26 Mar 04
Ken, a Kiwi with flowing red hair, was the closest thing to a hippy as our mobile commune could boast. He had worked at one of Heathrow's hotels before hitting the road with his Finnish girlfriend Tanya. As the bus bounced through Utah, heading for Las Vegas, they tied cotton hair wraps to other Tortoise travellers.
The drivers had no beatnik pretences either; they tried to play down the company's image. "People come on these trips with stars in their eyes," said Brian, who went on a trip as a passenger before starting as a driver. "They are quickly and rudely awakened." Green Tortoise thrives on the image but exists for its search of the American hinterland, unlike Greyhound. "Greyhound shows you the worst of America," Brian added. "The Greyhound terminals are always in the worst parts of a city." Many of the women on the trip rejected Greyhound as an unsafe way of crossing the country, the antithesis of going by Tortoise.
We arrived in San Fran road-weary, but an hour spent in the old hippy hang-out of Haight Ashbury revealed more of the authentic breed than a week on the Tortoise. Being in the Bay City gave the young European pilgrims a feeling of accomplishment, but brought home the harsh reality that a week on Guan is not the key to a way of life. A shower at their hostel washed off the grime of the road but underneath were the same dreamers who boarded in New York. At the corner of Haight and Ashbury, a passer-by filled the air with the sweet smell of pot. At last!
Green Tortoise runs coast-to-coast trips between May and October, leaving from San Francisco, Boston and New York. Longer expeditions to Alaska and Central America are also available.
www.greentortoise.com
