Undriver Steve Verhey commutes weekly by Greyhound from Ellensburg to Olympia and back. Here’s a recent “Woulda Missed This If Driving” dispatch:
Last night a skinny, pale guy wearing a T-shirt, light sweat pants, and Converse-like shoes got on the Greyhound bus at Olympia. He was carrying a paper bag just larger than lunch-sack size. Turned out that he’d just gotten out of the prison in Shelton after 18 months.
He kept saying, “I didn’t even know I was getting out! They just said, ‘Hey you can roll up because you’re out of here.’ I’m going to see my mom!” He was so happy he told anyone who would listen, and his happiness was infectious. Everyone was smiling.
Our driver was the Friday Portland-Seattle regular, and he’s always happy. Before we left Tacoma he told us, “Well, the PA system on this bus doesn’t work, and the reading lights on this bus don’t work, but I’ve got good news: there are wheels on this bus!”
- Steve Verhey