I got into San Francisco yesterday around noon. I've now completely adjusted to sleeping on the bus and can do it at will. When I got here I wasn't tired at all. I took off to see the Castro Theater and the Civic Center. San Fran's public library doesn't match up to the excellence that is the SLC public library. San Fran also doesn't seem to have as many active iPod users as DC. Maybe the DC folks are still listening to the 9-11 Report. Still San Francisco can throw down with any city in North America. I think we need a new reality series built around city vs. city grudge matches.

Except for an overnight in Albuquerque this is the end of the trip. I'll just be passing through LA, Las Vegas and other places as I race back across the country before my bus pass runs out. I think I could live like this, for a little while at least. I feel so much more relaxed floating from place to place. The only hard moments are right after I get to a new city and I have to figure out where I'm sleeping and how to get there. I feel nervous and scared. Once that's solved it's easy. The rest of it I've done hundreds of times before. I think I like it because it's okay to be alone.

While traveling I don't feel the pressure to be with friends that I have once I settle down. The pressure is something that comes from inside me, not my friends. I don't want to be alone. I want to see them. I want to hear new thoughts and ideas. I want people that I can love and share things with. When I'm travelling those pressures go away, at least they aren't as high a priority as figuring out food and shelter. I'm just so spectacularly bad at maintaining friendships, and certainly girlfriends.

But put all that aside, it's time to revel in San Francisco. Many kudos to Chris and Jennifer for putting me up for the night and being great company. Oh and mucho thanks to Chris for hooking Andy and I up when I was in Seattle. It turns out Andy was like four blocks up the street from where I was staying in Seattle and was there the same two days I was. It felt like deja vu all over again because Chris did the same thing when we were both in Dallas and didn't know it.

Helpful tips learned on the bus ride from Salt Lake City to Boise.

• When you see the police approaching and you have illegal drugs, put them in a babies diaper. They never look there.
• When you want to cover up the smell of pot sprinkle Old Spice in the air and on your person. "Covers that shit right up."
• Bring a bible with you. Not only is it "that book full of knowledge" but you can rip out the thin pages to roll a joint in a pinch.

Salt Lake City to Boise has been the most amusing and annoying bus trip so far. I ended up in the back next to four other guys desperate to be as fucked up as possible for the entire ride. Four guys, Stephen Baldwin, the Loan Officer, Chatty and Stoner have pot, beer and this nasty sounding concoction of vodka/cough syrup/ghb to achieve this. They start off by smoking at the first stop the bus makes. They get back on the bus quite happy, flirting with these two girls, talking about how they've done time and how they've beaten drug cases against them. At one point I have to assure them I'm not law enforcement. It's all in good fun.

Chatty talks often and quickly but Stephen Baldwin is the leader that sets the topics. Stoner is always stuck packing the pipe. Loan Officer listens for the most part, or tells the story of how he was busted for possession that very morning before getting on the bus. Apparently he and a friend had walked right in front of the Salt Lake county sheriff's office and lit up in front of the camera. His medical marijuana exemption didn't work in Utah. His summons was in seven days and he said he had no plans to be there. He just marks Utah off the list of states he'll visit. This trip hadn't been all bad, he was the first person to ski in America this ski season at Loveland, CO. This is a guy that only needs two loans a month to subsidize his lifestyle. Stephen Baldwin was just coming back from Texas where he'd had a special package sent to his PO box in Boise. The only serious discussion they had was him and Chatty negotiating a price for a pound.

Enough talk, more drug use. Going an hour or two between tokes isn't working out. They start going into the bathroom one by one and exhaling through a vent. They start sneaking beer from convenience stores at the stops. Although Chatty was busted once and had to leave it in the parking lot. Most of the time they made it back on. This is still taking too long. So they start smoking in their seats and blowing the smoke into the headrests. This is the nastiest thing I've seen on the bus so far. I will never rest my head again. Even this was too much of an incovenience so Chatty exhales right into the cabin. Stoner is freaking out because he's the one with all the supplies and he doesn't want to get arrested. But he's a funny kind of freaked out.

At this point the bus driver smells smoke and coincidentally this is when Stephen Baldwin comes out of the bathroom after legitimately using it. Then in this growling, angry voice the bus driver comes over the PA system Hey SCUMBAG! The SCUMBAG in the last row. and on and on about what a bad person he is and how he'd better not do it again and that SCUMBAGS (yes, he really said it in all caps) will be thrown off the bus if they are caught again. But we're 11 miles from Boise so it doesn't matter. At this point Stoner is freaking out and has curled up into the fetal position in his seat. He's laughing and telling us he's having a heart attack and that he doesn't want to be busted.

All in all amusing, but annoying because I leave the bus smelling like I've been at an Air concert in Atlanta.

I meandered into the high plains in the rental car I got in Pittsburgh. This area is the geographic embodiment of America. The enormous, lush, rolling plains are there and ready to be cultivated by anyone that's willing to make the effort. Their size is another key part of what strikes me as American. They skies and fields go on and on seemingly forever. My main wish is that the cities of northern Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and so forth were walkable. They are just big enough to require a car to get around and don't have much in the way of public transportation.

One city that is walkable is Denver. I drove in on Saturday and stayed with Jason and Julie. Even though I haven't seen them since they left Dallas and got married I found that things eased into the same friendship that I'd had when we were roommates in Dallas. After spending the night with them, I left them behind to return the car and head to downtown Denver. What a great city. It's modern and classical buildings keep the ambulatory visitor occupied wondering what's next. The weather was great. Like all walkable cities the streets have a nice, simple grid layout that makes it practically impossible to get lost. In my opinion Denver is the model city for every other city in the Southwest and Rocky Mountain states.

It was nice to get back into the Greyhound stream of things. I'd found the car travel to be a tad annoying, and way too expensive with the current gas prices.

Just a few more days and I get to see Andy in Portland, and then after that the San Francisco folks. I need to give Chris a call since I think I know when I'll be getting into SF. I am very much looking forward to that.

I'm in the main Salt Lake City public library. This is one of the slickest libraries I've ever seen. The building is very striking from the outside, and the inside has a mix of library and commercial kiosks that I've never seen before.

I've been getting up to speed on the LDS church. You don't have to walk very far in the temple square before running into someone that's eager to help teach you about the place and the religion. They have great reason to be proud. While I'm not allowed to see the temple it is very impressive from the outside. The various other offices, administrative buildings and support buildings are enormous, ornate and welcoming.

I couldn't help but laugh at lunch time as all the well dressed church staff flowed out of the square and into a mall food court across the street. I wish I had thought to get a picture of all these white guys in business suits chowing down on McDonalds, Long John Silver and other mall food. It's then that I noticed how effective the homeless people are.

They positioned themselves right at the mall egress points, perched at the parking garage exits right in the middle of the street, and crouched in the shadow of the religious buildings. They were impossible to miss and showed a resourcefulness I've rarely seen in panhandlers, without being especially overt or aggressive. I learned today that the LDS church has a huge community service program I wonder how they address homelessness.

As neat as the LDS church has been I find myself surprised by their terminology. Listening to sermons appears to be referred to as "receiving instruction." The highest council underneath the president is the twelve apostles. It's odd thinking of the term apostle referring to a constantly changing, living person. The idea that the third, or highest level, or priesthood is called a "high priest" sounds vaguely cultish. Overall though it's been educational learning about wards, stakes and areas and the structure of the church.

Best moment: Across from the temple square is the the food court area and IT HAS AN ORANGE JULIUS. This may be the last one in existence.

I'm up in Bismarck, ND today. I rented a car from Pittsburgh because I'm too sick to take the rigors of Greyhound at the moment. Although I already miss riding the bus. The other reason is that I wanted to see some of the parks, specifically all the Lewis and Clark stuff, that's around here.

While this sickness is frustrating and disappointing I think the biggest disappointment so far has been the National World War II memorial. After finding myself unexpectedly moved by the Vietnam War memorial I walked over to the WWII memorial. It's an oval with semi-circles of tall pillars representing the states on either end. The two ends represent the "Atlantic" and Pacific theaters of war. In the middle is a pool with fountains.

It feels like it was built by a committee. It has trite words from famous leaders about the sacrifices made etched around the monument. I found myself filling with anger as I read those lines. Who are these people of privilege that are talking about making sacrifice? I want to hear from the real people that fought in the war. In order to make the war fit thematically into the monument they use the term "Atlantic." I've always heard the non-Pacific theater referred to as the European theater. The monument does not imbue one with the sense of reverence and awe that it should.

The WWII monument is derivative of a Civil War monument at Gettysburg done with a similar theme, the semi-circle of pillars representing the states. Right here in Bismarck, ND they have a wonderful veterans monument. It's an open domed structure with a dais in the middle with a globe of the earth on it. Radiating from the center are bronze plaques of the names of every veteran of ND from every war. On the 11th day, of the 11th month at the 11th hour the monument is built so the sun illuminates the globe to remind us of the sacrifices made at the last possible moment to turn the tide.

Also one can head West into Montana and visit the Battle of Little Bighorn battlefield, Custer's last stand. It's the only US battlefield monument to leave the soldiers were they fell and put up markers. Hundreds of these fill the six mile long field, and it's powerful. They also have an effective indian memorial there.

How the hell do these people travel without any money? -Subway employee at bus station in Rochester, NY (or some upstate stop)

Who are these people that travel around without any apparent means to support themselves? Again and again I've run into people who are stuck between places. They've run out of money, they've had it stolen or they're just drifting from town to town looking for work. They represent some kind of vagabond diaspora. It's particular to bus stations. I've never seen it centered around any other transportation. Bus travel seems uniquely generous in what you can cajole yourself into and inexpensive as well.

I talk with these people and some are homeless and stuck in a city. They sleep at the bus station because the shelters are full. They plan their day around the 7am, 12pm, and 5:30pm meals they can get for free. Some work in one place for a week or longer and then buy a bus ticket to the next town they can afford to travel to and start all over. Some travel the country selling their belongings to keep the wandering going and find friends and family in towns to take care of them. Some people seem to make busses and bus stations their office. They're working deals on their cell phone while they live out of their luggage and clean up in the bathroom.

I'm no closer to understanding what it means to be American. So much of being American seems to be tied to living somewhere in America. That's not me right now. I'm just floating through addresses like so many others. Being American seems to mean in part experiencing the same current events. I have no idea what's going on in the world unless it's above the fold on a USA Today or local newspaper. I'm totally out of sync with the vast majority of the 8-5 working crowd. Every day I've got different waking hours subject to the whims of hostels, friends, bus schedules or public transportation.

I can happily say that no other problems in my life matter at this moment. The friendship lost with Rebecca, the awkwardness of staying with people I haven't seen in years, where I'll live in Dallas, what job I'll find...they all vanish. In fact I don't have any anxieties or worries right now. I just keep moving, finding places to eat and stay, and filling my head with all the great things this country has built up over the years.

It's hard to believe I've only been traveling a little over a week. Knoxville feels like a month ago. Even D.C. feels like a few weeks ago and that was just Tuesday. I have little notion of what day it is anymore. Part of that is the lack of sleep as I try to pack in as much as possible.

I wonder how your mind/body know what a day's worth of memories is supposed to be. If I keep up this pace will my mind adjust and I'll have a more natural sense of how much time has passed, or is that feeling of time passing a constant?

Paper lined bathroom walls This was brilliant. I saw it at Beanstreets Cafe in Asheville, NC. People had filled up the walls with writing. The discourse was above and beyond the usual "bj wanted" I see in rest areas and included spirited debate about the merits of Kerry and Bush campaigns.

Attraction oriented metro guides Washington D.C. wins hands down for easiest to use subway. It doesn't have the flexibility of say Boston's T or the simplicity of Toronto's trains but they publish a three page pamphlet that tells you what attractions are at what stop. Someone should come up with their own versions of those guides and get them down in the train stations.

Showing Turner Classic Movie ads at repertory theater The Brattle Theater while not at the vaunted heights of prestige of NYC's Film Forum it is no slouch. I caught the The Phantom Lady and was impressed by how they'd put together the trailers before the feature. They included one of TCM's always excellently produced ads reminding folks it's a month of musicals. (Those TCM ads are such high quality and a tad long they should bundle them together on a Shorts DVD) Shockingly they had like 30 people at the showing I went to.

Blogger hostelling Wouldn't it be nice if you could announce to the world "Hey I've got room at my place if you're in town." Apparently someone else was five years ahead of me on this one. Thanks to James for pointing out Couch Surfing.

Waiting for a bus to Boston in the freaking enormous NYC bus terminal:

Random ranting bus guy: "Charles Manson is the son of butterball Satan. See you can spell the word Roman from his name because they served Satan and killed Jesus."

Passenger: "What do you mean butterball? What's turkey got to do with Satan?"

RRBG: "Well I tell you why he's butterball Satan. One time I was in Mississippi waiting to get a haircut. I was reading a magazine. It was a white man's magazine. That's when I saw it. It filled up the whole page. It was a giant butterball turkey. It was Satan."

As I passed in front of a McDonalds near Boston Commons at Park Street a thug and his girlfriend brushed by on the sidewalk. I overheard this, "I don't want to hear it. We ate at McDonalds last night, bitch."

Asheville, NC -> Washington D.C. -> Portland, ME

I've made it up to Portland, Maine. I'm skipping NYC because I just don't want the hassle right now. Sleeping through the night on Greyhound has been a semi-acceptable way to cut down on costs finding places to sleep. It gives me the maximum amount of time to spend during the day in each city. Also I lose a day of sleep since I don't really sleep on the bus and I go straight into the next day.

The biggest surprise so far is that I haven't really had to carry my big 30 lb. backpack everywhere. I've got a Timbuktu 2 messenger bag for the essentials when I'm in town. I usually park the big bag in lockers at the bus/train station I'm at. I've also found the two hotels I've stayed at to be amenable to letting me stow it with them whether I'm staying there that day or not. Those are the nicest as they are free. I just don't have the security of knowing it's locked away.

The bus stations have generally been located near where I wanted to be. I don't think I've had more than a mile and a half walk to get any place I've wanted to be. If I wanted to go somewhere far I've always had public transportation handy.

Important navigational tip: 1st and K Street NE in Washington D.C. is not at all the same as 1st and K Street NW. One is in a run down neighborhood with lots of boarded up buildings, overgrown yards and a curious absence of people. The other is near the bustling metropolis of Washington D.C. and it's many, many free attractions.

Haven't had much time to reflect on anything at this point. I hustle from place to place. I have started to wonder if I'd like a life like that. A life where every moment is full and even simple things like eating involve many more decisions. My gut reaction is not at all, and that it's easier to live with the regret of wasting time than to be this engaged all the time.

Thanks to Malaprop's Bookstore for the Internet access here in Asheville.

I was wondering about the difference between tourism and adventure as I rode the bus and hussled between stations. I think it's a matter of planning. Adventure seems to require a lack of it, and I've got plenty of that to spare.

"Transmission fell off." Those were the words shortly into the bus trip to Nashville. It rolled across the interstate into the median. The bus had a spare for some reason. Met a real estate magnate bumming around the square last night. He's friends with the Schlitterbaun folks. Stayed with the inestimably jovial, friendly and smart Plaid Ninja in Knoxville.

It's hard to imagine what 27 more days of this will be like. I'm beginning to fear the cold weather up North.

I've been trying to come up with a way to solve two problems to this bus adventure. Where can I keep my backpack, and where can I sleep? I haven't been able to find places to store stuff, especially big things like backpacks. I haven't been able to find urban campgrounds either. I don't want to hide out in hotels.

It looks like I'm getting an Hostelling International card.

I have a feeling I'm not being creative enough. At any rate the hostelling thing is new to me, and it should afford opportunities to get more perspectives on the country.

I don't have dates yet, but each city is roughly a day in the 30 day trip. Right now I think I have 5 days of play to use when I want to stay somewhere longer. This is just a tentative route.

1. Knoxville, TN
2. Asheville, NC
3. Washington, DC
4. New York, NY
5. Bar Harbor, ME
6. Boston, MA
7. Toronto, ON
8. Pittsburgh, PA
9. Ann Arbor, MI
10. Chicago, IL
11. Des Moines, IA
12. Minneapolis, MN
13. Bismarck, ND
14. Billings, MT
15. Denver, CO
16. Salt Lake City, UT
17. Boise, ID
18. Seattle, WA
19. Portland, OR
20. San Francisco, CA
21. Los Angeles, CA [via Amtrak]
22. Las Vegas, NV
23. Albuquerque, NM
24. Oklahoma City, OK
25. Memphis, TN
26. Huntsville, AL

I'm still working on public transportation information for the places that have it so I can get around. I'm also building a list of places I need to see on my tour of America. I'm disappointed the bus doesn't stop in Moab, UT. This is more planning than I think I've ever done for a trip.