Thursday, November 20, 2008

The people, the accents, the conversations

These people made my trip. They either ate with me, drank with me, drove me to interesting places, walked around those interesting places, or let me sleep on their couch or air mattress or even bed (not with them -- calm down). Or in some cases, all of the above.
  • Doug and Cynthia in Halifax.
  • Ryan and Maya in Washington.
  • Don in Nashville.
  • Phil in Nashville.
  • Jim in Birmingham.
  • Sean, Cole, and Stacey in New Orleans.
  • Joana and Jeff in Chicago.
  • Jen in Denver.
  • The Cosgroves in Albuquerque.
  • Laura in Austin.
  • Sean and Cole again. Glorious.
Oh, and there were these secondary characters who livened up life on the bus:
  • Javier the soon-to-be media baron from Orlando.
  • The Drunk Texan who travelled 3,500 miles on the bus to three funerals in a week, and then visited his sister before she had triple-bypass surgery.
  • Shelley and Stacey, two Canadian songwriters introduced to me at the Nashville hostel by the aforementioned Phil, another Canadian (who blogged about his time in the city)
  • Pete the recent convict (no big deal, it was just residential burglary "for a good cause")
  • Amanda the pregnant lesbian and former lover of a currently incarcerated ex-boyfriend.
  • Weirdo, a.k.a. Captain Obvious, who was on the way to Oregon.
  • Loudmouth in the back who called me "Toronto" (and Amanda "Germany")
  • Gunshot victim in Salt Lake City (at the hands of a 95-year-old woman).
  • Floridian woman who didn't believe a thing I said about Greyhound.
  • Jeff the disgruntled, yet happy-go-lucky Floridian who was coming from a job in San Jose.
  • Various barristas throughout America.
  • Various crying babies across America.
Oh, and most of all. Man, I can't forget these people. They are arguably even more important than NOLA Sean, who opened doors to me all across the country:
  • The bus drivers of America.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'll remember to ask you about Captain Obvious.

annietv600 said...

Nick, this is the most wonderful list to read. I know you saw mountains and capitol buildings and universities and lots of other outstanding physical and man made features, but it is people, after all, who make our lives richer. Congratulations on such a successful trip!

Oh, and welcome back to Canada!
- Mom