Date: 2005-08-08
From: Waynesboro, PA

To: Boston, MA
Miles today: 0.0

This morning I got up when Deb's dog came down to lick my face. I had a quick shower then packed up my things. That didn't take long as I don't have much. I had a fantastic bowl od cold cereal for breakfast as well as a banana. Deb made me two sandwiches for the trip and also gave me some grapes, cookies, brownies and crackers. Wow, I wasn't expecting anything of the sort. The lunch was going to much better than anything that I could buy at the bus station. She dropped me off at the litte Greyhound Station where I caught the bus into Washington, then north to New York. There is only one bus a day that runs north from Boston to northern New Hampshire and it leaves at 6ish pm. I won't make it to Boston before that time so I have some time to spend in New York or Boston or both.When I got to New York I decided to do some sight seeing. In the bus station I bought a map of the subway and Manhatten. I took the subway down to South Ferry Terminal but just missed the last ferry over to the Statue of Liberty. Down on the promenade I bought the obligatory "I heart NY" t-shirt and then walked over to the former WTC site/ground zero. There were a lot of people there basicaly looking at nothing. The whole area has been cleaned up and a fence put up around it. There are pannels describing the time line of Sepember 11th and a list of the emergency personel who lost their lives so that others could live. I thought that the whole thing was simple but seemed very appropriate. From the WTC site I walked to Wall Street.To call Wall Street a street is sort of a misnoemer, there aren't any cars on it. The buildings were starting to seem very crammed together,the streets narrow crevasses in a concrete and asphate environment. It was about this time that I started to notice all the police and security guards. Never in my life have I seen such density of law enforcement officers. It seemed like there was a police car on every corner and a pair of uniformed police oficers on every street and subway platform. Very usefull if you want to ask someone directions but unnerving at the same time. Why on earth do there ned to be so may police officers? Are they just to make people feel safer? I'm sure that the NYPD must have the largest budget of any police department anywhere.I was starting to feel unwell perhaps a form of closterfobia. It just seemd like every square inch of space was filled with stuff, there was useless stuff to buy everywhere, people everywhere, cars and pollution everywhere. Are there any trees or grass in tis city? I decided that I did not "I heart NY" and a proper visit would have to be made when I was more acclimatized to city life and I could spend time stareing at art.At he bus station I phoned Stewie's sister in Boston to see if I could sleep on her floor. I would be arriving a bit late into Boston and didn't want to be too much trouble. I got directions then got on the bus to Boston.The luggage handler told me to bring my hiking poles onto the coach with me this time and put them in the overhead bin. After I sat down another hiker traveling on the bus saw them and sat down beside me. He was an AT hiker as well and was returning home from a section hike between High Point in New Jersey and Port Clinton. Bandana and I talked about the trail and people on the trail this year. He has hiked from Katadin down to Pen-Mar State Park. It was really nice spending some time taking with someone, passes the time much faster than when you are sitting stiff in the seat looking out the window.The bus arrived in Boston abit early but not early enough to take "the T" (subway). I took a cab over and tip-toed quietly in. There was a note on the door for me and I curled up on the couch to sleep. Very conviently, the chesterfield just long enough for me to streatch out on. I thought that I might just sleep on my zed-lite as most sofas are two short. I was quickly off to sleep.