Volume Eight (Home Again)

We left the Rainbow Gathering in Missouri, and began the final trip home. We had been joined by my friend Ray, in his trusty '63 single cab, so we had a nice caravan coming home. The drive went fairly smoothly, and we arrived around dinner time in a small town in Tennessee.

We parked the busses in a row at Ryan's as we felt we deserved a buffet. On the way out, we were stopped by a fellow who asked if we were driving the VW's outside. When we said yes, he mentioned that he had 2 old pickup trucks he wanted to sell. He lived a few miles up the road, but had other plans for the evening, so we gave him an address to send photos to.

Out in the parking lot, we were having trouble with the idle on the '70, so we tried for a few minutes to adjust the carb, timing, and get it back right. In a few minutes, the fellow and his wife came back, and said that their plans had changed, and asked if we'd like to go out and see the trucks. We agreed, and headed out to the family farm, where back in the barn were a nicely restored '61 single cab, and a pretty rusty '68 crew cab. It seems his father had restored the single cab, driven the new engine about 40 miles, until it started losing power, and then parked it in disgust, ten years ago. It's been sitting in the barn ever since. The crew cab was kinda rough, and had been sitting for a few years as well, after serving as a work truck.

After much looking and discussion, we decided to hit the road, and get back in touch with him later on. However, we later decided they were too far away to go back and get, so if anyone is interested in them, I can probably give you his number. the single cab is definately worth saving, and the crewcab probably is worth it, but it's a project...

Anyway, after our last night at a rest stop, we hit massive traffic jams coming into NC due to heavy construction on I-40. We spent several hours crawling along, with floks walking back and forth between the busses, and walking to trucks to hear the latest word on the CB.

We finally rolled into Raleigh about 3:00 am, and of course, went to IHOP for our first home meal! :)

Anyway, we had a wonderful time, and met and stayed with some wonderful people. Many thanks to Uncle Joel, Jim Kirk and Kate in Indiana, and Tom Brouilette and especially Michael in New Mexico, for all the hospitality, and help and everything. If anyone is ever in Raleigh NC, and needs a hand or a place to stay, just let me know. Busses are a wonderful way to meet people, and meet great people at that... The whole Bus-owner mentality (what, mental conditions???) is a wonderful thing.

As for the final stats from the trip, we went almost 6000 miles even in about 6 weeks. I don't have the total amount of gas consumed, but between 2 busses, we spent about $700 for gas, and my '67 got around 23 mpg average, although that does include some city driving as well.... We were only mildly hassled by cops once in Boulder, despite both busses being brightly painted and decorated, in a screaming hippie-attention-getter-fashion. It was a lot of fun, and I hope to meet even more of you in future travels, and as you pass through around here. The Triangle Area Busses are trying to organize some regional events in the fall, and also something big for next summer, so keep an eye out. As a shameless plug, I must heartily recommend that everyone join NEATO or LiMBO, as another great way to be connected to bus people wherever you go.

Anyway, Watch out for my next super-bus adventure, which I am currently in the planning stages of. I'll post details as they shape up. Um, thanks to the 12 people that I've already received t-shirt orders from, and I hope to see a lot more! I'm reposting the shirt info later today. My bus and house were mercifully spared by the Hurricane, so all's well on that front.