JOURNAL: Houston—Manhattan by U-Haul
Thomas A. W. Stewart · 2016
We were stranded, of course. Far from our homes, helpless in Houston, not knowing what to do or how. We all managed to call home, then stood or sat staring, hour upon hour, as the towers of the World Trade Center collapsed again and again. The couple of dozen military personnel at the conference began figuring out how to get back to home, which for many was Washington. Amtrak trains were booked. None of us was quick enough to score a rental car, though small companies had them available with tremendous drop-off charges. it was becoming impossible to stay, to do nothing, to sit in a hotel bar and watch CNN, to sit in a hotel room and watch CNN, to borrow an office and watch CNN, or to try to work and not watch CNN. Renee Marsh, whom I'd met at the conference and who works for IBM and lives just north of New York City, called her significant other to tell him that she wanted to drive home, but there wasn't a one-way rental to be found. Get a U-Haul, he said, adding: But you're a damn fool.