America at Last

In spring 2011, Mrs. Thru and I travelled down the United States by Greyhound. It was my first visit. The collection of short stories below is the journal from my notes. It's very much a first pass and I hope to find time to edit and improve the story. We witnessed the mundane and the inspirational along the way and walked right through the culture that I had only known through page, screen and record. I hope this account does justice to all we saw, heard and felt on what was an exhausting but rewarding trip. If you think we were tired by the end, you should have have seen the dogs.

Cherry

America at Last – Part 1

On 21 March 2011 my dad died after a steady decline that had acquired visual contact with the runway in late January. On 4 April we committed him to the flames.

America at Last – Part 10

Routine is comforting, but comfort ain’t everything.

America at Last – Part 11

I can’t remember where I first heard the blues played.

America at Last – Part 12

I wasn’t sure about visiting Graceland to begin with. It was on the tourist trail and we were tourists, but… well, I don’t know.

America at Last – Part 13

Memphis - New Orleans (via Baton Rouge): 475 miles

America at Last – Part 15

New Orleans – Tuesday Afternoon

America at Last – Part 16

New Orleans – San Antonio: 601 miles Happy Easter!

America at Last – Part 17

So! San Antonio. Well what can you say?

America at Last – Part 19

Austin – Dallas & Fort Worth: 202 miles (Updated)
Cherry

America at Last – Part 2

The flight was ok as long-haul flights go, and I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else, but you can get too much of anything.

America at Last – Part 3

I awoke from a deep sleep with the sheets wrapped around me.

America at Last – Part 4

Break-out of Part 3 into smaller chunks.

America at Last – Part 5

When we returned to the hostel, there was something of a palaver going on.

America at Last – Part 6

NYC – Roanoke: 526 miles

America at Last – Part 7

Roanoke – Nashville: 482 miles

America at Last – Part 9

Nashville’s Broadway looks like it has been frozen in time as the rest of the city grew up around it. Corporate towers loomed over the redbrick of another age.