#Travel

Relaxing in small town Maine

Asheville, NC -> Washington D.C. -> Portland, ME

I’ve made it up to Portland, Maine. I’m skipping NYC because I just don’t want the hassle right now. Sleeping through the night on Greyhound has been a semi-acceptable way to cut down on costs finding places to sleep. It gives me the maximum amount of time to spend during the day in each city. Also I lose a day of sleep since I don’t really sleep on the bus and I go straight into the next day.

Lazy days in Asheville

Thanks to Malaprop’s Bookstore for the Internet access here in Asheville.

I was wondering about the difference between tourism and adventure as I rode the bus and hussled between stations. I think it’s a matter of planning. Adventure seems to require a lack of it, and I’ve got plenty of that to spare.

“Transmission fell off.” Those were the words shortly into the bus trip to Nashville. It rolled across the interstate into the median. The bus had a spare for some reason. Met a real estate magnate bumming around the square last night. He’s friends with the Schlitterbaun folks. Stayed with the inestimably jovial, friendly and smart Plaid Ninja in Knoxville.

Preparations

I’ve been trying to come up with a way to solve two problems to this bus adventure. Where can I keep my backpack, and where can I sleep? I haven’t been able to find places to store stuff, especially big things like backpacks. I haven’t been able to find urban campgrounds either. I don’t want to hide out in hotels.

It looks like I’m getting an Hostelling International card.

I have a feeling I’m not being creative enough. At any rate the hostelling thing is new to me, and it should afford opportunities to get more perspectives on the country.

Tentative Route

I don’t have dates yet, but each city is roughly a day in the 30 day trip. Right now I think I have 5 days of play to use when I want to stay somewhere longer. This is just a tentative route.

1. Knoxville, TN1. Asheville, NC1. Washington, DC1. New York, NY1. Bar Harbor, ME1. Boston, MA1. Toronto, ON1. Pittsburgh, PA1. Ann Arbor, MI1. Chicago, IL1. Des Moines, IA1. Minneapolis, MN1. Bismarck, ND1. Billings, MT1. Denver, CO1. Salt Lake City, UT1. Boise, ID1. Seattle, WA1. Portland, OR1. San Francisco, CA1. Los Angeles, CA [via Amtrak]1. Las Vegas, NV1. Albuquerque, NM1. Oklahoma City, OK1. Memphis, TN1. Huntsville, AL

I’m still working on public transportation information for the places that have it so I can get around. I’m also building a list of places I need to see on my tour of America. I’m disappointed the bus doesn’t stop in Moab, UT. This is more planning than I think I’ve ever done for a trip.

This past Spring I went

This past Spring I went driving through the American West. One of the places I visited was the Craters of the Moon National Monument. It’s in south central Idaho near Arco (The first city in the world powered by atomic power). The Craters of the Moon lava field covers 618 square miles and has more than 25 volcanic cones. It also has 60 different lava flows. The Presidential declaration which named it a national monument said it “…has a weird and unusual landscape peculiar to itself…” {{<figure src="/images/cratermoon1.jpg" title="" class=“align-right” >}}.

4-6-01 (Shoshone-Bannock Museum, southeast Idaho)

4-6-01 (Shoshone-Bannock Museum, southeast Idaho)

I asked the lady at the museum for examples of Shoshone writing and she said they didn’t have any. She proceeded to explain why.

“Writing is about preservation, speaking is about what is happening right now. The Shoshone didn’t worry about the past or the future. They were focused on the very immediate problems of the day.”

The fascinating ramification has been that they could not prove legal claims. When the Shoshone told the US Government that they had been on the land for hundreds of years they had no way to legally prove this. They had no documentation to back it up. The woman I spoke with was still bitter about this. I think this incident, and hundreds like it, typify the power of “Manifest Destiny.” It’s amazing what you can do if you know you are right.