Cross Country Climbing Trip via Greyhound
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I'm considering taking a climbing trip cross country this summer via Greyhound. I'd be leaving the Southeast to climb with homies in the Mountain West. The general miserableness of Greyhound is ironically appealing, hopefully generating some interesting stories. But I'm wondering if the juice is worth the squeeze logistically: |
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"Its better not to go than to take the bus." I came up with this tagline after taking Greyhound from Denver to New York. Brutal experience. I'll leave out the details but pretty much 100% of the experience was very negative. Ugh. On the positive side, climbing road trip! |
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Don't forget about hitchhiking |
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Rest is important to keep your climbing game up. I took the greyhound from California to Missouri back in the day and the one thing I still remember was the lack of sleep from people talking and being generally self-important. |
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A buddy and I traveled by Greyhound bus from Boston to Oregon and back to climb at Smith Rock for a month. We were planning the trip way ahead of time, and it was by far the cheapest option for transportation. We managed to fit everything we needed for the entire month in backpacks, including camping and climbing gear. However, we only brought a sport rack and one rope. It would have been much more challenging if we had planned on climbing any trad. |
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If the idea is to have an adventure go for it. If it is to climb a lot and well maybe alternative transport is better. |
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hitch hike and coach surfing |
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I looked into a Greyhound from Cheyenne to Vegas once. At the time, it wasn't significantly cheap enough to justify rather than just drive. |
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The Dirty Dog is horrible. Avoid it at all costs for long distance travel. Imagine the smell of 53 unwashed people crammed together in a hot bus. Even if you have a ticket, you aren't guaranteed a seat on the bus, meaning you can be stuck outside after a bathroom break at a bus station at 2am in Bimblefuck waiting for the next bus at 10:30. Look at cheapo airfare through companies like allegiant or southwest, watch prices for a while, find some tickets for under 150 and save yourself 48 hours of misery. |
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If you take the Greyhound do not under any circumstance take a shower for the week preceding the trip. Even on a full bus you're gonna end up in a double seat by your lonesome. |
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Once I spent 4 days sleeping on a truck-stop chair in Green River Utah after Greyhound lost my luggage in Denver. And I shared half my own seat with a rather large passenger beside me who smelled like death. So if that is the general miserableness you have in mind I say go for it! Luckily I was spending a month on the road so a few days of not doing anything wasn't the end of the world. |
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This thread is amazing! |
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Russ Keane wrote:This thread is amazing! Given the reasonableness of airline tickets, as well as the many alternatives available now with the "ride share"culture on the internet- I would say HELL NO to some kind of long greyhound trip. It sounds like a mistaken Jack Kerouac fantasy that just simply isn't going to work out well.To be fair, Kerouac romanticized hopping freight and hitching much more so. With one exception, the part of OTR he met a lady of Mexican descent on the bus trip from SF to LA, and fell in love with her. |
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I've taken the Grayhound a number of times, for mostly relatively short trips. |
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Greyhound is fun as hell, not in spite of but because of all those horrible things people listed. Where else can you experience all that humanity in such a small space? I say bus it, or even better, thumb it. No one hitchhiked anymore, but I love it. |
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I was talking to a guy last week and he told me you could buy a month or so pass for Amtrack for a reasonable price. You could go wherever Amtrack went and as many trips as you wanted for that one price. I want to say it was around $500-$600. But not too bad if you wanted to see multiple places. |
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I have never taken a greyhound in the U.S., but I have backpacked through many parts of Latin America and Asia and generally my experiences on buses were great (with exception of Guatemalan chicken buses). They were usually easy to get some sleep on, fairly comfortable, and it was nice seeing the countryside and small towns we passed through. For those that have taken buses abroad and Greyhound in the U.S. is there that much of a difference? |
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brianjames wrote:I have never taken a greyhound in the U.S., but I have backpacked through many parts of Latin America and Asia and generally my experiences on buses were great (with exception of Guatemalan chicken buses). They were usually easy to get some sleep on, fairly comfortable, and it was nice seeing the countryside and small towns we passed through. For those that have taken buses abroad and Greyhound in the U.S. is there that much of a difference?In the US, Greyhound usually sticks to the Interstate, which is homogenous and boring. The stations are almost always in the worst parts of town, and the people you meet on the bus and in and around the stations are generally the scummiest lowlifes you can imagine. 90% of people on Greyhound have either been in jail, are just getting out of jail, or are on their way to jail. I've met pregnant women smoking and drinking, I even saw a young man shit his seat twice (actual logs of shit left behind after he stood up). The 10% not presently or formerly incarcerated are pathetic in their own way, but at least are dignified and ordinary humans. Lots of migrant workers, single moms on the run, recovering druggies, etc. And then theres me. I have yet to me someone like me on Greyhound, though I know we're out there, the 20 or 30-something traveling adventure dirtbag. The busses themselves are prone to breaking down, and are invariably late. Then again, when every single bus is late, none of them are late, theyre all just two hours behind. Having said all of that, I love it, in a Bukowski sort of way. |
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johnnymuir wrote: Where else can you experience all that humanity in such a small space? .Goodwill |
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Mike Brady wrote: GoodwillBut you cant sleep there. |