The long (long, long, long) ride home

25 hours in total. Atlanta to Chattanooga to Nashville to Louisville to Cincinnati to Detroit to Windsor to London to Toronto (Yorkdale first, argh) to downtown Toronto. Don't ever do what I did after spending 32 days on the road.

It's fine to take one of these long trips, or even two or three -- okay, not three -- but the rides just don't end. Toss in some crying babies, some sickeningly irritable coughing from all sides, and the cramped space that is the Greyhound, and you get cabin fever almost instantly.

This, though, was one of the better looking parts of the trip. It's the Tennessee River just a few miles north and west of Chattanooga. Sorry for any glare.

Otherwise, not a fun trip. I did pick up a book called The Edifice Complex in Chattanooga (at the bus station, of all places) and got through some of it. Take a look at the review if you're interested. It's all about power and its relation to architecture, and vice versa -- really interesting stuff. I just couldn't get too far without getting annoyed by a shrill baby or gross cough or an unsettling bump in the road.

VIDEO: Cincinnati, America's disappointment

I might be knocking Cincinnati for no good reason. I might just have been trying to fill time there by recording this uninspired video. But if someone can tell me something redeemable about Ohio's southern terminus, I'll be glad to hear it.

Sitting here in beautiful, downtown Lexington, the sun is shining again.

Eighteen hours through the Appalachians

Not everything always goes according to plan. Case in point: Columbus, Ohio was not part of the plan for Thirty Days. But the way Greyhound travels the land isn't always the most convenient.

As the map illustrates, West Virginia and Kentucky border each other. But in order to get from Charleston to Lexington, you have to transfer (twice!) in Ohio: Columbus and Cincinnati.

Even though the trip cuts through part of Kentucky no more than two hours from Lexington.

All of this made today a little longer, and it's the reason I decided to spend the night in Columbus.