Ha, and you thought it would all be smooth from there. Nah... the bus out of Radford alighted in Richmond, VA, and we waited for three and a half hours before being told that the bus wasn’t running and that a replacement was being arranged. The next stop before Goldsboro*, NC, was Raleigh. Initially told that Raleigh was closed, there was a chance we’d have to stay with one of Melissa’s friends before taking the bus to Melissa’s parents’ house the next day. Rather, the bus we pulled in on was rerouted out of Raleigh to Goldsboro and the tale of delays, trials, tribulations (whatever they are) and more than enough hassle with Greyhound – available in graphic novel form under the title of “Escape from Virginia” – ended with Melissa pulling up at the station.
*since Melissa’s house in Greenville lacked power (air conditioning, light, fridge... kinda important) we had arranged to stay at her parents’ house in Goldsboro.
American houses are awesome. It obviously has something to do with staying with well-to-do people, but it seems that the size of house available to someone of a given salary is a lot bigger in the US. Melissa’s house, built to her parents’ specifications, afforded us private double rooms with on-suite bathrooms... the Marrakech in New York was a far sight from this. We had a delightful time, me catching up with Melissa, and Barry taking the opportunity to teach me the finer points of IP address subnet addressing.
Going to bed fairly quickly after dinner, the next day started with another early rise so that Melissa could drop us off in Greenville while she went to uni. A wander through the campus (I looked at the chemistry department, Barry got a PhD offer from the IT department) sandwiched a trip to the barbers and a look at the park next to the river in north Greenville. The risen river, a remnant of the hurricane further to the trees down all around, encroached on the car park but the cool stuff – a sundial, the outside theatre, a cannon from the revolutionary war – was still accessible. To be honest, not even the barber could point out much to do in Greenville so we relaxed under a tree for Melissa to round up at the university.
Melissa’s house was on the sole block in town to which power had yet to be restored, so we went back to Goldsboro for the night. I think we went through about half my photos that evening with Melissa’s mum... about 2000 maybe.
By the next morning I was very tired of early rises. Monday and Tuesday were because of the Greyhound attempts, Wednesday because of the trip to Greenville and then Thursday because of the Greyhound schedule. Thanks so much to Melissa and her parents.
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