(6 October 2012) STATE COLLEGE, PA — I spent 29 hours on a series of buses on Thursday and Friday traveling from one football-crazed college town to another football-crazed college town. I live in one and my kids live in the other.
Partway through the trip I posted a blog entry telling everyone about my move to Auburn, Alabama. I think these two tweets sum up the general reaction:
@jasondcrane I’m having a hard time processing that tweet.Mostly the Alabama part.
— Julie White (@CCedJWhite) October 5, 2012
@jasondcraneIs this the Brooklyn Jason Crane …Alabama !?
— Roberto Hewitt (@robrunner67) October 5, 2012
Although of course these two folks and many others extended congratulations. I’m still very happy with my decision. I think it’s going to be quite an adventure.
Maybe it’s because I’ve taken so many of them recently, but these long bus trips are really starting to take a toll on me, both mentally and physically. My long ride a couple weeks ago from NYC to Jackson, MS, and my long ride this week from Auburn to State College, caused my ankles and feet to really swell. For some reason, both trips had very short layovers between segments, meaning no time to get food for hours and hours at a time, and no time to walk around or stretch. I think by the time I arrived in State College, I was a couple steps away from insane. And I get to do it all again starting on Monday when I go back to Auburn.
I sat in the back for most of the trip, which I don’t normally do. I prefer sitting closer to the driver, where things tend to remain a bit more normal. I spent several hours next to a guy who was dipping chewing tobacco and spitting it into a Mountain Dew bottle. He was friendly enough, but he made a racist joke partway through the trip, then spent a while shining a laser pointer out the bus window at the cars passing on the highway.
Greyhound stations now feature a series of posters introducing individual employees. In Charlotte, I saw one for a woman named Errogant Jenkins:
Luckily most of the buses had electrical outlets because I was on the heavily traveled East Coast corridor. That meant I was able to use my laptop. I watched The Magnificent Seven for the first time and liked it a lot. It’s a Western remake of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai with a cast of big names, including Yule Brynner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson. (I never realized before how much Steve McQueen and drummer Matt Wilson resemble one another.) I also watched The Breakfast Club again, along with several episodes of the Canadian sitcom Corner Gas, which I learned about via my pal Otto Bruno.
I arrived at my kids’ house in State College, but they weren’t home yet. So I went jogging. For nearly everyone who knows me even a little, it will be shocking that I would go jogging (a) at all and (b) immediately after 29 hours on a bus. With my swollen legs and feet, it was a little uncomfortable, but it was nice to get out and move around a bit. I meditated when I got back and the boys arrived while I was doing that. Here they are, in all their glory:
We played frisbee, had dinner, went to the park, then watched a movie. Then we all went to bed at the same time, about 9:45. Them because they’re young, and me because I’m old. And even though I’m not going to Upaya, I’m still maintaining my up-at-6-to-meditate-and-jog schedule.
It sure is nice to see my sons.
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