Howdy Ya'll Out There in Permibus Land, 

As many of you know the Permibus cracked a piston just over two weeks ago in Indiana. We made it to a Flying J where we spent the next week investigating our options which were: 1) Abandon the project - but we have so much more good work to do  2) Put an unknown used engine in the bus - Cost equaling $6,500 to $7,500 plus surprises  3) Strip the bus, buy a new one and build the Permibus II - this option meant a lot of extra labor for us but we found a bus for $3500 plus the cost of renting a U-haul, taking the stuff to Wyoming (family close to the new bus), getting the new bus, and retrofitting the old permibus interior to the new bus  which would cost around $2500 for a total of around $6,000 and we would be 1600 miles closer to where we were headed next. After serious examination we picked option number 3. 

We spent Wednesday and Thanksgiving, tearing apart what had been our beloved home and a fantastic educational tool for the past year and loading it into a 14' U-Haul. Fortunately, folks from the local community, once they were aware of our problems, were amazing. Folks brought us boxes, a local couple brought us all small gifts, gave us a $100 donation, and then had one of his employees to help us load for a few hours on Thanksgiving. A local minister bought us dinner at the Flying J then got us a hotel room so we had a bed to crawl into at midnight when we finally got the last of the bus packed into the U-Haul (It didn't really fit but we magicked it all in-even the chickens). Then we drove 1600 miles to my mom's house in Riverton Wyoming, being taken in by new friends, relatives, and old friends along the way. On the way home we even got some lovely canned peaches from a woman we taught to can over a campfire in an Illinois campground last summer. 

We arrived late Monday night, unpacked all day Tuesday, had Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday, and on Thursday Stan went off to Bismarck, ND to pick up Permibus II while Megan and I got busy canning the 50lbs of elk my mom had for me. The bus arrived yesterday, Saturday, evening and today was spent finishing the elk and taking seats out of the bus. Wow its been a hell of a ride these last few weeks. Leaving Maine, a great three days of training at Earlham College, a week in a truck stop, packing our house and tearing apart the bus, traveling through six states, unpacking, holiday eating, canning, and getting a new bus to start rebuilding. It makes my head spin a bit and the stress of all the chaos has left the permi-family a bit worn and cranky but other than that as committed as ever to cultivating revolutionary ways of living by teaching steps toward sustainability. However the work of recreating the Permibus II remains quite daunting. 

The recreation of the permibus is only possible due to the support of wonderful folks who gave us both large and small donations and, of course a $5000 loan. We are spending the next 5 weeks rebuilding the permibus and trying to raise the money to cover the $5,000 loan so that when the Permibus II hits the road in 2009 we do so debt free. This is important to us as we remain committed to offering our trainings based on donations.  This policy has allowed us to support urban gardens, talk permaculture with inner city kids who had never even seen a live chicken before, attend new festivals with little budgets introducing thousands of folks to the ideas of permaculture and so much else. We understand that with the tumbling economy it will be more difficult than ever to raise the funding we need to continue, however, considering our impact the past year, we decided that the skills we teach are more important than ever. We hope that the folks that know the importance of the message of sustainability we carry, will give a little extra to ensure the project continues. 

Also if anyone has a digital still and/or video camera to donate (maybe upgrading for the holidays) we would love to document the creation of the Permibus II so that others can duplicate our work. Either way, a chap book outlining the development and systems of the Permibus II will be available for sale for $10 each January 1, 2009 as a fundraiser for the creation of bus. You can follow the creation of the Permibus II on our blog at http://permibus.livejournal.com/ . We will try and post at least weekly. 

Again, I would like to thank all ya'll for your support. The donations and other support offered by folks throughout the country has made it possible for us to commit to another Permibus and another year of the Skills for a New Millennium Tour.