Y’all listen up here now
Travelling by Greyhound bus was a definite on our To Do list for the USA. Our first trip was from New York City to Norfolk, Virginia - a seven hour journey setting off at 07:30. I bought a paper map especially for the occasion. It was only when I was opening it rather awkwardly on board, that I really appreciated just how gigantic the USA is - our seven hour journey was a drop in the ocean. Of course, my opening of the map sparked a conversation from the guy sitting beside me and we started talking only to be interrupted by our driver. At first, I thought the announcement was a prank but as it progressed, I realised this was for real.
Now, y’all listen up, right? Ma name is F. E. Timmens and I’m outta New Orleans. I’m your driver today and I’d like to welcome you all on board. First up, we got a few rules for this journey. No smokin’ on board and by that I mean cigarettes or marijuana. No drinkin’ on board and by that I mean alcoholic beverages. At our first stop, we will take a break for 20 minutes. If you not back by 11:10, this bus is leavin’ without you. I’m not comin’ to look for you, I don’t care what business yo gotta look after, this bus is leavin’, you got that?
I looked at my companion not quite sure if this was considered normal but it was also his first time on a Greyhound so we concluded that we should just stick to the rules and not risk our driver’s wrath. My companion started telling me about his life - he was working in a nightclub in New York, having moved there just three months ago, and was going home to his parents’ house for a family reunion- the first he’d attended in three years. He had left home after school and headed off to make his fortune in Florida Keys and then Miami. But a few years of the lifestyle had left him burnt out so he moved to New York to calm down. I was leaving New York after just seven days and was totally burnt out so I was goggle-eyed imagining what he’d already survived before. There were definitely some good stories there to uncover but unfortunately I fell asleep at that point due to the early morning start and have nothing to report. Sorry.
When I woke up, he had left and we were passing Philadelphia. Soon, another announcement:
This next stop is the last decent restroom before we reach our destination today. I wanna tell you ladies that cos it’s important to you.
I like you, F. E. I want to get my picture taken with you.
We passed through a town called Princess Anne and traversed the grounds of the University of Maryland which was such a lovely campus that it made me want to go back to university. Very cute neat wooden clapboard houses in the town. All along this section of the journey were lots of churches, flat fields, small simple wooden houses, cars parked on the lawns. But no people to be seen out and about. They were all in cars.
Now, I didn’t know that Route 13, on which we were travelling, includes a 28km bridge over the James River before arriving in Norfolk. It was a wonderful crossing and we saw wild dolphins frolicking in the waves. At the end of the bridge, we got a glimpse of a lovely, wide beach with hardly any people and we realised that that was very near to the motel that we had booked. This was an unexpected bonus and we decided there and then that this would be our beach of choice for our little rest break before resuming farming duties in North Carolina. Have a look at our photos and short video to see where we were.
Three days later, we were once again boarding an early morning bus out of Norfolk to Raleigh and can you believe who our driver was? Our friend, F. E. Timmens...
Le grá
Gill