Lovebus

Chapter 19: The Return of Crazy Horse

Chapter 18: Wounded Knee

Chapter 17: Mud for Dessert In a remote corner of Badlands National Park, there is a little swimming hole hidden behind a clump of trees across the street from the White River Visitor Center. The bus passed through a small gate, down a dirt road, and parked in a field beneath two massive oaks. Past the trees, through a row of thick bushes to the left, we could see a shallow and slow-moving river a...

Chapter 16: Champagne for Breakfast A whiff of campfire smoke awakened me from my astral slumber high atop Sheep Mountain Table, in the Badlands of South Dakota. I lay awake for several minutes, alone on the communal mattresses encircling the smoldering bonfire. The morning air was cool and refreshing. The sun had already risen above the horizon, so I got out of my sleeping bag to avoid overheatin...

Chapter 15: American Prayer [Whistle of wind, faint drums and Indians chanting.] Nature called me awake in the darkness before dawn on Sheep Mountain Table in the Badlands of South Dakota. I wiggled my way out of my sleeping bag and rose to my feet. I stretched my spine and took a deep breath. The cool moist air startled me. I turned and surveyed the hillside. A veil of fog was moving over the lan...

Chapter 14: Sheep Mountain Table The moment I arrived at Sheep Mountain Table I was overcome by a profound sense of awe. Dozens of passengers from both buses staggered with me to the edge of the cliff overlooking the entirety of Badlands National Park. The light-colored sandstone reflected the sunlight, making it a very bright place even at twilight. Off to the east a group of surrealistically sha...

Chapter 13: Cuny Cafe Part of the magic and intensity of the Green Tortoise adventure travel experience in the Badlands involves eating dinner prepared by a pair of gregarious Lakota Sioux women at a place called Cuny Cafe. The cafe building doubles as their home on land that bears their family name. Cuny Table is located near Buffalo Gap on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. After eating dinner,...

Chapter 12: Scenic, South Dakota; Population:12 The passengers on the front platform were sitting with their heads close to the open windows trying to get some relief from the heat. Guitar Johnny strummed and sang softly, putting in the least amount of effort possible. After a while he started taking requests and reluctantly increased both his volume and effort. He had to wipe the beads of sweat o...

Chapter 11: Badlands National Park In the darkness before dawn, the Green Tortoise Adventure Bus crawled to a halt along the curb of a dark empty parking lot in Badlands National Park. With the last breath of the engine came a profound silence. I arose from the back platform where British Sue and I had been sleeping. I gingerly tiptoed over the people on the front platform. Driver Brian was asleep...

Chapter 10: Party Across the Great Plains When I woke up, we were in the parking lot of a liquor store somewhere in the middle of the Great Plains. Other than the grocery store across the street, there really wasn’t anything else around for miles. Driver Chris stood up, holding the safety bar by the door with one knee on the buddy seat. “Listen up guys. We are in Albert Lea, Minnesota. We’re stopp...

Chapter 9: Breakfast on the Mississippi I woke up a few minutes after sunrise. Little Josh had gotten up nice and early, making sure that his mother paid heavily for her night out drinking. She held her head as if it were a drippy eggshell. “Wake up mom, we’re crossing the Mississippi River!” Mother Michelle tried to rise from her bed to see the water, but the yolk was dripping off the shell. She...

Chapter 8: The Chicago Blues At some point on the two-hour drive into Chicago I had drank enough beer to necessitate the use of the pee funnel for the first time. After the laughter ebbed, I stood up in the stairwell and scowled at the Chicago skyline to the west. It all seemed grey to me, the sky, the buildings, the fate of millions of souls bound together in such proximity. When the bus pulled o...

Chapter 7: Indiana Dunes While the rest of us used the bathrooms one last time, Driver Brian went to sleep in the driver’s cabin and Driver Chris changed into a pair of red lifeguard shorts and a stained grey t-shirt with the words, ‘I am Made of Meat’ half hidden behind his copious facial hair. The beautiful brown-skinned teacher from New York was sitting on the buddy seat with her back leaning a...

Chapter 6: The Driver’s Apprentice The engine was silent when I woke up, but I could feel the bus swaying slightly as passengers moved around below. I felt well-rested despite the bumpy roads and being kept awake by British Sue’s wind-blown hair touching my face. The dinette table had been converted to a bed on which Michelle and Josh were now sleeping. I peeked over the edge of the bunk, trying t...

Chapter 5: The Moon Over Manhattan When the Green Tortoise bus rolled down Broadway the citizens of New York took notice. As the antique bus maneuvered through traffic, horns beeped, and arms waved enthusiastically through open car windows. Cabbies leaned out waving and truckers blew air-horns. Pedestrians on the sidewalks stopped in their tracks, lining up along the curb as the bus rolled past, c...

Chapter 4: Skinny-Dipping in Connecticut About fifteen minutes after the rest stop, the bus pulled off the highway onto a two-lane country road lined with tall pine trees somewhere west of Hartford. Less than a mile later at a nondescript break in the tree-line we turned onto a primitive single-lane dirt road that ended in an open field at the foot of a hill. The bus listed severely on the grassy...

Chapter 3: Buddy Check While driving west of Boston through the woodland hills of Massachusetts, I sat behind Driver Brian listening to him speak with the soccer player from Boston. “Where did you live when you were a kid?” she asked him earnestly. “In a cooperative,” he informed her. “Is that like a commune?” she asked. “Ha!” he laughed. “I should hope not.” His eyes lit up with his smile. “A coo...

Chapter 2: The Art of Adventure Travel Inside the bus, Driver Chris had taken off his shirt and he was sitting at the dinette table reading from a business ledger. An incredibly attractive girl with flowing brown hair sat on the mattress close behind him massaging his shoulders. His red-bearded face exuded joy. There was a look in his eyes like that of a wise older person, like travel had taught h...

Chapter 1: The Renaissance of Wonder Clouds coated the Boston sky like cataracts in the eyes of an insane old dog. The wonderful blue that had once shined behind the clouds seemed lost forever on the hounded features of the city. As my father fifty-fived his Oldsmobile up Route 93 toward the Boston skyline, raindrops crocodiled down the windshield like tears, distorting the foreboding pillars of c...

Welcome to the Lovebus Podcast! What lays in store for you in this podcast is epic! For those of you who aren't in the know, there exists a real-life Hippie Adventure Bus called the Green Tortoise. The legendary "Hippie Greyhound," has a "Shuffle Your Feet Lose Your Seat Policy," with no reserved seating, offering bunk beds and communal mattresses for sleeping through the night. The infamous "Bus...

Welcome to the Lovebus Podcast! I'm your Host Johnny Lovebus. our intention for this podcast is to celebrate our love for Adventure Travel Aboard the Historic Green Tortoise Adventure Bus. Here at Lovebus Studios, For those of you who aren't in the know, there exists a real life Hippie Adventure Bus called the Green Tortoise. The legendary "Hippie Greyhound," had a "Shuffle Your Feet Lose Your Sea...