bent's blog

I couldn’t be happier this morning. Chad, Derek, and I are sending the bus back out on the road. This time, a new crew of enthusiastic youngsters will man the bus on a month long journey. Grant, Kyle, and Justin are Calvin College seniors taking a break from their studies to continue the mission of The Lost Bus. I was just informed that they are on the road heading south. Today is a good day! It has been our dream to keep that bus rolling, and we couldn’t have asked for a more top-notch crew to carry the torch. I’ve never been more excited about the future of the Lost Bus project. The process of getting these guys on the road has caused me to reflect on what has led up to this point…

An unexpected opportunity arose over the last couple weeks and came to fruition in Costa Rica last week. I guess it all stemmed from my dog mushing experience in ‘09/’10. After training huskies in Montana all winter, I headed to Alaska during the Iditarod Sled Dog Race to witness the culmination of the previous 7 months of work. While my boss, Cindy, and the dogs were out traveling across the 1000-mile expanse that is the Iditarod trail, I spent several days in Anchorage before flying to the finish line in Nome. While there, I met a friend who extended generous hospitality in the form of caribou, smoked salmon, kindness, and a couch. We loosely kept in touch via the Internet over the last couple years (mainly in the form of me continually viewing his inspiring photography).

We traveled out of Texas, through Louisiana and Mississippi—now we’re in the tiny town of Pisgah in beautiful northeast Alabama. We came here because of a tornado that ripped through this area on April 27th of last year. Our plan had been to head from Texas to the Atlantic Ocean. When we heard that there was still a big need for volunteers up here, we changed our plans (it was pretty uncharacteristic for us to have a plan, anyway). Several tornados hit here a year ago and they were about as big and bad as tornados can be. The devastation is evident everywhere you look. It has been incredible to hear stories from the people who lived through the storm. When we arrived here on Wednesday we went to work at Lloyd and Wilma’s home.

I’m a Texan again, and I love it. When we visited this great state last year, it blew us all away. We never had high hopes for the state, but we all fell in love with the place. Now we’re back and I couldn’t be happier about it. It has been so good to get away from cities for the last two weeks. After our extended southern California visit, I was more than ready to get away from it all for a while. It has been really refreshing to get out here and enjoy some laid-back Texas ranch living. We’ve seen more animals than people over the last week, and that’s okay for now. I enjoy living where I can look up and see a night sky full of stars.

Southern California sure has been treating us well. Gosh I'm happy to be a migratory creature—a snowbird, if you will. I'm a wanderer driven by the subtle nudges of a cold night or a southbound goose. Don't get me wrong, I love a good cold snow-filled winter. Often I find myself dreaming of being on cross country skis in Michigan, or back on a dogsled in Montana. More often though, I find myself appreciating the fact that it's February and sunny and I'm comfortable outdoors in shorts. The other day I was working in a garden—watering plants and digging holes and just getting dirty outside; then I realized it was February and I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.