Taking the Bus to Key Largo

We’d like to thank John for the following story.

I was at the airport, waiting for the bus to go home one day. There was a crowd of us watching a basketball game. Out of the corner of my eye, I see this scruffy-looking character with wild hair, a beat-up polo shirt, and shorts. He was carrying a ratty, stained case. It suddenly occurred to me that this guy looked familiar. I knew who it was… but it couldn’t be. I leaned over and asked him, “Had anybody told you that you look like Bill Murray”, to which he responded, “I get that a lot.” I believed him.

He looked at me and asked, “How do I get to Key Largo?” I told him that there was a Grey Hound Shuttle that runs twice a day, or a Keys Shuttle that runs every two hours. “The cheapest way is for 5 bucks; you can take the public system, but you have to take 2 buses and a train.” He sat back, thought for a while, then leaned over and asked, “Will they have the basketball game at the train station?” I told him that they wouldn’t. “Too bad, ’cause I am going to take the bus”. Just then two of my coworkers walked into the bus terminal with their cell phone cameras in hand saying, “That’s Bill Murray”.

“No, it can’t be”, I thought, “He’s riding the bus to Key Largo. Wouldn’t he have a limo or something? And besides, he told me he wasn’t.” I suggested to the scruffy, possibly-Bill-Murray character to get on the bus with me, as it was the first bus on his journey – to which he said “great”. During the ride, I leaned over to him and asked, “Are you really him?” He nodded sheepishly. I knew it!

We talked for a while. I asked him about his movies. “What was your favorite movie that you made?” He replied, “My movies are like my children. I can’t say one is my favorite.” When I asked for his autograph, he signed it “I once was lost but now I am found”. “Get it”, he said as he handed the paper back to me, “I was lost until you showed me the way.” When he left the bus, the people couldn’t believe it was him – but they were sure. When I got home and told my wife the story, she was upset that I didn’t tell him that he was her favorite actor ever. That’s the truth!

key largo sunset