I got into San Francisco yesterday around noon. I've now completely adjusted to sleeping on the bus and can do it at will. When I got here I wasn't tired at all. I took off to see the Castro Theater and the Civic Center. San Fran's public library doesn't match up to the excellence that is the SLC public library. San Fran also doesn't seem to have as many active iPod users as DC. Maybe the DC folks are still listening to the 9-11 Report. Still San Francisco can throw down with any city in North America. I think we need a new reality series built around city vs. city grudge matches.
Except for an overnight in Albuquerque this is the end of the trip. I'll just be passing through LA, Las Vegas and other places as I race back across the country before my bus pass runs out. I think I could live like this, for a little while at least. I feel so much more relaxed floating from place to place. The only hard moments are right after I get to a new city and I have to figure out where I'm sleeping and how to get there. I feel nervous and scared. Once that's solved it's easy. The rest of it I've done hundreds of times before. I think I like it because it's okay to be alone.
While traveling I don't feel the pressure to be with friends that I have once I settle down. The pressure is something that comes from inside me, not my friends. I don't want to be alone. I want to see them. I want to hear new thoughts and ideas. I want people that I can love and share things with. When I'm travelling those pressures go away, at least they aren't as high a priority as figuring out food and shelter. I'm just so spectacularly bad at maintaining friendships, and certainly girlfriends.
But put all that aside, it's time to revel in San Francisco. Many kudos to Chris and Jennifer for putting me up for the night and being great company. Oh and mucho thanks to Chris for hooking Andy and I up when I was in Seattle. It turns out Andy was like four blocks up the street from where I was staying in Seattle and was there the same two days I was. It felt like deja vu all over again because Chris did the same thing when we were both in Dallas and didn't know it.
Posted 10/26/04 @12:23 PM · Feedback (0/0)
Helpful tips learned on the bus ride from Salt Lake City to Boise.
- When you see the police approaching and you have illegal drugs, put them in a babies diaper. They never look there.
- When you want to cover up the smell of pot sprinkle Old Spice in the air and on your person. "Covers that shit right up."
- Bring a bible with you. Not only is it "that book full of knowledge" but you can rip out the thin pages to roll a joint in a pinch.
Posted 10/24/04 @06:10 PM · Feedback (0/0)
Salt Lake City to Boise has been the most amusing and annoying bus trip so far. I ended up in the back next to four other guys desperate to be as fucked up as possible for the entire ride. Four guys, Stephen Baldwin, the Loan Officer, Chatty and Stoner have pot, beer and this nasty sounding concoction of vodka/cough syrup/ghb to achieve this. They start off by smoking at the first stop the bus makes. They get back on the bus quite happy, flirting with these two girls, talking about how they've done time and how they've beaten drug cases against them. At one point I have to assure them I'm not law enforcement. It's all in good fun.
Chatty talks often and quickly but Stephen Baldwin is the leader that sets the topics. Stoner is always stuck packing the pipe. Loan Officer listens for the most part, or tells the story of how he was busted for possession that very morning before getting on the bus. Apparently he and a friend had walked right in front of the Salt Lake county sheriff's office and lit up in front of the camera. His medical marijuana exemption didn't work in Utah. His summons was in seven days and he said he had no plans to be there. He just marks Utah off the list of states he'll visit. This trip hadn't been all bad, he was the first person to ski in America this ski season at Loveland, CO. This is a guy that only needs two loans a month to subsidize his lifestyle. Stephen Baldwin was just coming back from Texas where he'd had a special package sent to his PO box in Boise. The only serious discussion they had was him and Chatty negotiating a price for a pound.
Enough talk, more drug use. Going an hour or two between tokes isn't working out. They start going into the bathroom one by one and exhaling through a vent. They start sneaking beer from convenience stores at the stops. Although Chatty was busted once and had to leave it in the parking lot. Most of the time they made it back on. This is still taking too long. So they start smoking in their seats and blowing the smoke into the headrests. This is the nastiest thing I've seen on the bus so far. I will never rest my head again. Even this was too much of an incovenience so Chatty exhales right into the cabin. Stoner is freaking out because he's the one with all the supplies and he doesn't want to get arrested. But he's a funny kind of freaked out.
At this point the bus driver smells smoke and coincidentally this is when Stephen Baldwin comes out of the bathroom after legitimately using it. Then in this growling, angry voice the bus driver comes over the PA system Hey SCUMBAG! The SCUMBAG in the last row. and on and on about what a bad person he is and how he'd better not do it again and that SCUMBAGS (yes, he really said it in all caps) will be thrown off the bus if they are caught again. But we're 11 miles from Boise so it doesn't matter. At this point Stoner is freaking out and has curled up into the fetal position in his seat. He's laughing and telling us he's having a heart attack and that he doesn't want to be busted.
All in all amusing, but annoying because I leave the bus smelling like I've been at an Air concert in Atlanta.
Posted 10/21/04 @01:28 AM · Feedback (0/0)
