2/26 – Going back, for better or for worse – 17/18 July

I have to admit here, that during my stay in St Ferriol and Glengormley, my enthusiasm for completing the trip waned somewhat. The drive and sense of achievement that I felt in Africa was missing, maybe because everything was so ‘civilised’ and invariable. Whatever the reason, I recalled something I had read that said, “If you stop having fun on a trip, stop! Go home and come back another time.” It did occur to me that I could do this, but on reflection, the logistics would be a bit more complicated that turning the bike around and heading home.

I also remembered my loss of enthusiasm when I broke my Africa trip and spent some time “waiting it out”. On returning to Ethiopia, I had given myself a good talking to and resolved to complete the journey as planned. So …. here I am.

The day before leaving Belfast, NI, I had a flare-up of whatever inflammatory thing I have. Apart from leaving me with no energy whatsoever, it also make me a bit nauseous. When I set out next morning the tank was still pretty low, so I spent the majority of the journey dozing or trying to; I even managed to get my head down on a table in the food court at Manchester.

The above notwithstanding, I got to NY and easily found my way from the airport to the bus station. Having 3-4 hours to kill I decided to take a walk. Arriving outside on 8th Ave, the heat, humidity and noise hit me. I walked south past the NY Times building before wandering down to 7th Ave, then north to Times Square  and finally completed the circle outside the Port Authority bus Station at 42nd Street. 

My impression – of this part of NY anyway? Hot, humid, noisy, crowded, dirty, gawky and tacky. This along with all the street vendors and hawkers, it could be a big city anywhere in Africa or Asia – anywhere in fact. Not for me.

I made my way into the bus station looking for somewhere to sit; nada! Finally I found a plastic seat beside the boarding gate and settled down to pass the remaining hour and a half. 

By this time I had been travelling some 19 hours and not feeling the best; maybe I wasn’t in the best form to appreciate all that down town NY has to offer. Maybe?

A couple of hours later I was on a Greyhound bus heading for Baltimore and suffering from a serious attack of restless leg – you know, where you get the feeling you just have to move your leg. The seats were neither my shape nor size and all this combined, until exhaustion took over and I fell asleep, to give me the most uncomfortable hour or so I’ve recently experienced. 

I awoke at the halfway pit stop for a short while and then suddenly, an hour and a half later, arrived in a hot, humid Baltimore – allegedly the murder capital of the USA.

The photos on booking.com of my lodgings did them a justice they didn’t deserve, but the room was clean and the aircon, if noisy, worked, and I collapsed gratefully into bed. Still being on European time, my sleep was fitful. 

Breakfast was pizza eaten on the kerb outside the bus station, and then onto my next bus. In planning my trip I had investigated the possibility of flying to Washington DC and bussing from there. The bus fare was $20 and the route was DC to Baltimore to Hagerstown, all Greyhound it seemed. When I looked at the trip starting in Baltimore, the fare was $50!  So I booked the through ticket and “missed” the first leg. The bus however was a minibus, owned by Bay Runner Service. The journey had taken 36 hours so after a warm reunion with Bobbie and Terry, I had an early night, in preparation for diving into the bike on the morrow.

One thing I had done in the interlude was review my route. This suggested that, given the lost month, well 5 weeks actually, even with no stops, other than at each Belfast, I would arrive in Washington in late September and then be heading up to Canada. This was tempting fate I thought, so I decided to change the plan – again.

The plan now, as per the map, is to go from Nebraska, via Yellowstone Park, to Canada, and then come back down through Washington to California and finish at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. And then???

But first the bike!