The Busload of Books Tour is about to begin. In service of our mission, we’ll be traveling through all fifty states in the year ahead. We’ll visit state parks and national monuments, roadside attractions and hole-in-the wall eateries. From the Black Hills (South...
For the pre-K-1st graders we meet on the Tour, we’ll be giving away a copy of Everywhere, Wonder, our picture about the importance of noticing and appreciating the beautiful and interesting things to be found wherever we go. The point of our school presentation for...
Hello, friends! It's time to talk about the Pacific Northwest. For that is where we'll conclude our tour of the lower 48 in May of 2023 before driving north through the Yukon to Alaska. Please tell us things about Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. We want beauty,...
Because Sunday is a day of rest, we're taking it easy on you and only asking about two states today. We'll be spending late December of '22 and early January of '23 in California and Nevada and welcome any suggestions. In California, we're especially interested in the...
Moving right along to Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. We've planned a few extra weeks next April to explore these four glorious states and would love your recommendations. We'll be in Denver, Santa Fe, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City, but where else should we go?...
The best vacation we've ever taken was to the Black Hills and Badlands, with a dash of Devil's Tower thrown in for good measure. We'll be visiting all three again on the tour. But what ELSE should visit and see and do and eat and jump over in the great west north...
Friends, we are really picking up steam. Tell us where the bus should go in the great southern middle of things. This is your chance, people of Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas! Sing the praises of your places. Reveal the secret splendors....
HELLO, FOLKS! Here's today's challenge: Please tell us where to go and what to do in the east north central states, by which we mean Michigan, Wisconsin, Wisconchigan, Minnesota, and Iowa. Thrill us with your dazzling suggestions! Wow us with your insider knowledge!...
Meet Julie Gagne, a 21-year veteran instructional coach at Central Elementary in Ferguson, MO. We’ll officially meet her in March of 2023, when the Busload of Books Tour pays a visit to the Central Stars. Julie took a few minutes to tell us about herself, her...
This is the moment you’ve been waiting for! Some of you, anyway. Please tell us where to go and what to do, try, see, taste, and experience in West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. Please? Robbi just scowled at me and told me to...
Rolling right along here, folks. (bus pun intended). Please tell us what to do, visit, attempt, behold, admire, and devour in the great American Southeast. We’re looking you, denizens of Virginia, both Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida! As much as we appreciate...
Here’s what’s next. A mere 2,134 miles remain between Squamish and Anchorage. In any other year, this would be the adventure and not an addendum.
We have pasta and firewood, a pound of salami and two cases of Coke. Our water and gas tanks are full.
Robbi did this drive as a kid, crammed in the back of a pickup with her sister and brother. Back then the roads weren’t paved and she spent the whole trip eating dust. Our drive will be luxurious in comparison.
So long for now—or not, depending on the whims of the rural Canadian Internet.
Anchorage or bust.
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Goodnight from Klahanie Campsite in Squamish, British Columbia. Today, we toured a copper mine and ate poutine (fries with cheese curds and gravy). We went shopping for the next stretch of travel, during which there won’t be many grocery stores and the campgrounds won’t have hookups.
We took a nap and handed wrenches to Daryl as he made a few improvements to the bus. It’s lucky to have relatives who understand how to fix things. We said goodbye to Daryl and Maiko then made popcorn and watched a few episodes of Friday Night Lights. Just now, we went outside to take one last look at Howe Sound before.
In the morning, we’ll fill up the water tank and roll out. Tomorrow’s drive is long—six hours at least. We have nine days to cover 2,134 miles across BC and the Yukon en route to Anchorage.
I’d remain camped by these waters forever, but it time to roll on.
#busloadofbooks
The Daily Minute: 6.4.23
In which Robbi’s back-up Coca Cola has a rather nice view.
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Last week’s visit to Columbia Elementary school in Wenatchee, Washington brought a swirl of emotions. It was our next-to-last school of the tour—and the only one where we had the fun of handing out the Build-A-Bear reading buddies in person.
We visited on a state testing day. Our host Roxana Vanatta and the admin team worked hard to fit everything in. We ended up having a free hour to eat potluck while chatting with teachers—each one a dedicated, hard-working hero.
The art teacher was fabulous. His students had done our drawing tutorials, and the walls were lined with wonderful bears and dogs, each bearing the unique personality of its creator.
We schemed with Roxana about how to stage the bear reveal for maximum excitement. We hid the boxes in the gym. At the end of our presentation, we thanked First Book and Build-A-Bear and announced every kid would be getting a reading buddy as the teachers handed them out. I wish you could have heard the gleeful shrieking.
As has been the case in every school we’ve visited, it was the first new stuffed animal some of the kids had ever owned. They immediately named and dressed and hugged their bears with no plans of ever letting go.
At the end of the day, we were out by the bus, not wanting the moment to end. It has been a privilege to stand in the middle of such joy—sharing our story and causing a purposeful stir.
A little girl came up to us and asked us to sign her bear’s shirt. We did, and it caused an avalanche. Parents arrived to pick up their kids and got swept up in the excitement, taking photos and requesting autographs. The dogs absorbed hundreds of delirious hugs.
It was hard to drive away, but every day must end. We prolonged the joy a bit by going out for ice cream with Roxana and her sons. We thanked her for her hard work and patience (19 months (!!) had passed since she’d learned Columbia was chosen for the tour).
Then we got back in the bus and kept driving, wondering what we’d left behind. Can a single day of books, bears, laughter, and love create a lasting difference? Will our bus keep on rolling in their memories? We saw the sparks. Where will they land?
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