Day 43, Wednesday March 27: Seattle, Washington to McLean, Virginia

Yesterday morning at the hostel I was mourning the loss of conviviality among travelers. At breakfast the dining area was almost silent except for the clinking of dishes. Virtually every traveler had boarded their iPhones for the morning commute. Admittedly, the hour in which we break our fast is not known for lively conversation, as many (most?) souls prefer the chance to drink a cuppa while they grow awake. It also felt a bit rude to strike up a conversation so, after scanning the room for a few minutes, I too clicked in and zone out.

This morning I am reminded why so many prefer their morning jolt in silence. When I sat down at the window with the view of the Pike Street Market, two other guys were already having breakfast. I had almost met one of them in the hallway a few minutes prior, but he clearly ignored my “good morning” as he walked past me into the breakfast room. By the time I sat down the two were talking. No, make it one (the guy who ignored me) talking, loudly, with the other one listening silently. 

The talkative one – thin, long dark hair, 30s, black clothing – was going on and on about his recent travels. He had met a lot of important people in Bali, some of them rich. According to him, there wasn’t much to do there except surf and fuck (actually, that’s not a bad marketing pitch: “Bali – Surf and Fuck”), according to him. Soon, he left, and I was glad of it. 

I think the other chap was relieved, too. I softly asked him the classic traveler questions of where he was from and where he was going. He was Irish, and traveling the US by Greyhound bus. He had just come up from LA and was going next to Washington, DC. We both marveled at how big the country is, and how one could drive by farmland for hundreds of miles at a time. He related that he had changed buses four or five times on the way up from LA and that the first couple had dodgy (his word) bathrooms but that the third bus had both wifi and clean bathrooms!!! 

Don't listen to the t-shirt.

I’m leaving my America’s Libraries tours for two weeks to visit my sister Gretche andn brother-in-law Dick in McLean, Virginia, my home in Bethesda, to attend the Public Library Association conference in Columbus, Ohio, and then to hang out with my sister Cristine and brother-in-law Alan in Cleveland. I do look forward to sleeping in actual beds.

Bon voyage!