In the wee hours of the morn (10:20 AM) on July 6, Pete, Belby, and I lit out for Knoxville, TN, the first stop on our Summer Road Trip of Southerly Wonders. (I just made up that name for the trip because when I typed “first stop on our road trip” it looked kind of boring.)

So, KNOXVILLE:

We spent one night in Knoxville at Millie and JP’s. In addition to visiting with them, we also got to see our friends Kellye and BT and to FINALLY meet their baby girl. HOW CUTE IS SHE??

I don’t have any photos of Brian because he was the photographer. Sorry, BT!

After one night in Knoxville we drove onward to the second stop on the Summer Road Trip of Southerly Wonders:

HUNTSVILLE, AL

In Huntsville we had the privilege of visiting more great friends who not only fed us, housed us, and allowed us to play with their funtastic 2.5 year old, they also ensured that we did not miss a single MINUTE of So You Think You Can Dance. WHEW. (There is exactly one photo of this second stop, and in the photo my eyes are 100% closed. So I will not be posting it.)

In tomorrow’s dispatch: A dog rolls in the dirt in BIRMINGHAM, AL.

Despite a Bolt Bus driver mentioning the possibility a couple months ago, original research by a TFH reader resulted in this response from a company rep:

“We have no immediate plans to expand service to Raleigh, NC.”

So we’ll have to hang in there for a long-range “luxury” bus solution between the Carolinas and D.C. / New York. (Megabus doesn’t cover that ground either, though they appear to have routes out of Memphis in the direction of Chicago.)

Plain old Greyhound, however, does ply routes in to / out of the Carolinas.

It is possible, however, that the leg room was more generous than a conventional Megabus. And there are flip-down armrests between the seats. I did note that the dream seats in the front row of the upper deck had tiny cup holders, as did the second row of seats on the right-hand side of the aisle (next to the front stairwell).
(The photo is not from today’s ride.)

Oh, one bit of good news: the traffic just opened up a bit, so we should be at the Memorial Bridge shortly. And another bit: the Hill staffer behind me finally got off her phone.
*Not an uncommon problem on buses.

There is a gallery of some of Mark’s moving highlights linked to the thumbnail.

The bus departed from directly outside of Penn station, and the line was maintained by a Megabus official, who checked confirmation numbers against a passenger list. This expedited entry to the bus only slightly, the line (referred to by an official as the queue) became strangely un-line-like when the bus pulled up. More mob-like. Maybe that’s the difference between a line and a queue. (Or it’s Megabus’s old-world origins.) So there was no seating priorities or boarding order beyond how early one arrives to get in line, or how many people you sneak past while they stow their luggage in the hold.

The driver was friendly, but forgot her movies because she came straight from church or something like that (probably a good thing, right? There are worse places she could be coming straight from). So the Megabus shows movies. I have never seen a movie on the Bolt, at any hour, and on a recent trip the driver told an inquiring passenger that drivers had been told not to play them. I personally prefer not to have movies, and it seems that today’s passengers agreed. I watched an episode of the A-Team on my iPod instead, read and tried to ignore the canoodling couples and flirtatious Vampire Weekend followers passing CD players back and forth across the aisle.

The bus made one brief stop at a park and ride near White Marsh outside of Baltimore. Two travelers were sitting on the curb, waiting for the northbound bus. We offloaded three or four people and got back on the road. We arrived at 11th and G four and a quarter hours after our departure time.

On the whole, the Megabus isn’t really in the same category as Bolt. It’s a bit cheaper, but with fewer amenities for the (non-profit) business traveler, it’s much more akin to Vamoose* than it is to the so-called “luxury” lines. For my Wednesday return trip, I’ll be back on the Bolt.

*Speaking of the ‘moose, I’ve noticed recently that they’ve invested in their own branded coaches, as opposed to contracted tour buses.

There’s a new bus in town.

(This is Washington’s 11th and G pickup point for the Bolt Bus–and apparently for the “megabus” too)