Steve continued talking, but it became increasingly difficult to understand what he was saying as his speech slurred. He said he was an itinerant preacher and that Greyhound was his chapel. A large wooden crucifix dangled from his neck. Steve was about 50 years old, sported a bushy beard and wore an olive green army jacket. It wasn't until we stopped for breakfast in Crescent City that I was finally able to strike up a conversation. I was so eager to talk with the other passengers I stayed awake all night even though everyone else was sleeping. I spent the first 10 hours traveling down the coast of Oregon. So I packed up a loaf of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a bunch of bananas and stepped on a Greyhound. For a week, I could wander any Greyhound route I chose and test my theory about the bus. So I was pretty excited when This American Life offered to send me on a Greyhound trip with a fancy tape recorder and a seven-day Ameripass. We talked for a while, but mostly we just sat and thought about the different places we were headed.įor a long time I've been wanting to tape record the stories I've heard on the bus, to document this phenomenon that I've been trying to figure out. Across the aisle from me was a teenager with a buzz cut on his way to boot camp. I rode next to this guy who'd been locked away for 14 years and had just gotten out. And from my talking to other people on the bus, I know many others do as well.įor example, this one route I've ridden a lot goes south through Crescent City, California, home of the Pelican Bay maximum security prison. About how, as we sit on the bus for hours and days, waiting to reach our destination, we travel in what I call a transitional state, thinking about where we're coming from and where we're going to. I have this theory about people who ride Greyhound. On the bus, passengers are largely left alone with their thoughts. No waitresses force bags of peanuts on you every five minutes. And unlike airplane flights, no movies are shown on Greyhound, no headsets handed out, no free magazines available. But on the bus that same distance takes three full days to cover, which is what I think is about the perfect amount of time for such a trip. Airline passengers love to complain about the five excruciatingly long hours it takes to fly from coast to coast. What I like most about Greyhound is how long it takes to get anywhere on the bus. I would consider it my home away from home, if only I had a home. In total, about four solid months of my life have been spent cooped up in their buses. Over the last eight years I figure I've ridden at least 100,000 miles on Greyhound. She actually finds adventure, and it is not pretty. Cheryl Trykv achieves what everyone wants when they hit the road. What it is like when being on the road has been your job for decades.Īct Four, Paw Paw for Jesus. At the age of 92, comedian George Burns was still traveling all the time. Can a road trip in Europe save a marriage? The answer is with one case study.Īct Three, On the Road in a Tuxedo. How do you even say that? Mare-see? Merci. Dishwasher Pete loved riding the bus from city to city until one last seven day trip that took him off the whole deal.Īct Two, Merci. Today, from WBEZ Chicago and Public Radio International it's This American Life. You and me and our whole great nation, with high hopes and no expectations for the future.Īnd, to hasten the journey, we bring you now this hour of radio. I'll turn into the person that I believe I could be, that I am. That somewhere on the road I will turn into the person that I want to be. That somewhere, anywhere, is better than here. That what a road trip stands for is hope. You know all that going into it.Īnd you still, we all still bind to the cliche about road trips. And you're probably not going to find out what it is that you got on the road to find out in the first place. You never find a bed exactly when you want to go to sleep. And you'll be tired and you won't get a meal exactly when you're hungry. Any road trip is going to feel longer than you think it will.
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