American Pilgrim

God bless the United States and God bless New York City proclaimed a sign as the bus rolled through a small Indiana town. In October 2001 author Bill Markley was traveling by public bus from Pierre South Dakota to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg Virginia for a Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity celebration. The day Markley left South Dakota began simply enough but soon tragedy unfolded when a deranged man of Croatian descent slit the throat of a Greyhound bus driver causing an accident and throwing the nation's bus system into disarray. <i>American Pilgrim</i> is an honest account of life on the bus the characters on the bus bus culture and the mood of the American people-reflective patriotic and upbeat.In those challenging days after the attacks on 9/11 everyone struggled to make sense of the world; as Markley worked on this story; it grew beyond the story of a simple 3000-mile bus trip. He recalls many of his life's detours recounting past events at locations the bus traveled through and people associated with those locations-a rambling personal history of people places and things. The trip took on new meaning and became a spiritual journey into the country's past and Markley's past.