Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Heading west

Friday, 25. July 2008.
I pack my backpack, eat some more of the banana bread, plant an avocado in Peter's garden and hit the road. 
Amanda is waiting for me in Edison, New Jersey, so I have to take the train to the Penn Station then take the train that will take me to Edison.
At the station my credit card doesn't work. It's the first time something like that has happened, so it gets me a little worried. I pay in cash and wait for my train.
How and where to get on a train isn't the clearest thing there, so I almost miss my train. They don't tell you the track number until a few minutes before the train leaves and if you don't watch carefully you can easily miss it.
I somehow manage to get on the right train and get to writing a few chapters of my novel.
Writing a novel has proved very hard because I never find time for it. The only time I find is when I travel, because there's not much to do on the plane for example, which gives me the opportunity to write. So I managed to get down a few chapters on the flight to New York and a couple of them on my train ride to Edison.
When I get off the train Amanda is already there with her host. The two of us get in the car and head westward.





Amanda and I before hitting the road in Edison, New Jersey.






We drive out of New Jersey into Pennsylvania. Cross most of Pennsylvania without stopping and head towards Pittsburgh that is located on the western end of Pennsylvania. We have a host for the next 2 nights in Pittsburgh, hence why we're driving there.
Before I left, Peter Ka told me to look up his friends Bill and Kelly in the Pittsburgh's couchsurfing community. Apparently, they're couchsurfing ambassadors and really nice folks. I've already spoken to them via internet, so if things somehow go wrong, they can host us as well.
Our host in Pittsburgh is Elaina. After the GPS navigator made us looping around the same intersection forever because of the ongoing roadwork, thanx to an elderly lady we manage to find Elaina's house.
We knock on the door and get welcomed in by a somewhat hippie somewhat alternative redhaired gal with glasses and tons of tattoos.
She's a bit nervous because we're amongst her first guests through couchsurfing (I believe she's only had 1 person stay at her place before) but we get a chat going easily and then head for a night out in Pittsburgh.
Apparently, there are other couchsurfing (from now on CS) visitors in town so we meet up with two of them, Juan and Mike, and a local CSer called Sarah. We all go to a cool club where we end up seeing a few good local bands, amongst which Soul Hamonic that sound somewhere between Pixies and Indie Rock (like Snow Patrol, Jimmy Eat World or Smashing Pumpkins). They give me a free T-shirt and a couple of CDs (that's how cool they are) and we have a little chat at the bar. For those interested, check Soul Harmonic at www.myspace.com/soulharmonicband
After the show it's already kind of late so there's nowhere to go as all places in Pittsburgh close at 2 am. We walk down to a park and then back for some late night meal in the local diner.




 

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