Muncie, Indiana

Many people have asked, why Muncie? To visit a friend of course, not that we’d met in person before but we’d been in contact via email for years and a visit was due - in fact back when I was a publisher I published two of her books - Silenced Cry and The Devil Can Wait (buy them, they‘ve won awards and they‘re good). It was lovely to meet Marta and her family, including the somewhat potty grandmother! Plus it was very good to stay in her lovely home, a proper bed without railings, a homely, comfortable atmosphere and generally just relaxing. Plus the weather was gorgeous and we were even able to drive with top down in the car around Indianapolis and then again in Muncie.

Chicago

After an overnight train from Washington DC, I arrived at the Chicago hostel at 8.30 in the morning, fully expecting to just be able to put my bags in a locker and come back and check-in later. However, I was allowed to check-in there and then, dump my bags in my room and have a shower. The hostel offers a number of activities, one of these happened to be an architectural tour of the city, I decided this was probably a good idea to take, so I could get an idea of the place and what there was to see. 

Washington, DC

I arrived in Washington DC at the train station and caught the bus to the hostel. The bus driver was very helpful, until I pointed out the top of the Capitol building asking what it was, he just replied it was just some office building! 

Portland, Maine

I’m still in a quandary about Portland, it’s nice enough but from what I’ve seen nothing special, so I’m rather at a loss as to why it is in so many must visit lists (apparently even in Fodor’s Top Ten cities to visit, but I can’t find any evidence for that, except what the chap told me). People are very proud of the place and maybe in summer it’s charming, but to me it felt rather desolate. There were a lot of unemployed and homeless people about the town and the social worker I met did say there is a big problem in Portland. The public transport is appalling, buses are late and people spend half their time waiting for them. As I said, it could be that I was there at the wrong time of year and the economy has affected the place, so it’s not at its best and having a car could have made a difference, but it just didn’t seem to have much going for it, except the seafood!