I was able to get the disassembled bike into the box with no room to spare. I took off the fenders, bottle cages, front rack, stem, seat post, handle bars and pedals. Getting a touring bike in a road bike box is like putting 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag, but in the end I was successful (well maybe not).
Friday March 15, I work a half a day and I am already to go with everything packed in my panniers, all I need to do is have my wife Danamarie drive me to the Greyhound station. This will be my first ever Greyhound experience, so I'm a little nervous because I have no idea how they are going process and handle my bike at the bus station. The bus departs at 2:05 pm and I leave the house at 12:30 pm and is a 15 minute ride to the station. We arrive at the station I unload the bike, two sets of panniers and a small stuff sack(sleeping pad and tent). I throw the two sets of panniers over my shoulders and one hand holding on to the stuff sack while I grab the handle of one side of the bike box and the other hand reaching over to the other side of the box. I reach the double doors and people are coming out one side, but I need to use both sides so I wait patiently until its clear then other side closes on me and almost take out the other door with a loud crash. This finally gets someone's attention and they realize what I was trying to do and helped me open the other door to let me in, while the security guard 5 feet away is taking wages to see if I can get through the door or not. I did not care if I had to break down the door or knock it off the hinges to get inside, its their fault for not having automated doors in the first place. Of course having something that sophisticated in a hole-in-wall would look a little out of place.
So I get through the doors and within 3 feet ahead of me is a line, so set everything down and the line is moving along at a snails pace....ahhh maybe not, I think a snail would win at this game. About 10 minutes in line and two feet forward a lady looks at my box and asks me "What in dat box?". I say politely it is a bike and she pulls me out of the line and into a back room and a man says I need to pay extra shipping, I give him my ticket and I ask how much? It's $30 and he prints up a packing slip I give him cash. I figured if he charges me $50 or more, I will then drive up to Nashville, the bus ticket was $17. So my bike costs almost twice my ticket to travel to Nashville. Then the man says that when I get to my bus, I will need to come back to the room and get my bike and take it to the bus. So now I get back in line to check one set of Panniers and I will take one set with me on the bus along with my stuff sack. I stand in line, once again not moving very fast and they ask me if I already have a ticket and then they send me over to another line that is moving, it is a customer service line where they can print baggage tickets. All bags and bike have now been checked, I hear announcements over a heavily distorted speaker system and can make out some of of the city names on where buses will be going, I hear Nashville and hear it again with two different doors, but I did not get the departure times. Announcements are made every 15 minutes or so. There are no bus numbers or a departure/arrival monitor screens where you can find gate/door numbers like the ones at an airport terminal, maybe I'm asking too much for $17(automated doors, computer screens and clear announcements). So I started talking to people in the longest line and compared ticket times which matched up with my time and checked to see if the bus was going to Nashville. An announcement came over the speaker system and called the door for departure and people started moving, I lug my baggage to the bus, dropped everything off along with everyone's luggage in the middle of the street. Then I realize this is where I need to run back to that room on the side of the building and grab the bike. I retrieve my bike and bring to the bus then set in next to my checked panniers and leave it for the baggage handlers to load it onto the bus. I grab my carry on panniers and stuff sack give the ticket to the bus driver, I'm the last one boarding, it's a full bus and ask a college student if the seat is taken and she says no. I sit down and exchange a few words about what college she is attending, studies and small talk about my adventure for about 20 minutes. I did not want to talk to much, I never like it when I fly and sit next to a chatter box and talk the whole way through the entire flight. I think I now know why some people like to chit-chat and babble on and on and on when they fly, because for many people flying makes them very nervous and this is their way of trying to keep calm. I was pretty nervous when they were loading my bike on the bus as well as the whole experience in itself and I felt like I could have become a chatter box for the next 4.5 hours. So for now on when flying, I will keep this in mind when someone gets real chatty who is sitting next to me.
I arrive safely in Nashville, my host will be picking me up from the bus station. I do not know what he looks like but I'm sure I will stand out like a turd in a punch bowl. I lug everything into the terminal and he quickly spots me, we shake hands and introduce each other then helps me with my panniers and I carry my bike to his van. We get back to his house and I'm introduced to his wife Sametta and the cats. Bill has a complete shop for bike repair that would even put some local bikes shops to shame. So I start reassembling my bike while we are shooting the shit about what else but "Bikes". So after about an hour another van pulls up and it is George we all have been emailing each other and I read some of their blogs already so you kind of know who the person is before you have actually have met them. So after about an hour and half I have most of the bike together and Sametta comes out to the shop and see if we are hungry yet where she prepared a high carb meal for us. It was a Pesto Alfredo dinner with garlic bread and beer, the Pesto was fresh from the garden. We had great conversation while eating a delicious dinner, then went back out to the shop to complete the assembly of my bike. The bike was ready and loaded up with all the panniers, Bill asked me if I wanted to weigh it in and I declined, because if I did probably would spend another 2 hours justifying why am I taking this or that trying make my bike lighter.
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| In Bill's Shop putting it all together. |
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