Week 17 - Cactus Land (Tucson)

There is an entire culture that revolves around school bus conversions. For everyone, it starts with the wild idea of building a livable space in an old student hauler, then the shopping experience, where you realize school buses are wildly cheap. Once the bus is acquired, you devote all your spare time to building to see any progress. Frustrations come from trying to use the structure of a school bus to house all your amenities which is not a straightforward process. Time passes and you eventually paint it the brightest blue you can find, slap some Lost Bus stickers on the side and move in. It is then that the ticket has officially been punched to join the “skoolie” community. Every year these likeminded individuals, that were stubborn enough to deal with the headache of converting a school bus, all join in the Arizona desert to show each other their rides, listen to music, share meals and MANY other activities (reference photo of activity board). This mass gathering also has an extremely appropriate name “Skooliepalooza” It’s a week-long event, but Cain and I jumped in on the tail end for the weekend.

Birds eye view of some skoolie relaxing

Pulling onto some Bureau of Land Management property off the interstate in West Arizona, we bumped along to the Longitude-Latitude coordinates that were posted a week prior. Eventually, the land opens and all you see are skoolies, vans and RV’s (more inclusive of an event than I expected). We started to lap around the place checking out other rides while looking for a decent spot to park. Three camps divide the crowds: Sound Camp, Introverts Unite and Family Camp. So, your options are either: loud, quiet or babies. Sound camp stayed true to their name blaring music till the morning hours. All kinds of people join in, the full timers, weekend warriors, hippies, cute youtubers, and bored retirees. Everyone has their thing and at any moment you could be sitting outside a bus listening to a slapped together lecture about ancient beads, NFT’s, or mushrooms. I am giving you all these details to show you how dynamic this community is. We took the weekend to kick back, relax with music played of bus rooftop decks, and tours of other rigs (so we could compare our builds, of course). We even picked up a new unique nickname we hadn’t been given before, “The Bachelor Bus”. It was a great experience making new friends out in the desert, surrounded by love for these quirky school buses.

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After the weekend, we reunited with Josh in Phoenix and headed south to Tucson to chase good weather and some references given to us in New Mexico. Making great contact before arriving was a challenge so we approached the week with the perspective of; once we are in the area, we’ll make ourselves known. Starting with an aviation ministry at one of the local airfields, this organization supports missionaries in rural Mexico. They weren’t ready to begin projects, so we said see you next week so, make sure you check out next week’s blog.

They helped connect us with others in the Tucson area to help in the meantime, though. Right off the rip people started raising their hands for help needed. We committed to two groups - one being a group of University of Arizona students who all lived in a discipleship house. We joined in for a dinner with them took care of business the next day. We did yardwork, and I realized just how bland Arizona yards are. Rocks instead of grass, nothing lush. Most things poky. An angry sensory garden. Watch where you step in Arizona because everything that is a plant seems to have some type of spikey element to it.

Cain pretending to be a Cactus at Saguaro National Park

Our other location was Tucson Mountain Baptist Church, which has an older congregation and older facilities. Pastor Lynn was happy to accept us and give his long lists of to do’s at his church. This building had a towering feature with large windows that surrounded a wonderfully positioned cross. These windows, though, were the cause of a lot of damage on the ground floor of the building. Through the seams of the windows, water had made its way in, ruining portions of the dry wall on the exterior awning. Exterior drywall was a new concept for me, but this dry climate of Tucson allows for it. We spent three days inspecting damage, removing damaged materials, resealing and patching leaks, and reinstalling new dry wall. We wanted to give the whole thing a face lift with a new coat of paint, but unfortunately the winds howl in this desert and the forecast didn’t allow for it. So, we left it watertight and prepped for paint, eager to see pictures of its new finish soon.

McFlurrys with our companion Dale… sorry Cain

The biggest story of this week, however, was a couple we met while working at Tucson Mountain Baptist. A food pantry there supplies many of those in need in West Tucson. Kevin and Lynda run the operation. While working on their church, we came to admire their commitment to volunteering for people in their community. Both retired and on a fixed income, they decide to be unselfish about their time and work full weeks to make sure those in need were supplied adequate food. Their presence brought joy and peace and we took every chance to spend more time with them. We saw all they were doing, all those that were benefiting from their efforts, and realized how little they asked for in return. As the wind continued to pick up and our week slowed down, we had an open weekend of unplanned activities, but we couldn’t get this couple out of our mind. They live within their own means which seemed limiting. They had to be patient in their expenses, waiting for the correct time to spend what they had on their own desires. In our conversations we asked what they desired for themselves. Lynda spoke up and said she had been praying for a chicken coop. Soon after, we took off into Tucson and grabbed two old shipping crates, which can seamlessly be smooshed together and dressed up a little bit to house the most pretentious chickens. Returning to the church with this wood strapped to the top of the bus, we asked if they would let us build it for them. Emotionally, they agreed. All day Saturday and part of Sunday, we worked to create a chicken palace out of the thrifted material we were able to gather in an afternoon. We only had to buy a few necessities.

We finished this chicken coop with one agreement. That the first three chickens be named after us. They were so grateful, receiving our gesture it felt like a grand moment of serving people who deserve it. Fortunately, our gifted skills allowed to serve them back and deliver them something that will give them joy. Out of the folks we have met on the road, this couple stands out. We’ve loved sharing life with them this week and have even moved our bus onto their property to sleep safe and sound as we stick around another week here in Tucson.