Tour Diary--Day 2
Woke up at 5:00 AM. Jamie took an hour in the bathroom--this does not bode well for the rest of the week. Their shower was nice--they had three showers upstairs, though we only used one. I felt like a less-than-elegant Cassandra Mortmain in a pricey department story.
Mrs. Hostfamily kindly made us pancakes, and they were fantastic. I had three, with butter and cinnamon on them. She'd never made cinnamon pancakes before.
Their puppy, a three year old collie called Comet, was a veritable attention whoe--apparently he's usually much shyer. No matter; he was sweet. We took pictures of him and of Mr. and Mrs. Hostfamily. Then we left. Leah got moved over to Bus 2--can't say I'm sorry about that.
Before I got on the bus, I took a picture of a house's sign, because I'm a horribly immature little thing--it reads Wang. The Wang family had several little bearded dogs--schnauzers or terriers or something--that looked like prostrate old men. They took them out one at a time.
Then we started driving and I put on David Bowie and started writing. We're on "Fame" right now. We will watch The Incredibles soon, and if I can swing it, Harold and Maude. :)
I have decided that I really like The Incredibles. We are now in Indiana and have been for ages. We'll stop in a half-hour or so--where, I don't know.
All highways start to look alike, especially here. We could be in Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin...but it's Indiana right now. The sky is a bleary grey, which is fitting since I'm listening to "Cloudy" by Simon and Garfunkel. Despite the fact that it's past noon, a foggy whiteness lurks in the leafless groves of trees lining the highway. The trees themselves look like many-fingered hands reaching up towards God, asking for clothes, or perhaps for mercy.
I hope this changes. We will be stopping now.
I went to eat at Arby's with Kaitlin, Cory, Kelsey, and Jon. This involved walking across the highway. We are in Seymour, Indiana; apparently J. Cougar Mellencamp was born here. It was muddy walking across and scary--there were cars and I was afraid my flip flops would fall off!
I felt guilty at Arby's. Kelsey and I went to the bathroom and so did Cory and we got in line with Chad. Behind us was a young woman, most likely around my age; she could have been a bit older or a bit younger, but if I had to guess I would say younger, perhaps fifteen or sixteen. She held a toddler of about three. Her cheeks and nose were freckled and her skin was ruddy rather than fair. She had glasses and small bright eyes. Her hair was very long and pulled back--it was gingery brown and wavy. I thought at first that the little boy was hers, but then he started fussing.
She told him, in a Kentucky accent, "No, you can't go run in the restaurant. Mama's busy feeding the baby--you have to stay with me."
Her mother, I discovered later, was a tired looking woman with a baby in white. I felt awful for just cutting in front of her. I haven't really been doing anything and I didn't actually need the food all that much--and yet I was willing to let people who needed food wait. I couldn't find a good way of rectifying the situation, so I'll just have to be guilty.
Harold and Maude has support--Yassie, Chelsee, and Kaitlin want to watch it, too, and I bet Katy and Maddie would, too--but we are watching Anchorman right now.
I have just learned that the "Afternoon Delight" thing is from Anchorman. We are still watching it, it is still cloudy, and we are now in Louisville. There's a huge station we passed with a track and soccer field and stuff.
I have gotten my wish. The sky is blue, with white, fluffy clouds. The sun is out. The terrain is much less flat, with scrubby pine trees among the leafless trees. I am happy with Kentucky. It has given me what I wanted. Anchorman is nearly over, and I really like it. :)
Harold and Maude is a film that cannot be watched on a bus. Many of the shots are too dark, those that aren't are too big, and they're all too quiet. I tried, though, and a few people watched. Just listening to the music.
In Kentucky (we're now in Tennessee), we got out for a spell. It was hilly and so fresh and green that I wished I had brought out my camera, but I hadn't.
We stopped again in Georgia, just after the border, for food. I had my first Subway wrap and it was delicioso.
Back on the bus. I listened to Simon & Garfunkel and fell asleep, only to wake up to hearing Art talk about stuff. It was a mostly restless night. Once I woke up, and I think I was the only one awake, and the bus was bumping along with a wonderful clacking noise. It reminded me of the line about the subway wheels clacking like a rosary. I also spent quite a long time coughing, which was absolutely miserable.