| 6/8/99 10:00pm CST | The bus didn't leave Houston until 7:15pm. It was supposed to have left at 6:15pm. Maybe that was the time it was supposed to arrive in Houston. I boarded the mostly full bus and introduced myself to the young lady who sat down beside me. Her name is Jenny and she is on her way to Rhode Island, which means we will be on the same bus all the way to New York together. You know how you dread flying in a plane with small children, because they scream and kick your seat when they sit behind you, well let me tell you this, in the bus it's worse. From Bay Town to Port Andrew. The good news is they got off in Port Andrews. I had visions or nightmares of riding all the way to Mobile, AL like that. |
| 6/9/99 8:40am | We did arrive in Mobile, Alabama an hour late. To no fault of the driver's driving. He was from Mobile and was anxious to get home. We got a new driver, Billy Right, in Mobile and he is taking us to Atlanta. For those who don't know, I will be riding the same bus all the way to New York, just switching drivers. Billy Right is a bit of a character. He too is anxious to get home to Atlanta. He is talking about trying to make up for lost time. The funny thing about going to Atlanta is that's the end of the trail. I will be back this way in 6 months. I finally have the row of seats to myself. Earlier Jenny moved over to another empty row and some more people ended up boarding, which you can guess the vacant seat next to me got filled by a young guy. |
| 6/9/99 1:00pm EST | We left Atlanta on 2 new buses. They have so many people they are using 2 buses for the same run. We are still running an hour behind schedule. We are going to try and make up for the lost hour by skipping a stop. |
| 6/9/99 7:30pm EST | We ran into traffic on our way to Charlotte NC. We are still an hour behind and making our way to Richmond, VA. Both buses are completely full. We have a couple of vocal small children on board. Fortunately for me they aren't sitting right behind me. The 12 year old boy sitting next to me is going to New York with his father and younger brother. The brothers are very well behaved if not on the verge of being shy. I give the boy next to me travel tips when I see appropriate. i.e. using your jacket as a pillow. For those who have had the pleasure, or curse, of traveling with me know I usually find a way to make myself comfortable. |
| 6/10/99 | I was an hour late getting into NY, surprise, surprise. My bus to Boston left on time however, which means I missed it. Lucky for me it was scheduled to make a stop before it hit Boston. The 9:00 bus to Boston went straight through non-stop and the bus driver drove pretty quickly through the light traffic. We reached Boston 20 minutes ahead of schedule which gave me 5 minutes to catch the bus to Bangor, ME. If I missed my scheduled Bangor bus, I wouldn't get to Bangor late that night and would have to wait a day for the next Medway bus. Once I got off in Bangor, I had 10 minutes to buy a ticket and board the bus from another bus carrier to take me to Medway. Once I got to Medway, I had 45 minutes to grab a cab and make it to Baxter State park before they closed their gates. Well, with all the close calls it worked out. I am camping at the foot of Mt Katahdin. I won't be able to do the Knife's Ridge trail liked I hoped. The park rangers aren't letting anyone take a full pack on top, which was what I needed to do to do the Knife's Edge. I just paid a $10 change fee and I now have an awesome site next to water and at the very foot of the trail. There is one problem however, with all the close connections I didn't get a chance to send out another message Home (mom) that I made it and Baxter is a rugged park- no payphones or running water in the whole park. I will have to wait a couple of days till I reach the Abol Bridge. Then 9 miles down the road there is supposed to be a payphone. I will definitely try to get to that phone, because after Abol bridge is the 100 mile wilderness and it will be another 2 weeks before I literally get to any kind of civilization. |