bent's blog | The Lost Bus

Traverse City (MI!)

Submitted by bent on Wed, 2012-05-02 14:18

After living for 16 months on the road (19,800 miles of road) and traveling through something like 23 states, I find myself back in my home—the beautiful high-five of America. For the first time in my life, I am actually enjoying the feeling of the sand that infiltrates the shoes and pockets of every lakeshore resident. I’m really thankful for sand dunes and beech trees and sassafras right now (oh, and the gigantic freshwater ocean that the sun falls into every night). When I set out on this journey, I always thought that I was going to be grabbed by a place that I wouldn’t be able to let go. I thought for sure that I would end up staying put in a little mountain town—somewhere like Idaho or Montana or New Mexico.

Free as I'll ever be.

Submitted by bent on Tue, 2012-04-24 10:38

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).

Bound for Tennessee

Submitted by bent on Mon, 2012-04-09 00:44

Another incredible week of Lost Bus living has slipped away. I know I’ve said it before, but my God, I love this life.

We’ve been living in Pisgah, Alabama at a Camp ToknowHim. It’s a Christian camp that hosts youth groups from all over the country. There is a really nice facility here on an expansive chunk of beautiful land—plenty of open space for hiking and climbing and swimming and exploring. Not only have we had the opportunity to live here for the last 10 days—we’ve been able to spend our time in the company of wonderful new friends. A group of eighty people came down from Lansing, Illinois to spend their vacation time here in Pisgah. They’re from Bethel CRC and they showed up here to be Jesus for some people who are really hurting.

Small Town, AL

Submitted by bent on Mon, 2012-04-02 18:23

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.

Hey y'all.

Submitted by bent on Tue, 2012-03-27 23:38

Sorry for not sharing anything about my life for far too long. Something about blogging—when I wait to long, it get's a lot harder to communicate everything going on in my head. Then, I get overwhelmed and revert to procrastination. Oops. Well, a lot has happened. It has all been amazing. Here goes my best shot at communicating it to y'all (yep, not you guys—y'all).

It's really hard to even know what to say about our Austin visit. A lot happened in a short amount of time and it all sees like a whirlwind now that I look back on it.

Happily Texan.

Submitted by bent on Fri, 2012-03-02 13:55

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.

Freedom.

Submitted by bent on Thu, 2012-02-23 12:57

Let me just start by saying that a lot has happened. It's going to be a difficult to communicate what went on over the last week. Well, anyway…

We ended up working into another week with Olivewood. They are doing really great things there, and we wanted to stick around to help with some more projects. More physical labor and dirt and good times in a beautiful place. I loved it there, and I miss it. The San Diego KOA was an incredibly nice place to live and it was refreshing to enjoy its luxuries for a few more days. Thanks for the hospitality!

Gardening in February

Submitted by bent on Sun, 2012-02-12 16:08

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.

The Dream Center

Submitted by bent on Mon, 2012-02-06 13:56

The Los Angeles Dream Center has been our home since Thursday. This place is absolutely awesome. My experiences during our short visit here have been incredible. I really don’t like the thought of leaving this place.

The Dream Center is a volunteer driven organization dedicated to serving people in L.A. It is essentially a very active church that never sleeps—seemingly never even takes a break. The number of projects, ministries, events, and programs here is immense… you’d really have to check out there website to get a sense of what all goes on here.

http://www.dreamcenter.org/about-us/

L.A. Livin'

Submitted by bent on Thu, 2012-02-02 15:34

Our last night in the Chino area we got to enjoy another meal with friends from the day before, along with new friends—John, Anne, and Steph. It was a great night of good food and conversation. Tuesday morning, after a stop at the hay lot to say goodbyes, we got the bus back on the open road. Well, the road wasn’t really open, more clogged and congested, but back on the road nonetheless. Thank you, Ontario/Chino people; it was a very memorable visit. The hardest part about this journey has been saying goodbye to a place right when you get to know it. You all made it hard to leave!