Indiana

Peter had driven me all the way to Montreal, from where I was due to fly to Indiana, to meet Michelle. We had been friends since my last US adventure, and regularly emailed from opposite sides of the Atlantic. A fascinating time of correspondence, during which the worlds financial systems came unstuck, the change as the US administration switched to one of hope - and she left the hippy ecotopia of a liberal arts college amongst the giant redwoods of Northern California for Purdue, her highly respected grad school surrounded by endless plains of soybeans and Indian corn.

Taking in the cost of flights vs. bus journeys, and the various people I wanted to see, the cheapest and quickest option was to fly from Montreal though it meant doubling back. I had long hoped to visit the city, the famous Jazz festival was on soon, and I would loved to have caught up with an ex-girlfriend who had returned to her home there.

Besides the University, Indiana is famous for motor racing, farming and religiosity. People looked at me like I was special, in the short bus sense, when I told them of my plans to go there. One friend said to me, if you want to to see real America, then there it is. So far it felt I had only seen the beautiful bits. For many more, this flat land of parking lots, strip malls and monocultures was more representative. The sky seems bigger there, the clouds are fluffy, and the distances vast. This was the suburbia of The End of Suburbia, where every journey began not with a single footstep, but reaching for the keys to a pickup truck.

With such huge distanced between places I find it hard to imagine a real sense of community. I felt the loss for my friend who had won a scholarship to study here. After a six hour drive to her home, during which we picked up a speeding ticket (Minutes after remarking on the lack of cops! ) I was pleased to see she had found a really nice house she had bought for a song. Her research interests will encourage greater use of biogas in the region. Such technologies and the ideologies that support them are common on the West Coast, but have yet to make an impact in this area of TV dinners and televangelists. It could not possibly be as bad as everyone thought, the university was founded in 1869 but classes did not begin in 1874, Aberystwyth, my own university was founded in 1872.

We explored the National Park with its huge nettles and lost world feel I doubt many believe actually exist in those parts. The nettles were bigger than my hand span. It was wonderful to see my friend, enjoy her cooking, and her enthusiasm for her work and new lifestyle.

Michelle drove me to the airport, I slept on the way, I was sorry it had been such a fleeting visit, and I had not managed to stay conscious for the last of it. I was also excited to see New York, choosing the flight to get me in the Big Apple in the late afternoon. My good friend, Hugh from Swansea was due to join me for the last leg. I was looking forward to getting my bearings before he arrived, but I did not touch down until nearer 23:00. Still carrying out my plan of not booking accommodation in advance I was expecting to sleep at the airport.

Nothing unites like a crisis, and this delay did get the passengers talking, I met a guy who owned an IT training company who had run for elections to the Indian Congress party who showed me youtube videos of his rally attended by 25,000, who asked for my CV.

I sat next to Sebastian, a trombonist and member of a conservatory in the city we chatted for most of the flight about all kinds of things especially I remember listening rapt as he talked about improvisation in composition. When I told him tales of all the generosity I had received, he was as amazed as I had been, and joined the chain of other wonderful folk, by putting me up. He was moving out the next day and I offered to help in return. His housemates (roomies) were nervous about a a stranger staying, so I ended up crashing on Seb's floor on my Thermarest, people like him really do make a difference.

Thankyou all