By Nicole Hanratty
 
There is something about riding on buses that make for unforgettable experiences, like when a rock comes hurling through the glass windshield and almost takes out your friend.
 
My junior year I was riding home for the weekend from college on a five hour bus trip with a friend. We were sitting in the front of the bus in a row that had two seats. A couple of hours in, my friend got up from her seat to do something. Within a minute or so of her leaving her seat, broken glass was everywhere.
 
Out of nowhere, a rock came barrelling at the bus windshield with such force it shattered the glass and flew into the bus. The headrest of my friend’s seat (where her face had just been) was the barrier that dead stopped the rock in flight.
 
Had she been sitting there, I hate to even imagine how the force of that rock would have harmed her. She was so incredibly lucky that she had the inclination to get up for that one minute–in that instant–from her seat. And I was equally as lucky that the trajectory of the rock hit her empty seat and not my face.
 
We were stunned. The incident happened in a flash but it is a memory and a “bus ride tale” that I will never forget. It remains today a “timing is everything” lesson and reinforces my belief in guardian angels.
 
Last week, Darren Kavinoky asked his Twitter followers if they had #BusRideTales to share. Darren’s “Tweeps” have some great stories! Here are are a few of them:
 

Worst/best/funniest #bus ride you ever had? Go! #BusRideTales pic.twitter.com/Y2bPVwTUWj

— Darren Kavinoky (@DarrenKavinoky) May 28, 2016

@DarrenKavinoky Party bus in the 90's to see Pink Floyd in Nashville, lots of fun but a "busy" bathroom. Mile high club on wheels

— Hilly (@momdmbfan) May 28, 2016

@DarrenKavinoky

Funniest: In Lesvos, Greek island. Driver let a woman on free of charge, but charged her for the chicken she was carrying.

— Andy™ (@wigoonertm) May 28, 2016

@DarrenKavinoky two years in a row on a white water rafting trip the bus lost a wheel on a mountain road next to a sheer drop to death.

— Bradley (@FricknFrack1) May 28, 2016

@DarrenKavinoky Bus rides to elementary school during Winters in Vermont. Tossed around & slid into snow banks. #ScaryIcyRoads #FearFactor

— Andrea Lukowski (@andrea_lukowski) May 28, 2016

@DarrenKavinoky I DROVE a bus in college. After a stop forTaco Bell on a swim trip, food poisoning hit me with 3 hours to go. #BusRideTales

— Jim Williams (@bigeyejim) May 28, 2016

@DarrenKavinoky Bus ride to casino and the only two seats that were left, were next to the restroom. I never want to smell another soul!😭

— Zondra King (@king_zondra) May 28, 2016

@DarrenKavinoky Boston to Portland, they overfilled. Had a guy standing next to me with his butt in my face for 2 hours! #busridestories

— Dave Collins (@davidjcollins) May 28, 2016

@DarrenKavinoky A spirited 😈 teenager, I was sent off to the country to live w/my grandfather. Coincidentally I sat next to a priest on bus.

— Being Butterfly (@Being8Butterfly) May 28, 2016

@DarrenKavinoky Head on collision with a drunk driver. He ended up decapitated.

— Dan Snyder (@grecoisdead) May 28, 2016

@DarrenKavinoky my driver couldn't figure out how to work the new bus's CD player. Listened to sweet home Alabama on repeat all the way home

— Alexa Brooke (@OhEmGeeSquee) May 28, 2016

@DarrenKavinoky 7th grade on the school bus, got mooned by some guys from another school. Good times. https://t.co/Ka844pNn6s

— Debbie Sweat (@dsweat7077) May 28, 2016