Aggie, your trip to Galveston reminded me of my spring break trip from h#ll.

I was supposed to have a ride to the Boston area to visit my sister, whose college was on a different schedule from mine. The night before spring break started, my ride fell through. This was in the days before ATMs (and before college kids had credit cards), and I didn't have enough cash for a bus ticket. Luckily my bank was open Saturday mornings. I think I had about 45 minutes between the time the bank opened and the time the bus left. So I caught the local bus into the nearest city and got on a Greyhound to Boston.

The first bus gets stuck in 4th gear. We're going through tollbooths on the Pennsylvania Turnpike creeping as slowly as the driver can without stalling, explaining the situation to the toll-takers in motion. We stop at the next service plaza to wait for Greyhound to send a replacement bus.

Second bus... same thing happens. I don't remember how far we got before we were, again, waiting at a turnpike service plaza. I want to say we were somewhere in upstate New York by then.

Third bus... quits completely. I remember watching the sunrise in the middle of nowhere, Western Mass.

Fourth bus is the charm. Almost exactly 24 hours from the time I left, I got off the bus, filthy and exhausted, made my way to Harvard Square where someone was supposed to pick me up, and who's the first person I see?

My faculty advisor.