Ahhh Penelope, our beautiful purple 1970 city bus turned tour bus. What do you all think of this name? We’re trying it out for the week. We love Penelope and hate her at the same time. So far we’ve gone a few thousand miles we think (odomoeter is broken so were not sure of actual count) from Victoria to the Black Rock Desert to Vagas to LA to Sun Valley and now we are lumbering down the road toward Seattle. She doesn’t travel much more than 55 mph and since the gas gauge is broken and we’ve had quite a few adventures running out of fuel in places like Vegas and Compton.

Our wheels are an important part of our great adventure. She’s put us through trials and tribulations and our most recent discovery is that she doesn’t have heat. Now this didn’t phase us in the 90 degree weather down south, but as we’ve hit snowier and rainier parts of the country, it would have been nice to have known this earlier, but once again…what doesn’t kill us will make us stronger (this is a quote we learned from pro mountain biker Rebecca Rusch who we just interviewed on Tuesday). Take yesterday morning for example. Penelope decided not to start. This wouldn’t normally be a big deal, but the temperatures were around 34 degrees Fahrenheit with freezing rain, we had trouble finding a plug to charge the battery and we really wanted to start making our way to Seattle.

A few hours later though with some coaxing, a power boost and one bloody finger (Duncan cut his finger on something sharp while trying to charge the bus) we were on the road west. It was sad to leave all of our new found friends in Idaho, but the show must go on. We have a lot more things to cross off the list and we had a feeling if we let Penelope sit too long she might never start again. Besides we got word from the local police (who were very friendly about it all) that the person’s house we were parked in front of had called them and asked them to remove us from their sight.

duncan IM’s news of his bloody finger

So we’re back on the road and ready for more adventures. Write us if you are in Seattle and tell us what you want to do before you die. We just might show up on your doorstep. Or come join us in Judkins Park on October 27 at noon for a war protest, #62 Join a protest.

And one last thing, remember that guy, Jamie Bestwick, we learned how to do backflips from in California? He just won the overall vert at the AST Dew Tour in Orlando. Read all about it on Fuel.tv. Way to go Jamie!

–The Buried Life Crew

PS Check out our first meeting with Penelope here