Magic Ride
There's a little bit of everything in this image from yesterday and a few pieces hidden away. You can see a couple of boats hiding out for the winter, and a Breakwater School bus painted out in true 'hippy' fashion. Viewing this bus sent me on a mad rush back to Tom Wolfe's book, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid test. Through the pages, he attempted to document the wild escapades of the Merry Pranksters, as they traversed the country in their psychedelic-influenced painted bus. Author Ken Kesey was among the riders and wrote about that link between the Beat Generation of the 50's and the Hippies of the 60's. Kesey's two best pieces of writing, if you ask me, were One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962) and Sometimes a Great Notion(1964). Enjoyed them both.
Now, Elenka and I had our own 'magic bus' adventure in 1976, but that's a story for another time.
I thought all my school bus rides were a bit magical--magical that I ever got to school on them. That's why I walked most days even though it meant a four-mile roundtrip with heavy books and sometimes on Fridays a euphonium. :-)
ReplyDeleteA very cool photo and I do love that bus. I didn't read the book, but I thought the movie about flying over the cuckoo's nest was superb. Now I may have to watch it again!
ReplyDeleteThat's fun school spirit, that bus! One Flew Over..., very powerful book for me at the time. Your magic bus adventure, do tell!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was much younger, I used to go camping a lot and I would see many brightly pained VW busses in the campgrounds. I have to admit, I was a bit envious.
ReplyDeleteLove this bus. xx
ReplyDeleteImmediately thought of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters when I saw the psychedelic bus. Use to know someone who was with them, but that was ages ago. The original Kesey bus is now in the Smithsonian as a artifact of the 1960s.
ReplyDeleteThis post along with the anniversary of the Beatles on Ed Sullivan has taken me back to the high times of the 60s, Birdman!
ReplyDeleteThe moment I saw your picture I thought of The Who's Magic Bus.
ReplyDeleteNice to see a town with the nerve to paint their school busses something other than yellow.
Read the two Kesey's when I was young.At this moment, I thought that it showed how America was..Then I learned much more :o)
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