(June 16, 2012) CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA to NASHVILLE, TN — Today I spent 14 hours in the same seat on the same bus (with a couple short breaks) traveling from Charlottesville, VA, to Nashville, TN. Needless to say, this diary entry will be less extensive than many of the previous entries. One interesting note on place names: Today I was in Charlottesville, Wytheville, Knoxville, Cookeville, Crossville and Nashville.
Charlottesville’s pedestrian mall was empty and very peaceful this morning about 6:30 as I walked from John Mason’s place to the Greyhound station.
I exchanged a “good morning” with two guys relaxing on a bench. Other than them, I didn’t pass another person on the entire walk.
The bus station wasn’t even open when I arrived — nor did it ever open before I got on the bus. I’m not sure what would have happened if I’d needed a ticket, but with my Discovery Pass that wasn’t an issue.
I had to share a seat for the first part of today’s trip, only the second time that’s happened so far. The first time was the first leg of the trip from NYC to Wilmington more than two weeks ago. As a friend said this morning, it seems like a lot longer ago that I left Brooklyn.
The ride from Charlottesville to Nashville was a trip through a lot of small towns that have seen better days, plus a few larger spots such as Roanoke (VA) and Knoxville (TN). In one town, nearly the entire main street was for sale or lease by the same real estate firm.
We stopped in Morristown, Tennessee. It was one of the few stops where folks had time to smoke, and most of the passengers got off the bus to do that. The resulting scene out the bus window was very engaging, so I wrote a poem called, creatively, “Morristown, Tennessee.”
Of course the bus that goes all the way from Richmond (VA) to Dallas (TX) would be a bus without wifi or power outlets. I had even brought my laptop on the bus for the first time because the trip was so long. I did manage to watch most of My Neighbor Totoro before my laptop died. Then I charged it during a layover and watched most of Blade Runner.
I also slept. A lot. I haven’t been sleeping long enough or regularly enough on the tour and every few days it catches up with me. I snore a lot and so I try to avoid falling asleep in public. And by “in public” I mean within about 25 miles of other people. But I think I don’t sleep deeply enough on the bus to snore and in any case I desperately needed the rest. Oh, and I also read The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac, which I’m reading for the first time. (Want to buy me a Kindle book for my trip? You can do that here. Thanks!)
Which brings me to food. I grabbed a banana on my way out the door this morning. The bus left C’ville at 7:05 a.m. and our first chance to eat was around 11:30 in Wytheville, VA. Now I know what you’re thinking: “But Jason, Wytheville is famed for its eating establishments and its hospitality for the weary traveler.” You may be right, but I couldn’t say, because we parked between a gas station and a McDonald’s and those were our options. As a vegan, I opted for another banana and some pretzels at the gas station, figuring I’d have a better shot at real food when we stopped in Knoxville, TN, around dinner time.
“Surely, Jason,” I can hear you protest, “even a nutty vegan like you found sustenance in Knoxville, a mid-sized city famed for its eateries?” Which brings me to traveling by bus. When you travel on Greyhound, you tend to arrive in the parts of cities where the city council will still allow buses to bring in loads of strangers. In other words, you seldom show up in the business or nightlife district and much more often get dropped in unused brownfields or barely standing industrial zones.
Here, in all its glory, is the entirety of the food selection that awaited us in Knoxville:
Outside the station there was NOTHING. It looked like a scene from John Carter’s Escape From New York. So, for the first time since October 2010, I ate some meat. It was either buy a ham sandwich (the least meaty thing in the cooler) or not eat at all until Nashville. Being a vegan isn’t about starving, so I ate the sandwich. I really need a better system for traveling with my own food.
One other thing: When I left Charlottesville this morning, I didn’t actually have a place to stay in Nashville. Starting tomorrow, I’m staying with Evan Cobb, but he’s out of town today. So I reached out via Twitter and Paul Horton answered the call. He’s a pianist and keyboardist here in Nashville and he and his family very graciously welcomed me into their home on short notice. Thank you, Paul.
I’m doing a poetry reading at 4 p.m. on Sunday at the Nashville Jazz Workshop. I hope you can come.
(If you’d like to support my tour, you can make a one-time donation and get great thank-you gifts HERE. If you’d like to become a member of The Jazz Session and make recurring monthly or yearly payments, you can do that HERE.)
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