I Am Not Alone

$439 to see the country for 30 days is a bargain.  For me, it's an adventure.  I'm meeting dozens, soon to be hundreds, of people who have amazing stories.  But, for Joe Penney, this is just what he does.  In fact, he buys the longest pass Greyhound offers.  His 60 day discovery pass allows him to head here and there, day after day.  It's all part of his job.

Joe lives in Elkhart, Indiana.  I met him at the Port Authority, gate 74.  He quickly informed me that there are over 400 bus slips there in New York City.  If each bus holds between 47 and 55 passengers, and there are buses pulling in and out of these things every hour or so, you can do the math and the volume is mind-boggling.

Joe works for a company called Pinnacle, based in Elkhart.  They employ about 100 drivers that do what Joe does.  Elkhart is where pretty much every RV on the road is built.  They also make vehicles like UPS trucks, ambulances, cherry pickers and fire trucks.  Then, these vehicles need to be delivered all over the country.  That's where Pinnacle, and Joe come in.  He has a dispatcher that assigns him a run and then he can accept it or turn it down.  How does he get back to Elkhart?  You guessed it.

Joe is about the fifth person I've met on this trip who has said to me, "I've seen it all".  Over the next 11 hours, I started to believe him.  I met him about three hours after he had finished delivering a UPS truck to Secaucus, New Jersey.  He then took a city bus to the Port Authority.  "I hung out in Manhattan for an hour or so.  There's a place on the corner of 38th St. and 8th Avenue that sells two slices of pizza and a can of coke for $2.75.  That's a great deal and it's a lot healthier than a burger".  With dietary advice like that, I will be needing to purchase Sans-a-belt slacks in about a week.

Joe has been doing this since January.  That's when he moved to Elkhart from Panama City, Florida where he had worked installing blinds for the last 21 years.  He wanted to be closer to his 13 year old son.  His son lives with his mother in Elkhart and Joe gets to be with him pretty much whenever he wants.  But, his crazy schedule sometimes makes that difficult.  Joe makes time for him whenever he can and he said they enjoy going to the park, the movies and riding roller coasters together.  "He was in trouble, starting to wear Goth stuff before I moved to Elkhart.  But since I've been there, he's made a 180 degree turn.  His grades are up and we have a great time with each other."

"How often do you ride the Greyhound?" I asked him.  "This is the third time this week.  I was just here in New York two days ago.  It's nice because I can sleep on the bus and then by the time I get to Elkhart, I can pick up another run and I'm back on the road.  It's only $550 for a 60 day pass.  I can't fly or rent a car for that.  I take the bus and it's just more  money in my pocket."  Joe gets paid by the mile.  He is limited to driving 11 hours at a time.  Then he has to rest for 10. "I don't have to accept a job.  I can take as many or as few runs as I like.  It's really nice."  We left NYC at 1:30 on Friday afternoon.  He was scheduled to arrive in Elkart at 7 on Saturday morning.

It was quickly apparent that Joe doesn't view this harsh, road warrior lifestyle as a burden.  He feels really lucky that he found this job.  He enjoys it.  And, surprisingly, he loves taking the bus.  He knows over half the drivers that take him from A to B.  He calls them by name.  One driver simply calls him, "Elkhart".

I sat in the seat behind Joe from NYC to Baltimore.  Next to me was a sophomore at the University of Delaware named Kate Chiseri.  She was traveling from Albany to Wilmington, Delaware because her friend had just turned 21 and they were going to party all weekend long.  She said she was taking the bus for only the second time in her life because her parents didn't want her driving her Honda Accord, that had 240,000 miles on it, down the New Jersey turnpike on a Friday afternoon.  "You're lucky you started talking to me.  I was about 10 minutes away from putting in my Ipod and you would have missed your chance", she told me. "I'm glad I didn't listen to that whole 'don't talk to strangers' advice.  This is a lot of fun", she said after I told her who I was and what I was doing.  She didn't reach into her pink, Gamma Phi Beta bag for her Ipod the whole time.  She, Joe and I shot the bull from New York to Wilmington, about a 2 1/2 hour ride.

Joe told us about twenty stories that all began the same way: "This one bus I was on...".  You see, I don't personally have to witness everything.  I can hear about it from everyone else.  Stories on top of stories...

Kate and I were locked in as Joe said, "Some of these drivers don't put up with anything.  This one bus I was on, the driver made a U-turn two blocks from the station and kicked this guy off the bus."  "Why?", we asked in unison.  "Because this guy was calling her a bitch.  'Hurry the bus up, bitch!  What's taking so long, bitch?'  She tells him, 'you watch your mouth'."  "Well, what was taking her so long?" I asked Joe.  "She had gone to the back of the bus because she smelled vinegar and some guy was back there washing his feet in vinegar.  She had to tell him to stop.  The other guy didn't like it.  He was impatient and was all over her ass.  She pulled a U-ey right there in the middle of the road and told him, 'I can't tell you not to take a Greyhound, but you're not taking this Greyhound'.  And, off he went, cussing her the whole way.  It was nuts."

Kate won't hear anything that inspiring all semester, I suspect...