greenville, Harrisonburg and finally Winchester. Blimey I fell like a railway announcer. We had to disembark a couple of times in Nashville, Knoxville and Roanoke to refuel and freshen up (us and the coach). The terminals are all functional really and more like something out of the 1950's. You get a selection of vending machines and a half decent toilet (as opposed to a hole at the back of the bus). Luckily though the driver pulled over at a McDonalds so I could get a Sausage and Egg McMuffin Meal which was good, coz I was in the middle of a dream about one.
The landscape through Tennesse was green, but not lush and featureless. Every town we passed looked exactly the same. All gridded and flat. The highest point in each town is the advertising boards from MacDonalds and the Holiday Inn. When we departed the interstate on the road to Jackson we did eventually see some nice landscape with the local cotton fields.
Of course myself and Mx sat separate in the hope of getting some new and interesting conversation. Mx got sat next to a sweet old lady on her way to Florida. I got sat next to a bloke who looks like 'J>O>E Here' when he gets old (alright just J>O>E Here). Why do I always get the repribates. Both the nice old lady and JOE Here disembarked at Knoxville, so we got a double seat each to lie across and we also had the chance to talk with an English couple Peter and Rachel. They've just quit their jobs, sold their house and spending some of the equity on travelling round the world together.
The nice thing about 21 hours on a Greyhound is you get loads of chance to think. After all that is the main reason for me coming away. To give you an idea of what I have been thinking, here's just some of the list (in no particular order):-
- How did the guy from the Blazing Smoke incident get caught in a country this big?
- What job am I going to do when I get home, and where in the world will home be?
- Why do I ignore Mr Redman?
- Will my house get rented out again?
- Is Slimes' willy really pierced?
- What am I trying to achieve by being here and am I achieving it?
- Does J>O>E Here have a pair of shoes with matching shoelaces?
See contra to popular belief there's no naked women or sport in there.
