Very wrong turn
Very wrong turn
| CAPTION: Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Miguelangel Garcia stands by the Greyhound Bus stop in Hancock, shortly before his bus to Kalamazoo boards Wednesday. Garcia had accidentally been sent to Calumet. |
By GARRETT NEESE, DMG Writer
HANCOCK — Despite what they might tell you at the Greyhound ticket counter, there is a Kalamazoo in Michigan.
And Miguelangel Garcia is finally headed there, more than a day after a ticket counter mishap plunked him down in the northern reaches of the Upper Peninsula.
Garcia, 21, of Veracruz, Mexico, was visiting some friends in New Jersey before traveling to Kalamazoo to see his father. At a Greyhound depot in New York City, Garcia, who speaks little English, attempted to tell the agent his destination.
The agent couldn’t find a Kalamazoo, but did find a Calumet — about 10 hours and 570 miles away.
That’s where Garcia arrived about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.
“He was really scared at first, because he didn’t know where he was, and there was no bus station or anybody to meet him,” said Marlys Bacon of Calumet, interpreting for Garcia.
He walked to a BP gas station, where Patty Hale of Calumet saw him on her way to work.
She then notified Bacon, a Milwaukee high school Spanish teacher who lives in Calumet during the summer.
Bacon and her husband, Wayne Higgins, took Garcia to their home on the Calumet waterfront, where he ate breakfast, showered, and got some much-needed sleep.
Through the afternoon, a succession of Spanish-speaking friends of Bacon’s and Higgins’ visited him.
He also had a pizza dinner with some former Calumet High School students who speak Spanish.
“It helped him feel more at home,” Bacon said.
Wednesday night, Garcia left Hancock aboard another Greyhound bus, which, according to the schedule, should bring him to Kalamazoo at 2:30 p.m. today.
It’s on Greyhound.
Bacon and Higgins were there to send him off, waving from the sidewalk.
“I’m feeling sad to say goodbye to him now, because he’s about like my son,” Bacon said. “I don’t want him to get lost again.”
Higgins agreed.
“It’s been an interesting day, and he’s a nice young man,” Higgins said.
Before driving him to the bus, Bacon and Higgins took Garcia on a tour of Calumet and Laurium.
As they pointed out, it’s probably smaller than he’s used to.
“He smiled and said ‘But I think I will return here one day to visit you,’” Bacon said.
Garrett Neese can be reached at gneese@mininggazette.com
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