Bajai Life Camp 17.25: Day 506
Greyhound Bus Station
Thursday October 25, 2018
Miami, Florida
27.71% waiting
Sitting in the bus station waiting to roll out to New Orleans. I've got 25 hours ahead of me, and this includes a time change to central time. First jump to Orlando to change buses. The next change is Mobile, Alabama; as I recall there's quite a wait at that station... after midnight. I should get the most sleep between Orlando and Mobile... if possible.
Greyhound has really upped their game. More room on the buses.
Last time I rode this route was Valentine's day 2017. I can almost make this an annual pilgrimage of sorts.
The bus is nice, new, comfortable. Wifi and power. I may not have these luxuries after Orlando. Better take advantage.
Orlando seemed like a short ride, although it was six hours. Same bus, new driver to Ocala. Possibly, I've become conditioned to riding buses from being in Europe. I don't expect this ride to be, or seem as long as the Valentine's day trek. It was all new then. Our operator has the pedal to the metal. Ocala is the next stop. My guess is, she's done for the day.
Both operators have been black woman. Why do I mention it? Because I notice patterns. The pattern for this job is shifting this way. In my lifetime the trend has gone from white men, usually European as opposed to WASPs, black men, often from the Caribbean it seemed, to black American women. This is just a small sampling, however.
There were no female drivers in Europe that I recall.
It's a good day to be in a bus. Dreary. Gloomy.
Pit stop in Tallahassee, new driver and a lot fewer passengers. We ride the gulf coast until Mobile, where I pick up the bus for New Orleans.
Mobile is the crossroads, buses from both directions stop here.
A pretty decent station.
Mobile, Alabama right on time. And, I got the best sleep of the trip along the gulf coast. So I'm wide awake for the three hour wait for the two hour ride to New Orleans. Quite a different vibe from last time. Mostly familiarity and less baggage.