I’ve been meaning for years to take a cross-country bus or train trip. I’ve recently lost my job but I’m doing okay financially, so I figure this is my chance. I’ll be leaving in about a week and traveling around the country with a Greyhound bus pass. I don’t have a schedule - just a list of places I’ll be stopping for a day or two. If you live in or will also be passing through any of these places, I’d love to meet up! If you’ve made a similar trip before and have any tips to pass along, I’d appreciate them.
From Boston, my first stop will be New Orleans, where I’ll be staying and volunteering for two or three days.* From there I’ll be traveling to:
Austin, TX
Santa Fe and Albuquerque, NM
The Grand Canyon (via Flagstaff, AZ)
Las Vegas, NV
Denver, CO
Mt. Rushmore (via Rapid City, SD)
Grand Forks, ND
Winnepeg, MB
Ottawa and Montreal, QC
From Montreal, I might head straight back to Boston, if time and money are getting tight. Preferably, I’ll continue north and east through New Brunswick and head back down to Boston through Maine and New Hampshire.
Again, I don’t have a set schedule, nor will I have regular internet access, but I can keep in touch by phone with anyone who wants to meet up along the way.
*I’m still trying to arrange the volunteer work; if you work with or know of an organization that could use an extra pair of hands for just a couple days, please e-mail me (my e-mail address is in my profile).
I envy you your freedom–you must really have a sense of adventure to do such an extensive trip by bus. I’ll wager you’ll run in to some very, shall we say, interesting characters along the way.
There are more and more places to access the internet along the road these days. I hope you’ll be able to pop in now and then with a story or two. Best of luck, and have a safe trip!
That trip sounds like great fun. What an adventure! Too bad the Grand Canyon area is several hours away from here- I’d love to meet you and talk about your experiences so far.
Good luck and have fun! Make sure you tell us all about it when you get back!
Too bad, the Great Salt Lake is a natural wonder, as is Lake Tahoe. However: I wish you good luck on your ventures. And most places have soup kitchens that could always use some extra hands, as well as the Salvation Army.
If you do head further east, I’m in South Shore Nova Scotia until September and in Halifax after that. My place down here is about 45 minutes from Yarmouth, where you could hop the ferry to Maine.
I hope you have a better time riding Hellhound than I did. :shudder: Too bad you’re not going to be stopping here, it’d be nice to have a another Dopefest (and hopefully my car wouldn’t die on me this time).
Road trips are a great thing to do whilst unemployed. I did a shorter trip (10 days, NYC to Seattle via Chicago and San Francisco) by car back in April. It was a great experience. But since you’re going none of the places I went, I can’t offer any advice. You’ll have a great time exploring the country, though!
Unfortunately, the buses don’t go as far as Yarmouth. I’m having trouble finding any schedule at all for the route that (according to Greyhound’s map) would take me from Montreal, around the New Brunswick coast, and then back into Maine.
Yeah, it sounds random, huh? I have a close friend who lives near Grand Forks, so I’m taking the opportunity to visit her. She actually just moved to Nowhere, MN, but Grand Forks is still the closest city. I’ll e-mail you when I get a better idea of when I’ll be arriving.
Change buses, mostly. I actually have no idea what I’m going to do in most places I’m stopping. Walk around, see what looks interesting.
Yeah, ran into that issue last week when trying to get my BF from Halifax to here. There are a couple shuttle services that make the trip from Halifax, one via south shore and one via the Annapolis Valley, but I have no idea what happened to the bus line that used to run
Maybe I’ll just send you a postcard and say you came
The Ottawa bus terminal is pretty central, and close to a lot of the tourist/sightseeing attractions (Parliament Hill, museums, etc.). You can get a cheap day pass for the city buses if you don’t want to do a lot of walking.
If he’s really lucky, he’ll get the drunk singing Italian guy I had when Kid Kalhoun and I bussed it to Chicago from Denver. He crooned the tunes for about 400 miles.Him or the couple who faked being blind so they could bring their dog on the bus. Yeeeeaaaahhhh…good times.
Awww, poor Maxy. Except for Grand Forks, the itinerary is entirely places I’ve never been before. I’ll have to make another trip sometime just for you.
And Hal. And all the other folks I’m missing . . .
Kalhoun, I’m a she, actually. And I’m bringing my best pair of earplugs.
And most places have soup kitchens that could always use some extra hands, as well as the Salvation Army.
