The weight of my pack was shocking. So was the emptiness of the Greyhound station in Charleston, West Virginia. Maybe the fact that this was no longer a hypothetical journey had something to do with the way both seemed so prescient—the emptiness and the fullness.
“Didn’t I want to engage? To learn more about this at once vast and tiny place we all shared? I closed my notebook and smiled at the guy with the Bible.” What a perfect sequence of sentences—feeling the purpose, the vaster meaning and the internal conflict all at once. Imagining you and the wide-open road at 30 years young feels so right and enlivening.
Oct 4, 2023·edited Oct 4, 2023Liked by Holly Starley
Holly I just love your writing. I especially love that you set aside your upbringing, stretched yourself, and decided to talk with Bible-boy., knowing he could have been a thumper out to convert you. Life is too short to ignore the people around us. I am sometimes so painfully introverted that I am pretty sure I would NOT have talked with him...and I'm a Bible reader! I love your boldness...to do all that you are doing. And you lived in Seattle, just like I did (I'm now living on Vancouver Island). I can wait to see where you go next!
Well, I'm just now seeing that I never replied to this. How remiss of me!! Thank you. I do love to talk to a "stranger." According to my parents, this was a trait I was born with. Glad I talked to him too.
PS. I'm here in my comments section trying to solve your mystery!!
Nov 8, 2023·edited Nov 8, 2023Liked by Holly Starley
bah ha ha! I think it was a five page rambling comment and I'm not sure where it is! So I'll cut you a break...it is a REPTILE! So now you need to research which type of reptile is known for climbing up trees! (hint...GOOGLE it).
This was great. Your observations, your descriptions, and the story itself.
Your writing is beautiful.
I especially liked this —-
“Now, the guy on the bus a few rows ahead of me kept looking back—casual like, in that way of using one’s gaze like a fly fishing lure, tossing it back and leaving it there for just a moment in hopes the target will see the glint of an iris. If he tossed it just right, I'd glance up, and our eyes would lock, reeling me into the conversation he hoped to have.“
—- that was such a wonderful way to describe that moment.
Michael, thank you so much for saying that. When I was trying to remember the moment (it was well over a decade ago), I kept seeing the guy in my mind's eye. And what I pictured most was the glint in his eye (that I was first trying to ignore). I really enjoyed coming up with the metaphor.
Looking forward to checking out your stuff. "The Curious Platypus" is a terrific title.
Thank you, Holly, for inviting me on the journey. You captured the impact of bus travel (or plane, or train or all public transport) where you are thrown together with people and slowly you begin to engage the tiny temporary community that forms for just that moment. I'm hooked, I'm in with you for the ride. I remember seat mates from over 50 years ago on two hour bus rides.
Thank you, Leslie, for coming along. It’s such a joy to share with others.
Isn’t it so interesting how impactful those momentary, not-really-so-ephemeral-after-all connections can be?! I’m glad to learn you’re a kindred spirit in this understanding of, as you beautiful put it, “the tiny temporary community that forms for just that moment.”
Hi Holly! I just stumbled across this piece (thanks to Notes), and I really enjoy your writing. Although it’s a bit different than the bus, I took the train from LA to Seattle at a time in my life when I really needed to get away and just keep moving (if that makes sense), so a lot of this resonated with me. Thank you! I’m looking forward to reading more of your work!
Thank you, Jacob! Yay notes. :) I do very much know what you mean. And I’ve taken that very train—at least from Santa Barbara to Seattle. It’s a whole journey, isn’t it? Would you do it again?
There will be other train rides, too, in this trek that started on that Greyhound. ;)
It’s definitely a whole journey! I met some really kind folks, and all those hours sitting provided some necessary time for reflection and reading. It’s also a great way to see the beauty of the coast. But I don’t think I’d do it again without a cabin! 😅 Sleeping was a challenge on that trip!
I’m looking forward to reading more and seeing where the journey takes you!
Hah! Yes, based on my limited experience it is indeed an art form, but one I haven’t come close to mastering. I’m not sure if I’m interested in learning it at this point in my life, but you never know when the right adventure might come along!
Thank you! That's so kind. One of my favorite things about memoir / personal essay writing is the chance to relive the stories and moments through old notes or memories jogged by life or others' writing or writing exercises. Thank you for being here! There's a photo chat thread on the first Saturday of every month from wherever we're all rolling . Hope to see you there, too, if that calls to you. You have some absolutely gorgeous photography on your stack! :)
Thank you🙏, I would love to read your next memoer. It is best way to tell the story and life experiences in such a creative way. Sure ! I will join photo thread chat of the month.
Again thank you and keep writing ✍ the marvelous stories for us. Namaste 🙏, God bless you:)
Well, I failed to locate even one single shoe. That, however, will not make me give up the quest. Off to Pinedale, WY, in a couple of weeks for the month of September; and I’m hopeful for success.
That said, there is a find that I have seen before but not to this degree. Walking along the Beaverhead River every early morning, we would pass over a bridge. A telephone line crosses the river about 25 feet from the bridge. The river is about 15 yards wide. There we see many shoes, tied together and somehow thrown, tossed, or inched down the line.
Over the years more shoes have been added, but now I wonder if there is a story behind them (or if it’s all just for the fun of it).
A friend is going back to Dillon in September, and she’s going to take a photo which I will send to you.
So, it’s not the same, I know, as the one shoe….but now it has me thinking. Definitely I’m on the track for find some in WY.
Keep on having life’s adventures. We’re enjoying following you!
Hmmmm. I'm forced to conclude fewer single shoes are jumping ship in Montana. ;o).
Oh my gosh, I'd love to see a photo of that bridge and the shoes. Fun to imagine how they get there and how it all got started. This jogs an image of a tree of many shoes somewhere along one of the routes I used to frequently drive. But I can't quite pull up the where. I'm picturing a desert landscape and a bare-limbed tree I think.
Anywho, let me know when the photo comes, and I'll start a thread for shoe photos! Would be fun to see what people might find from wherever they may be.
Brenda, I'm so glad to see you here. Your support and encouragement are very much appreciated. Thank you.
Thank you! I had a whole range of interactions and experiences on the Greyhound over that seven-month journey. :). This reminds me, too, of your Montana road trip. Did you spot any solo shoes along the highways?
“Didn’t I want to engage? To learn more about this at once vast and tiny place we all shared? I closed my notebook and smiled at the guy with the Bible.” What a perfect sequence of sentences—feeling the purpose, the vaster meaning and the internal conflict all at once. Imagining you and the wide-open road at 30 years young feels so right and enlivening.
Thank you, Kimberly. I so appreciate your reflection. Being on the road then was exactly what I needed for sure.
Holly I just love your writing. I especially love that you set aside your upbringing, stretched yourself, and decided to talk with Bible-boy., knowing he could have been a thumper out to convert you. Life is too short to ignore the people around us. I am sometimes so painfully introverted that I am pretty sure I would NOT have talked with him...and I'm a Bible reader! I love your boldness...to do all that you are doing. And you lived in Seattle, just like I did (I'm now living on Vancouver Island). I can wait to see where you go next!
Well, I'm just now seeing that I never replied to this. How remiss of me!! Thank you. I do love to talk to a "stranger." According to my parents, this was a trait I was born with. Glad I talked to him too.
PS. I'm here in my comments section trying to solve your mystery!!
bah ha ha! I think it was a five page rambling comment and I'm not sure where it is! So I'll cut you a break...it is a REPTILE! So now you need to research which type of reptile is known for climbing up trees! (hint...GOOGLE it).
This was great. Your observations, your descriptions, and the story itself.
Your writing is beautiful.
I especially liked this —-
“Now, the guy on the bus a few rows ahead of me kept looking back—casual like, in that way of using one’s gaze like a fly fishing lure, tossing it back and leaving it there for just a moment in hopes the target will see the glint of an iris. If he tossed it just right, I'd glance up, and our eyes would lock, reeling me into the conversation he hoped to have.“
—- that was such a wonderful way to describe that moment.
Michael, thank you so much for saying that. When I was trying to remember the moment (it was well over a decade ago), I kept seeing the guy in my mind's eye. And what I pictured most was the glint in his eye (that I was first trying to ignore). I really enjoyed coming up with the metaphor.
Looking forward to checking out your stuff. "The Curious Platypus" is a terrific title.
I fly fish, It was a wonderful metaphor!!
🥰 Thank you.
It was quite a number of drafts and different metaphors attempted to capture the moment when that one came to me and felt just right.
Your welcome Holly.
It was a great metaphor.
And thanks for checking out and sharing some of my stuff, I really appreciate it. I look forward to checking out some more of your stuff as well.
Thank you, Holly, for inviting me on the journey. You captured the impact of bus travel (or plane, or train or all public transport) where you are thrown together with people and slowly you begin to engage the tiny temporary community that forms for just that moment. I'm hooked, I'm in with you for the ride. I remember seat mates from over 50 years ago on two hour bus rides.
Thank you, Leslie, for coming along. It’s such a joy to share with others.
Isn’t it so interesting how impactful those momentary, not-really-so-ephemeral-after-all connections can be?! I’m glad to learn you’re a kindred spirit in this understanding of, as you beautiful put it, “the tiny temporary community that forms for just that moment.”
Hi Holly! I just stumbled across this piece (thanks to Notes), and I really enjoy your writing. Although it’s a bit different than the bus, I took the train from LA to Seattle at a time in my life when I really needed to get away and just keep moving (if that makes sense), so a lot of this resonated with me. Thank you! I’m looking forward to reading more of your work!
Thank you, Jacob! Yay notes. :) I do very much know what you mean. And I’ve taken that very train—at least from Santa Barbara to Seattle. It’s a whole journey, isn’t it? Would you do it again?
There will be other train rides, too, in this trek that started on that Greyhound. ;)
It’s definitely a whole journey! I met some really kind folks, and all those hours sitting provided some necessary time for reflection and reading. It’s also a great way to see the beauty of the coast. But I don’t think I’d do it again without a cabin! 😅 Sleeping was a challenge on that trip!
I’m looking forward to reading more and seeing where the journey takes you!
Sleeping on trains and buses is an art form I’d once mastered. I think that’d be less true today. ;)
Hah! Yes, based on my limited experience it is indeed an art form, but one I haven’t come close to mastering. I’m not sure if I’m interested in learning it at this point in my life, but you never know when the right adventure might come along!
Glad you pointed the way back to the beginning, I don't think we'd connected when this dropped... xo
Very fascinated to read your story and the way you told the story is outstanding 👏
Thank you! That's so kind. One of my favorite things about memoir / personal essay writing is the chance to relive the stories and moments through old notes or memories jogged by life or others' writing or writing exercises. Thank you for being here! There's a photo chat thread on the first Saturday of every month from wherever we're all rolling . Hope to see you there, too, if that calls to you. You have some absolutely gorgeous photography on your stack! :)
Thank you🙏, I would love to read your next memoer. It is best way to tell the story and life experiences in such a creative way. Sure ! I will join photo thread chat of the month.
Again thank you and keep writing ✍ the marvelous stories for us. Namaste 🙏, God bless you:)
Hi, Holly,
Well, I failed to locate even one single shoe. That, however, will not make me give up the quest. Off to Pinedale, WY, in a couple of weeks for the month of September; and I’m hopeful for success.
That said, there is a find that I have seen before but not to this degree. Walking along the Beaverhead River every early morning, we would pass over a bridge. A telephone line crosses the river about 25 feet from the bridge. The river is about 15 yards wide. There we see many shoes, tied together and somehow thrown, tossed, or inched down the line.
Over the years more shoes have been added, but now I wonder if there is a story behind them (or if it’s all just for the fun of it).
A friend is going back to Dillon in September, and she’s going to take a photo which I will send to you.
So, it’s not the same, I know, as the one shoe….but now it has me thinking. Definitely I’m on the track for find some in WY.
Keep on having life’s adventures. We’re enjoying following you!
Brenda
Hmmmm. I'm forced to conclude fewer single shoes are jumping ship in Montana. ;o).
Oh my gosh, I'd love to see a photo of that bridge and the shoes. Fun to imagine how they get there and how it all got started. This jogs an image of a tree of many shoes somewhere along one of the routes I used to frequently drive. But I can't quite pull up the where. I'm picturing a desert landscape and a bare-limbed tree I think.
Anywho, let me know when the photo comes, and I'll start a thread for shoe photos! Would be fun to see what people might find from wherever they may be.
Brenda, I'm so glad to see you here. Your support and encouragement are very much appreciated. Thank you.
Fantastic! Sucked me right in!
Thank you! I'm always so glad to have you there with me--even if it is after the fact. ;)
Great writing, Holly! I was right with you on that Greyhound bus!
Thank you! I had a whole range of interactions and experiences on the Greyhound over that seven-month journey. :). This reminds me, too, of your Montana road trip. Did you spot any solo shoes along the highways?
While I read this, I feel your freedom, which lightens my own heart. Thank you!