I came in second place in Survivor!

For the last two years I have been taking the bus to and from Seattle to visit my sweetie. Never once has the bus broken down. Never.
Yeah. Never. Except on the ONE day that I really have plans for when I get there and its his birthday celebration and I really really really wanted to see him. Last Wednesday I decided to grab the 5:15 bus, and go to Seattle, thinking I would be there for sunset, he was going to meet me and we could go for a nice walk. Perhaps pick up a bottle of wine and a good movie to snuggle down to later. I was dreaming, oh yes, I was dreaming.

This is how the game of Survivor began. (Note: I will substitute names for people whom I don't know or can't remember their names)

I always bring food and water on the bus, when I am on my way to Seattle, usually because I know that getting into Seattle there is no food around until I get to D's. This time, I didn't. I don't know why I made that choice (I also made the choice not to purchase cigarettes, and what do you know, I haven't smoked in days and have decided to try to keep this up) but in the end, it drasically affected the outcome of the game. (Not really)

Anyway, there were 16 passengers on the bus (ironic? I think so) and we were all happily doing our own thing. There were 10 adults and 6 children. These 6 children were between the ages of 9 and 9 months, and they all were adorable.

One woman, who we will call Janice, was a bubbly black woman with a great attitude had her three children, 2 boys, Malik (2) and Jamal (5), and a girl Jada who was 9 months old. She had a flight to catch at 9:53. The bus was to arrive at SeaTac at 8:20. The second woman with children was April, and her three children Jeff, Michael and Kara. Kara was the youngest and was 4. She had the cutest face I've ever seen (other than those of my 24 cousins, hehehe). April had a flight to catch at 11:00pm at Seatac, and she figured she would have plenty of time to feed her kids and get them through security.

The rest of us? Well, there was Rob (mechanic), Ruth and Jared (tourists), Amber (student @ UVIC), Sandra (going home), Brian (going home), Laticia (boyfriend in Seattle like me!) and ME! Rob and I had already bonded at the Campbell River Store, he was a nice man who had 2 boys at home in Kelowna and a beautiful wife (from what I could tell, she was in the car when she dropped him off). The rest of us had no idea what we were in for.

As the bus pulled up "Starbird" hill (yes, I remember, it was the evil exit 218!) it began to smoke and smell of burnt clutch. We were doing 5 miles an hour on the I5. It was ridiculous, most of us had looks of horror on our faces, meanwhile Janice the delightful african-canadian woman was smiling and saying "Go figure, for once I am on time!" She was a great spirit lifter. Eventually, the bus came to a stop. The state patrol walked up, and gave our heroic bus-driver shit for doing 5. The the bus driver (Richard) explained that he just wanted to get us to the top of the hill so we wouldn't roll or be unseen by traffic. And this is when the game began.

D was at the TravelLodge waiting for me. How would I know how long I would be trapped? How would this work out? Would another bus come?

It came down to who had their cell phone and was willing to share. Ruth and Jared did, and I tried calling D first (who's line was busy) then Laticia called her boyfriend (who she got ahold of) and as it turns out, the one who should have gotten the phone first? The bus driver, RIchard. Everyone was frantic, wondering if Janice would make her 9:53 flight, would I make it for the sunset and wine, would April make her flight? We all sat on the bus, going stir crazy, until I decided I needed a cigarette. Everyone followed outside, where Laticia would start the game of playing with the kids, were we all would make jokes about being stranded on the side of the road. Richard, the bus driver had an announcement to make 45 minutes into the game.

"A Bell-Air shuttle will come and take those most in need of getting to SeaTac"

A group decision was made. Janice and her three kids were top priority, and then there was April and her three kids. The bell air shuttle came and went, and then there was 8. By this time, it was 8pm. We had been at the side of the road for 1.5 hours and we all were going nutz. Brian's wife was coming to get him, he could fit ONE person in the car. Laticia was invited as she was going to Bellevue, close to where Brian was going. And then there were 6. It was dark, the sun had gone down, I had missed my sunset, although everyone who was left, Amber, Rob, Ruth, Jared and Sandra were wonderful people and we cracked jokes about how D was with me in spirit. We all sat on the bus. Sandra talked to her husband who had a CRV and he could take 4 people including herself. While waiting we talked and introduced eachother. At this point, we realized, it was coming down to Rob and I, the sole-survivors, and we had to wait an additional hour for the late bus (Quick Shuttle) to come and save us from our impending doom.


This is how Rob won.

As we sat there, on the bus, I became hungry. I had not brought food or drink. Rob, had a Zone bar, and a pop. He gave me the last of his food. He became, the Richard Hatch of the Quick Shuttle.

The bus came and got us, and we were the celebrities who were stuck on the side of the road for 2.5 hours. It was, if nothing at all, and experience I will never forget. If it had been Survivor - I would have won 100,000 bucks, instead all I got was a late trip to Seattle and a refund on my ticket.