Notes from the bus out of Tallahassee

This is an unedited excerpt from my travel journal; some things I jotted down after leaving the Greyhound station in Tallahassee, on my way from New Orleans to Tampa. It’s not great writing, but it takes me back to a moment when I felt free, on the move in an unfamiliar place.

Tallahassee, 9/27, 6:20 a.m.

The driver finishes her announcements as we pull onto the main road, and I hit ‘play.’ Outside voices and other annoyances fade away as Jimi Hendrix’s guitar starts to blaze into my ears. The rain falls in waves from the sky, lightning striking every few seconds. One flash comes so close I’m blinded for a second. I can hear the ensuing boom over the riffs of ‘Voodoo Child.’

The security guard at the Tallahassee Greyhound station said it’s supposed to be like this all day. I hope the weather’s better further south, in Tampa where I’m headed.

I wasn’t long in Tallahassee – a little over 2 hours. I’m on the move from New Orleans to Tampa, a 17-hour trip, including layovers. Tampa will be the sixth city I’ve visited in the past two weeks. When I first started this trip, 11 straight weeks on the road seemed daunting. Now, as I begin my 14^th day of travel, being on the move feels like a way of life. Nine more weeks doesn’t seem bad at all. If that time passes as quickly as the last two weeks have, I’ll be back home too soon.

PS: I ended up coming home after a total of 9 weeks, not 11 weeks, because of poor financial planning. And yes, it went by too quickly. But it was nice to get back to my own bed.

PPS: ‘Voodoo Child’ is an excellent hitting-the-road song. The opening guitar solo complements quite nicely the sight and act of pulling out of a parking lot and getting up to speed in traffic.