Editor's note: The following is the introduction to a compilation of poetry put together in 2002, called "Northern Route: New York To Seattle And Back By Bus." The poetry was written during a cross-country bus trip during the summer of 2002.
The following 181 compositions of verse were written during a nine-and-a-half day excursion: about three days by bus straight through from New York to Seattle, followed by about three-and-a-half-days in Seattle, and followed by about three days by bus straight through from Seattle to New York.
This trip was a reprise of one taken almost a year earlier from New York to Los Anveles and back by bus. Whereas the 2001 trip took me through St. Louis and then down through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to California going out, and then coming back through Denver, across Nebraska and Iowa to Chicago and then New York, this 2002 trip took me through the northern tier. Both ways, I passed through the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Washington.
Early on in the 2002 trip, I discovered that whereas there were many similarities between trips, this second experience was as different as the first-born is from the second-born in a family. I had learned a great deal from the first trip, and applied much of it to preparing myself for the second. But still, there were unpredictable surprises.
For instance, try as I might, I couldn't stave off having that washed out feeling I had at about the half-way point, during the afternoon of the second day. I thought I had forced myself to rest enough during the first night, but still, long about Minnesota, I felt jjust as exhausted as when I crossed Missouri the year before.
Predictably, however, day three after the second night benefited during both trips from from the rush of adrenalin, knowing that come what may, by the end of the day, I would be in a bed. showered, and relieved from having completed the three-day crossing.
And again this year, the return trip, with the lure of getting home, completing the task, and seeing my loved ones made the return crossing much easier to take. Both years, the return trip seemed an after thought in the preparations, an anti-climactic part of the whole excursion. Yet both years, the return trip yielded rich veins of concepts, observations, situations, emotions and opportunities for writing. The lure of home, I should never be surprised to find out, is as powerful, if not quietly more powerful, than the wanderlust of the first part of the adventure. As Dorothy, herself, said, there's no place like home.
This year was remarkly different, too, in that I had one additional day of layover on the wet coast, and this layover was with family, in a cozy home with a restful vista, and in a city with which I was somewhat familiar. The hospitality was overflowing, and again, that seemed to nurture the opportunities for writing. Thanks, thanks, and thanks again.
Having finished two cross-country bus trips, I now feel I am a veteran, and would do others at the drop of a hat. They are one of the best travel bargains, especially if booked in advance. Greyhound Bus Lines is nothing short of remarkable. They put so many buses on the road at one time, 24-hours a day, seven days a week, all across the country. The bus divers are efficient, safety-conscious, courteous, and real professional. They take their jobs seriously, and tend to deliver on time every time. Three cheers for the bus drivers.
However, here's a hint that should help bus travelers: if at all possible, book trips with as few transfers from one route to another. Best of all: choose a route at its origin, such as New York, Los Angeles or Seattle, and choose the routes that are straight through to your destination. That way, you are given re-boarding passes at each layover, and are essentially gauranteed literally the same seat from start to finish.
Last year, I went from New York to Los Angeles on one vehicle, same seat the whole way. And I returned on one vehicle, same seat the whole way.
This year, I had to transfer in Chicago, from one bus route to another, one vehicle to another. It was fine on the way out. I got on the new bus, was in line early enough to grab essentially the same seat as the vehicle from New York to Chicago. But I ran into trouble during the return trip, when I got bumped from the first vehicle for the leg to Cleveland. I was with about a dozen passengers on the second vehicle to Cleveland, who had to sweat it out to see if we could get back on the first vehicle, when it began taking on passengers again in Cleveland. That was disconcerting to say the least, especially so close to the end of the trip, just eight hours away from New York. To Greyhound's credit, it should be noted, we all did get back on the original bus to New York, and arrived home on time. All's well that ends well.
Still, for anyone who wants to really get a taste for how broad and diverse and yet similar this great country is, corss-country but travel is a remarkable education. Sure, it is a little uncomfortable sleeping on a bus, not one night but two nights in a row. But that's a small price to pay for the experience. Essentially, the vehicle stops every two to three hours, for the driver and the passengers to take a 10 to 40 minute or more break, depending on whether it is a snack break, meal break, maintenance break, or a quirk in the schedule. So a three-day trip is really 24 to 36 little two or three-hour trips tacked back to back. It's a game, where you look forward to the breaks, and then once in the breaks, you look forward to getting back out on the road to get to the next break.
And in-between, there are people, places and situations you will see nowhere else, enough to write volumes about. And with a generous supply of CDs, books or magazines, and a bottomless curiosity about what makes America tick, cross-country bus travel is a pure delight. It is summer school for adults. It is like the summer reading lists I'd get during high school.
Of course, most of the passengers are making the trips because they have to: because they can't afford another way, or they are going part of the cross-country route, and train or air travel is less convenient and more expensive. But for me, I'm doing it for the sight-seeing, pure and simple. I'm doing it as a writing laboratory.
Next trips? I think I want to head straight down the coasts, particularly New York to Key West. Seattle to San Diego must be breathtaking, too. And New York to the Canadian Maritimes might be fun, as would going from Montreal to Vancouver. And don't forget the Hudson Valley, and through Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine to Old Quebec City.
There is also New York to San Francisco, with a chance to see Utah, northern Nevada, and the Sacramento-to-San Francisco stretch of California. I am also itching to see the Old South, down through Atlanta, Alabama, Mississippi to New Orleans. Oh, and up the Mississippi, retracing the route of the song, "City of New Orleans," to Chicago. And it might be fun to circumnavigate Texas, big enough to be its own country. And get a good healthy taste of bourbon by cutting back and fourth across Kentucky and Tennessee. Don't forget the Motor City and the Michigan peninsula, and Simon and Garfunkel's start to their legendary bus trip in the song, "America," Saginaw. And one of these days, somehow, someway, Alaska.
Still, there is also the urge to stay at home, maybe next summer, and tour good old New Jersey, use my own car and write about my own backyard. It could be something like: The Jersey Shore, Sandy Hook to Cape May. And, I'd love to hitch rides on the subways, ferries and rapid transits to explore the five boroughs of New York City.
The possibilities are endless. Don't get me started. Or rather, I can't wait to get started.
For Essays And Editorials
Denis J. Kelly
May 4, 2011
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