My cat caught a mouse at this rest area and he pranced up to the bus door all proud. I yelled at him that he couldn’t bring live mice in the bus… now he’s torturing it under it. Poor mouse.
I drove five hours today but let me tell you some stories…
Immediately after getting up I had breakfast delivery from the friendly couple on national park tour that kicked down yesterday. I did get kicked out of that gas station shortly after though. That was in Wall. We had a nice grassy play area there and a huge dinosaur we visited briefly.
In sturgis, I met a plethora of colorful people and saw so many smiles! Oh, how I will miss the smiles of people in awe of bugus, or slugus as Tony said, whom I still have to reply to.
One woman and her uncle pulled up at the shopko I was parked at. They have been having a rough time lately, and they were smiling from ear to ear. Just so happy to see something this crazy. It made their day just a little brighter. They wished they had something to give me, but I told them that sometimes a smile will suffice. Especially if it comes from a sweet heart.
After driving away from Sturgis with not a whole lot, but quite some impatience (I blame the heat and the couped up kids) Tony messaged me saying he had appropriate transmissions for bugus. God it hurts. I was already driving and I have this plan in mind…. But what if I’m wrong? What if I need to extend her life? What if I can put better care in it somehow and extend that transmissions life. Maybe I could learn to drop my own transmission?
I sometimes think about what goes through peoples minds or out of their mouths when they see the bus. Like “There’s a fucking bug… On top of the bus!” “Do you see that??” Then, often, childlike excitement overcomes them and they just the urge and have to wave! I feel like a fucking princess waving back driving through some towns.
I took a bunch of pictures of the changing landscape today. I should’ve sorted it by now, but alas, I was driving and now I’m tired. I will end up making a scenery collage of our progression through landscapes.
That cat is still out, pouncing on things in the grass.
I drove for what seemed like ever! Billings is pretty far from Sturgis. Even taking the 212 short cut.
I stopped in Billings, rolled a cigarette, gave the boys some juice and stepped outside to smoke. Someone had already pulled up behind me. I waved at the guy and he came to chat. We talked a little about Bugus and the set up, which lead me to my current prompt of “Would be nice if she ran much longer, but her transmission’s going out.” Sad faces all around. I asked him for some nugs and he asks me what else I need. I say “just fuel to get back to Bozeman.” He brings back art, nugs, and a jug of Diesel. Then he asks if I need anything along side the next five gallons he’s gonna bring. Someone comes by and kicks down. He asks if I need money. He ends up bringing me a fat wad! This dude! Bless his heart! He just poured some glitter over my day. Biodegradable of course.
The sky is blue the sun is bright. Not everything’s going my way, but I’m feeling alright.
I’ve got to say. Writing about traveling is pretty hard. There’s no way to fully capture my though process. Why do I pull off at the places I do? I don’t really plan that much. Sometimes it’s just a feeling that I’m going to stop there and a certainty. Other times I feel stressed about the half assed guess. Obviously, on occasion I research some things like kid activities. Other times all I know is that I’m gonna start my day driving, and find a park on the way.
I’m so not finished with this bus. We barely crested 390k miles on this million mile engine. I feel like an attention whore driving this thing. I really enjoy my bus. But it’s not really about the attention being on me. It’s about these people feeling great about what their eyes are eating up and sharing that with me and maybe even others! I yearn to see all the pictures taken from the outside perspective. Just yesterday a guy was parked up on an overpass obviously taking a picture front and back as she cruised! I want to see that! I love when people contact me. I wish more people did… though I already have a hard time keeping up with the few that do.
Leaving Billings at dusk, not a smart driver move, I left the window on the side cracked. I pulled into the rest area next to a trucker, who was facetiming. They watched me, use a screwdriver to loosen the screws holding the lock bar tight, for rattling has loosened the screws and it gets worse if I don’t sinch them down tight. However, if they’re not loosened, the lock doesn’t slide open. So I loosen the screws, jump out, wave and smile, close my window, jump back in, tighten the screws and get in my seat. This trucker looked at me dumbfounded as I drove away. First gear was hitting, so I even had some oomf getting, instead of that snail move she’s been giving me for a while now.
What else has happened? Did I even write yesterday? I doubt it. Must check…
I didn’t! Poo me! well rewind a second.
Mitchell, SD sucked except this cool lady that was the first and only one to pull up. She beckoned me out of the bus and we conversed for a while, but I was cold. She gave me what she could, which was more than I expected after the lovely conversation of our impending demise (I’m actually serious, I think it’s a lovely conversation piece cause it’s all in the future. WHo knoWS?)
From there we drove all the way to Wall. a total of 2 and a half hour drive. There we chilled at the gas station, where we met the couple on tour… What a pointless and boring day. I coulda done something good with the kids at that efficiency level. We read some books can be counted as something good. And they had that grass garden.
Anyway. I’m fairly close to destination but I’m beyond exhausted. The kids were super excited to see their Omi, but I wasn’t going to tell them they could stay up till midnight. Although, letting little kids jump on my mom at that time of night could be fairly funny. Not this time though. Off to bed for me.
Right! And the internet is a beautiful place! I got this message from nigelvanadventures, a lovely dude, who designed a thing of Matilda Bugus that I think really gets all my love across.
And, bless facebook on a personal note. I posted for friends to leave a short positive message. I got some cheery sarcasm and some supercalifragilisticexpialedocious love. People are amazing. I’m gonna make myself some screenshots and a little fotobook for when I’m down.
I’m so grateful. I’m so perplexed. I will probably remain both for ever, if I’m lucky….
I’m loving you all. Big and small. Short and tall.
Matilda the Bugus 