Saturday, August 4, 2001: Back to North America - London, England to New Jersey to Poughkeepsie, New York, USA by air and bus

Frank here…

My flight back to America was blessed with the good company of Alfred from Germany. He was a musician and ran several music schools. Music is his life and he has conducted and played with orchestras as the lead harmonica player using a chromatic harmonica - WOW! He and his wife also sold musical instruments. Ironically, he says that when he gets home from work, he is not interested in music.

Landing in the airport was without incident however my bike box was damaged. Once I decided to take a bus north into upstate New York I had to get the box taped up. If I was given the tape I would have done my little piece by piece taping. The woman from baggage just took the tape and wrapped it fully around the box about ten times. "WOW, now that will not break!"

I spent a lot of time at the airport on the phone trying to figure out how to bus up north. Some of the people I dealt with were great in trying to help but many were ornery. The best example of an ornery one was when I asked a woman who represented a bus company what time it got dark in New Jersey. She said that she did not have that information. I was confounded, then I facetiously asked her if it got dark before or after she had dinner. That call was a waste of time

Anyway, I had to take a bus to the New York Port Authority then catch the Short Line to Poughkeepsie. Mo, the driver (originally from Tobago) of the Short Line bus helped me find a "cheap" motel as we neared Poughkeepsie. I was the only one left on the bus so he was a bit more flexible to stop. I only wanted to stay in a motel because everyone was telling me of a horrible storm forcast for the night. As we continued, we spotted an Econo Lodge. "Yahoo! That will be a great place to start off in the USA for one night and I would be able to reassemble my bike in the comfort of a motel room as the storm passed over.

Well, both the hotel and the storm did not happen. The motel costed $89.99 for one person for one night! And, I was told that it was the cheapest place around by $30.00. I'm talking American dollars here! Rome might be expensive, but it at least has lower cost options. I then asked if I could set up my tent in the back. The woman answered that she did not have the authority to let me stay there. Night was falling. I had to act fast.

First I put my bike together in the fastest time ever. Unfortunately I noticed that my mirror and thermarest were gone. Bummer! The clouds were heavy but it still did not start to rain. I still had to find a place to sleep. There was a campsite about 15 kilometres down the road, but that would have been to far. So, I looked behind the motel and found a nice little semi sheltered green spot and set up my tent during the last trickle of light. I remember thinking to myself that the woman did not say that I could not set my tent in the back. She just told me that she did not have the authority to allow me back there.

I walked across the street to, yes, a KFC and had some fried chicken while I studied my New York State map. The kids running the shop were having fun and were very cordial to me as well. It was a bit different being in a place where every word is understood. I was home. By the way, the rain never came.

-A hero or inspirational person does not have to be famous, s/he could simply be people we know from regular day life.

- Frank Pollari