These retirees got a vacation-saving ride on a pink bus, thanks to kindness from strangers
Would you drive hours through the night for a group of strangers? Two drivers did just that to save the trip of a lifetime for a group of Quad Cities retirees.
During a week of heavy fog advisories in the Midwest, flights were being canceled across the region and vacations were being put on hold.
Lisa Broer was at the Quad Cities International Airport in Moline, Illinois on Jan. 25 waiting on a standby list for a potential flight when she decided to give up, according to the Quad-City Times.
Broer was getting her bags when she saw a group of 22 senior citizens in the checking area, the Times reported. One of them came up to Broer asking for help finding an Uber.
After chatting, Broer learned the group of seniors had been planning their trip to Hawaii for more a year, but their flight had been canceled. Broer told the Times that the group had to make it to Chicago by 9:30 the next morning or they would each be out over $6,000.
Broer took to the Facebook group "What's Going on Quad Cities," trying to gather rides for the squad of seniors.
In her post, Broer wrote that she was heartbroken, but her vehicle could only hold five people. She asked the group for ideas on how to make the mission possible. And hundreds of responses poured in.
Neon pink bus comes to the resuce
The Quad-City Times reported that Michael Tumbleson, owner of Tumbleson Transportation was the hero of the night. He saw the post on Facebook, and even got a call from the group asking for help.
He called a driver, got a group of friends to help shovel out the company's neon pink bus, and made the trip to the airport. But, when driver Charles Graves got there, the passengers didn't fit with all their luggage, the Times reported.
Graves got his uncle to bring a second passenger van, and the two got the group to the Chicago airport by the next morning.
Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez is a general assignment reporter for the Register. Reach her at vreynarodriguez@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter @VictoriaReynaR.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How a Facebook post and pink bus delivered Quad City seniors to Hawaii
