By the way, I left on June 1st at 11 PM, so the story starts from midnight. The trip is about 60 hours. Below are photos of my tickets, which (ATTENTION) do not show all the stops. There were 2-3 times more. The ticket only lists the most significant ones. I want to note that Greyhound is famous for quality buses, supposedly having outlets and Wi-Fi everywhere. Yeah, right. Don't make me laugh.

June 2nd - The first hours on the road.

From my diary: "After midnight I was moving in a dark bus, trying to sleep, but it was cold, and I was in shorts and flip-flops. (Tip #9: Well, if you happen to travel by bus, be kind enough to wear something warmer.) I put my feet on the seat next to me and dozed off. Actually, this is where the unpleasant part of my trip begins. Let's start with food. At the first stop, somewhere in the middle of the night, I bought 6 nuggets at McDonald's and ate some of them. Connection was also periodically lost, but mostly worked. (There was an outlet here, yes, but the Wi-Fi barely worked, for example.) By morning we arrived in Pittsburgh, where I bought a Snickers bar, and the machine, pardon me, cheated me out of 15 cents. I stayed there for about an hour, brushed my teeth, went out into the city for a couple of minutes, and came back. I decided to put on sneakers and socks so my feet wouldn't freeze too much. Then I got on another bus. One of the worst of the whole trip. The bus was full and the driver often let people on/off at different stations. On the way to Cleveland, at one of the stops, I bought 2 chicken sandwiches for $3.25. The "sandwich" consisted of a hamburger bun and a chicken patty. That's it. But at least it was hot. Thanks for that. After eating, I went on. By noon we finally reached Cleveland, where we were let off with a special paper that gave us priority boarding for the next bus. I recharged there at a charging station, since the bus didn't have chargers everywhere. And on the way to Cleveland, I sat next to a large, exhausted sleeping woman to use the outlet. I sat on the edge so as not to wake her or touch her.

After recharging and resting a bit in Cleveland, I headed to Chicago. We changed buses and the new one had Wi-Fi and outlets everywhere. Somewhere on the way, I went into Burger King and bought a hamburger with fries and a Coke. I barely drank the Coke because (adding a useless note) I'm starting to get sick. During the trip, I shoved every possible pill into myself. Thank you, Mom, for them. I know you're reading this now and smiling. Or maybe crying. (I think you all caught Tip #10 that I'm going to shove in now. Take various Strepsils, Imudon, Doc-1, Nimesil, Tempalgin, etc., etc. with you. In general, everything that can be taken through customs without extra questions, and is very necessary in such travels. It's not a fact that you will find a pharmacy on the road. And it's not a fact that all their remedies will help you. Oh yeah, and Tip #10.1: Love your moms, because they will shove these medicines into your suitcase anyway.)

By evening, I reached Chicago, where I spent about 1.5 hours. Went outside, came back in, bought hot tea, and brushed my teeth. I'm starting to like this, by the way. From Chicago at 9:45 PM, I headed to Minneapolis.

June 3rd - 2nd day on the road.

Continuation from the diary: "The road to Minneapolis is remembered only for feeling lousy because of my throat and... my stomach! I slept almost the whole night, so the road went by quickly. In Minneapolis, I bought 2 sandwiches and a bottle of Coke. I devoured the sandwiches and left the Coke to warm up. Here is another problem. They changed the bus company. And I was no longer traveling to Billings with Greyhound, but with Jefferson, and that means:

a) Old buses;

b) No Wi-Fi;

c) No outlets.

Somewhere on the way, at stops, I charged my phone and wrote to Mom that everything was fine. Then I turned off the phone and returned to the bus. At one of the stops, I bought 2 Snickers and 2 Cokes. On the road, I ate them almost completely. Left a little, dozed off, and then finished them. The closer to my village, the worse the environment was. Especially not pleasing was a strange psycho who constantly muttered something under his breath and was rude to everyone. And in general, he looked like Trevor from GTA V. (Those who played or saw it will understand my bewilderment). And that didn't please me at all. But overall, the journey was tolerable. On the way, I remembered the earrings I bought for Zhenya (a friend) and with their help, I changed the SIM cards in the tablet and phone to get in touch via the tablet (it still had a charge). I went into VK and wrote to Zhenya so she could tell Mom that everything was fine. The internet then disappeared, and later I found out another problem. All this time I was roaming in another state, and I only have 10 megabytes of internet in roaming. And so, it was turned off. Well, I'm without internet, without a charger, without money (that's a separate story), without health, without mood. Oh yes. And somewhere here I reached Billings, where I ate another Snickers.

June 4th - 3rd day on the road.

A little more from the diary: "In Billings, I left my bag in line and stood by the charger with my phone. I wrote to Mom that everything was fine, and I already got on the bus that goes to Missoula. There I had chargers. Finally. All night I calmly charged my phone, listened to music, and even chatted. A guy with whom we had been moving together since Minneapolis was still traveling with me."

And here is the biggest problem of all, perhaps. I don't want to delve very deeply into this problem. I just want to warn you. Tip #11: Be careful with your bank cards. Just be very careful with them. From my own experience, I learned that absolutely anything can happen to them. And it so happened that due to some problems, I ended up with a debt there. It wasn't my fault. I just became a hostage to circumstances. It happens. I opened the card while still in New York. And looking ahead, I will say that the debt was about 550 dollars. Yes, not a little. A week in America, and I already owe 500 to Bank of America. Great, really. Given that I have about 270 dollars in my wallet, and from the final station to Apgar I still need to call a taxi, which will cost me 80-100 bucks, if my employers are to be believed. And a debt at a bank in America is bad. They can close the account and put it on your history. And then I will never in my life open an account at any other bank.

And you know what happened then? Being in Missoula, a 19-year-old guy, who seemed to have started an independent life, who has survived so much in the last few weeks, who also feels terrible at this moment (maybe even a fever), who earned a debt in the largest bank of the States, who held on and believed in himself, he breaks down. Yes, there were 20-30 minutes of weakness after all. At the station, I sat and sobbed, feeling that no one would help me except myself. Realizing that I want to go home. I sobbed uncontrollably, without stopping.

Well, what's next? I went to brush my teeth.

Well, I remembered or realized that now there is no one, actually, to sort this all out except myself. I could have called my mom and asked her for money, and she probably would have sent it. So where is my independence then? Why did I even come here then? To give up like this after just a week? Well, no.

At that moment, I pulled myself together, rethought the situation, and estimated the approximate terms for repaying the debt. I had to block the card. And at that moment, I was amazed at myself. I started to think, and quite well. The fact is that Bank of America, to connect with an operator by phone, in addition to the card number, requires a Social Security Number (an analogue of TIN). I didn't have it, since it is only for those who have already started working, and my card was opened supposedly for the purpose of paying for studies, since a compatriot whom I accidentally met at the Bank office opened it for me. No, I didn't know him. I just came to open it, and there was a guy from my city. In general, at that moment I remembered the approximate area where that office was located and Googled bank offices in that area. I called the most similar one and asked for that guy. I explained the situation and asked how to block the card, as there was a possibility of even greater loss of money. And he showed me a way to bypass various SSN checks and connect directly to an operator. In short, I blocked the card.

In general, I spent 4 hours in Missoula. After which I headed in a very small bus to Whitefish - a small town, which, apparently, is the location of the nearest bus station to my village. The bus is so small that it's not even a bus, but a shuttle bus in our terms. There I met a guy from Bulgaria named Evgeni, who needed to go exactly where I was going. That was luck. In Whitefish, it turned out that there are no taxis at all. You can only call one. Here, that same friend of mine, Zhenya, who was at home sitting at the computer looking for taxi companies for me, came to the rescue. She actually found us the number. We waited a long time. Even though this Evgeni seemed terribly disgusting to me at that moment.

The taxi arrived, we drove for almost an hour, and paid 40 dollars each including tips. And here it is. That very cafe from the pictures. Everything is like in Google. Yes! I arrived. I can't believe it, but I'm here.

Overall, the road was terribly difficult, but at the same time instructive and interesting. Even just feeling like a traveler who brushes his teeth wherever he can - that's fun. Of course, I don't really want to repeat this experience, but at the same time, I will always remember this as a good and necessary experience. I saw many good places, traveled to many cities and states, met many different people, and just saw so many interesting things. And my diary became real traveler's notes. On the road, I had to communicate with some of the particularly sociable fellow travelers. I even made friends with some. One of them was the guy I mentioned earlier. He kept trying to convince me that American women adore foreigners and melt from the accent. Even though he is 13-15 years old, he tried to give me pickup advice.

Another guy was older. We traveled together somewhere in the middle line of the country. He was going to Denver, Colorado. For those who don't know: Colorado is one of two states where smoking weed is completely legalized. In general, this guy was going there for that. Very cheerful and very sociable. Covered in piercings and tattoos, as well as with a huge sports bag, which he pointed to with the words: "If you knew what I have in there." And there was also a cute young girl who was sitting in the next seat, but she was uncommunicative, although this guy from Denver kept trying to stick to her. So all four of us ended up on the same route at the same time. All so different, yes, but at the same time somehow got closer during this time. That was the magic of bus boredom.

And in conclusion, friends, it's better to go by train if you are going a long distance. Or by plane. A bus is good for trips like New York - New Jersey, etc.

And one more thing: Tip #12: Buy yourself a portable charger, or Portable Charger, as they are called in the States. This is very important for any travel, and even more so for a bus. And in general, it will come in handy in life when you go out for the whole day.