Wandering

Not all those who wander are lost.

-J. R. R. Tolkien 

Indeed. This adventure has begun. My friends and family sent me off into the darkness of an Iowa winter night, on a double decker bus to Chicago. 

Arriving in Chicago. Mornings are gorgeous in the Windy City.

Union Station actually had 1000 crockpots cooking lasagna. I was also there for the morning wake up of the homeless off the benches. Homelessness is not as visible in Iowa as it is in Chicago or Memphis or Atlanta.

My friend Evonne met me and took me out to breakfast! Note to self: learn to make crepes.
Seriously though, Evonne smells like heaven. Why? Because she is a master of olfactory psychophysical phenomena.

Leaving Chicago late morning. The city seemed to be thawing out and waking up. I'd like  to visit again, walk around a bit. Not this trip though.

Folks getting on the bus were buzzing with anxiety that we'd be stranded in Memphis is the Atlanta route was cancelled. Atlanta was dealing with a major ice storm. 2 inches of ice, snow, and more ice.  Our bus drive, Dennis, reassured us and was so much fun! He greeted each of us as we boarded and said something nice to everyone, made sure no one got left behind, was entertaining, and reminded us to call our rides an hour before arriving.

 Still, we travelled on. This is what Illinois looked like the entire trip. Until.....St. Louis. Oh that glorious arch! The grand Mississippi!

 The sun set somewhere near Arkansas. By then the bus was packed full. It was a tight and uncomfortable seat. My window was stuck cracked open and the air was nice once I realized the fresh air helped my new affliction: motion sickness. Oy.

 Then we arrived in Memphis! The road thumped in 4/4 time and poetry immediately flooded my head. You know how some songs talk about the ghosts of Memphis? This. Everything, even the electrical lines buzz with a musical quality.

 My grand plan had been to skip lunch and get dinner someplace lovely in Memphis at out 2 hour layover. Nope. Drop off was in the middle of a warehouse district with a local booze store the only thing open. There was a Subway inside, so I made an attempt....closing in 5 minutes out of everything. Ugh. I bought a lime soda and then it was a bottle top and I could not open it.

There is more. Oh yes there is...but for now, just know that I survived the next two hours and got my soda opened. Also, pro tip? A bottle cap can be opened with any lighter. ANY. LIGHTER. No worries. I will share that story later.

 Freaking tired. At this point, loaded up, headed to Atlanta by way of Birmingham, AL, I was done with being on a bus. Too bad for me, I had eight hours to go. Eight. Hours. I was sticky, hungry, a little jacked up with adrenaline from surviving the two hours in Tennessee. Sticky. Also, riding a bus with 30 people does not smell lovely.

Still, I fell asleep, twice I think. There was a bus evacuation around 2 am. For fuelling? I don't know. I was a zombie.

I was so grateful to wake up to a Georgia sunrise. Oh my sweet Georgia!

 Only the view I caught was startling. I saw a boot sticking out of this gully. Then I realised it was full of people. Sleeping people. By the time I got my camera out, there was not a good picture, but on reflection, I would not share that picture anyway. These were PEOPLE. Real people sleeping in an ice filled gully along the highway. People. Like you or me.

Then this view emerged. Then for a moment I thought I was delusional. This looks like IOWA. DES MOINES? NO. NO.

Then we pulled in by the Civic Center and a row of housing THAT LOOKS JUST LIKE THE ONE IN DES MOINES. PANIC. SLEEP DEPRIVED PANIC.

No worries. FEET ON THE GROUND IN ATLANTA.

 The very icy ice covered ground.

See? LOOKS LIKE DES MOINES. It isn't though. It is way better for an architecture nerd like me.

PS, I miss my babies back in Iowa so, so much. My chest hurts when I think about it.