(3 of 3)
In West Texas the bus enters a stretch of icy country that turns out to last some 2,000 miles, almost to New York, in fact. Wrecked semitrucks and skidded cars begin to litter the roadside. At one stop, a shocked, trembling trucker keeps saying: "There were cars all around me, and this little one pulled right in front of me.
I couldn't stop. I ran right over him."
Depression sets in as the bus is stranded in Arkansas for the night. But Monksee uncorks some wine, and soon the bus is rocking to the sound of Bob Marley, everybody chanting "no woman no cry" right along with Marley. Jerry and Sapphire dance in the aisle. "What would happen if we were on Greyhound?" some one wonders. Sapphire reaches for the zinfandel. "Gimme that infidel!" Jerry is blowing his harmonica as the bus fills up with the sweet smell of marijuana.
Sunday morning. Slab ice forces the bus off the road again in Carlisle, Ark. (pop. 2,000). As we stumble out, most of us disheveled and collectively smelling as ripe as backpackers three days out, we learn that more than 300 people are al ready stranded here from all over the U.S. and Canada. The Emmanuel Baptist Church has opened its doors to offer shelter, and this morning the church ladies are dishing up a free hot meal in the auditorium. "When we realized there were no rooms at the motel and bad weather in all directions,"recalls Church Mem ber Russell Thrift, "we told the boy down at the gas station to let folks know they could stay at the church. We did the same thing last year. Every time this happens, when folks are gone we find checks here and there, tucked into the pulpit or the music stand." A sign in the church foyer reads NO MAN IS AN ISLAND.
Memphis, Greensboro, N.C., Balti more. When the bus finally pulls into New York City we are close to three days late. But no one is eager to say goodbye. It does not seem to matter that the whole experience seems as corny as a 1940s movie. Roughing it, sharing everything from spare cash to toothbrushes, has formed bonds unheard of on Amtrak. Jerry, Ted and Susie stay aboard, heading for the last stop in Boston. As the bus pulls out, the traveler, walking away in the snow, hands jammed into pockets against the cold, finds that someone has slipped her the jack of hearts.
— Janice Castro