I had gone to Vegas for my friend's bachelor party. After a weekend of strippers and booze, I sat in McCarran waiting to go home, when South West announced they were cancelling the flight because of some security incident at John Wayne Santa Ana airport. They offered a $50 hotel voucher and a booking on the 3PM flight on Monday.
While me and 100+ other passengers were in line to speak to a ticketing agent, I started chatting with a few guys ahead of me. We somehow hatched a plan to rent a car and drive back to Orange County. On the way to the Avis counter, we picked up 3 more passengers for the ride home.
So by 11 PM we were finally on the road - all of us a bit tenuous, a bit exhilarated at the prospect of spending the next 5 hours with complete strangers.
Any drive from LA to Vegas and back, is not complete without stopping at the In-N-Out in Barstow; so we stopped for double-doubles, sitting together like we were old friends. By the time we got to SNA, it was already 3 AM. I had work at 8, and a client meeting at 11.
If that happened now, I'd get a rental and drive back alone, but finances were an issue at the time, so that seemed like the best / most logical decision. Looking back, I'm glad I did that for no other reason than to have a good story to tell to my kids.