Rory: Mark Twain.
Lorelai: Hmm?
Rory: Well, Mark Twain had to work as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi before he became a successful writer. And if he'd never had that experience, he never would have written Huckleberry Finn.
Lorelai: Which is one of your favorite books.
Rory: Remember when I made you have my 12th birthday at the Mark Twain Museum in Hartford?
Lorelai: I thought one day I was gonna find you on a raft made out of empty milk cartons, sailing down the Housatonic river.