The bus station couple could have succeeded if they'd bought the tickets, died their hair grey, maybe got props of a cane and thick glasses and walked out of the bus station into the night, and headed in the opposite direction,perhaps into a state with deposit bottles. A couple of trash bags, old clothes, a few beer cans, and who would notice the middle aged homeless couple. In a town not too far away, they might be able to trade the tickets for a little cash, or some food, or something else useful. all they'd need is a sob story, something along the lines of "MY mother is sick, I'm afraid she doesn't have much time left WE bought these tickets, but our clothes are dirty from sleeping under the bridge, and the driver wouldn't let us on the bus because we smell bad. Any cash you could give us for these tickets would help. PLEASE?" You get the idea.they could disappear in plain sight and hitch hike somewhere else, then maybe set out on foot and keep moving. In a different direction, of course. they could sleep under bridges and mingle with real homeless people. Nobody would look at them twice. If their appearance was enough different, they could eat at a different soup kithen every night. They wouldn't need to visit the ATM:they wouldn't need a lot of cash. How does this sound/ It just might work.