It may have happened 65 years ago, but for club member Steve Long, that glorious Greyhound bus trip all across America with 31 classmates might have occurred last week. Steve shared his vivid recollections of this one-of-a-kind school experience in 1953—when he was 14 and in the eighth grade in Ceres, California—at the club lunch meeting last week. The story behind the 30-day trip is every bit as compelling. Not a penny for the bus and driver, food or lodging was donated by parents, booster clubs or school funds. The young teens collectively worked for a year to raise the $10,000 (in 1953 dollars, equal to more than $91,600 today), holding paper and scrap metal drives, selling vanilla extract (ask Steve), and performing in a well-received talent show.
The trip covered 24 of the then 48 states, leaving California and heading south along Route 66 to Washington DC, and returning home on a northern route, including a visit to Ontario, Canada. The trip was dubbed “Washington DC or Bust” by the bravest eighth grade teacher ever, Mrs. Dorothy Keck. |