The bus is getting pulled

Here you can write about the bus, trips to the bus etc etc...
sillygringo
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Mar 20, 2010 6:10 am

Re: The bus is getting pulled

Postby sillygringo » Tue Feb 15, 2011 4:15 am

Before I went I talked to people in fairbanks that said it was already gone. Think about why these stories fly and see if you come up with the same conclusion I did.

http://www.freewheelings.com/visiting-into-the-wild-magic-bus/

PS after all the stories it was still there. If they do pull it, it sure will be a small club of people who made it.

erikhalfacre
Posts: 173
Joined: Mon May 24, 2010 12:48 am
Location: Palmer, AK
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Re: The bus is getting pulled

Postby erikhalfacre » Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:58 am

There's a lot of people in Alaska, and especially in Healy, that I know would like to see that bus get pulled. There's reporters, like that darn Dermot Cole of the Fairbanks News Miner, that flap their mouth about it nonstop. I hate to say it, but unless something happens to protect it, I think someone will be successful at some point in either having it removed, or vandalizing it beyond recognition. I wonder if it would be worth our collective while to write letters or petition Alaska DNR to designate a small area around the bus (like an acre at most) to be some kind of park, or designate the bus as a monument. I mean Independence State Mine Historical Park in Hatcher Pass in the Matanuska Valley has only been inactive since the 40s and it's 'historical' and has been for as long as I can remember. Wouldn't a bus from the 60s qualify then as well if enough people wanted it? Even if that didn't work maybe the pressure would make "leave the bus there as it is" seem like a compromise rather than a victory for a bunch 'hippies from the lower 48.'

I'm just talking. I have no idea if something like that could be pulled off or not but I thought I'd throw it out there.
Erik Halfacre - Moderator
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http://www.stampedetrail.info

GoNorth
Posts: 259
Joined: Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:47 pm

Re: The bus is getting pulled

Postby GoNorth » Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:12 am

erikhalfacre wrote:to designate a small area around the bus (like an acre at most) to be some kind of park, or designate the bus as a monument.


A park or monument for what reason? Because a human being that happened to become known to the public by a book and a film died there? Or because he spent the last weeks of his life there? If it's for Chris's sake, I am convinced that that's exactly what should NOT be done to that place. Because it would be exactly the opposite of what Chris was searching for!

erikhalfacre wrote:"leave the bus there as it is"


That's probably the best thing to do. I mean, if they pull it, they pull it. That's life. Other things Chris McCandless touched during his life, have been removed in the meantime. Other places where other people died in, do no longer exist, so what. Leave the bus there for the pilgrims? That's certainly not a reason. After all, it's just a bus. A part of this man's journey that has inspired us so much, but a quite material part. Has anyone of the pilgrims walked on further on the Stampede Trail to the Toklat river, as far as Chris had walked - the westernmost point of his journey? Has anyone climbed to the top of that mountain near the bus? Has anyone been to all the other places he traveled through? (ok, maybe some have been to some of them). Why is that bus the most important thing of it all? Because he lived there or because he died there? What if he had found one of these cabins towards the end, let's say 2 weeks before dying, and had died there? What would be more important then: the bus or the cabin? (just an example)

Honestly, the only reason why I think that the bus should stay where it is for as long as possible is - and I suspect that Chris would have had a similar opinion - the possibility to offer shelter to people in the wilderness, as it has given shelter to Chris and to people before his time and after his time. And the brainless pilgrims (attention, I don't mean everyone who ever walks to the bus, only these sick and badly prepared fanatics, some of them even leaving their garbage at the bus) seem to be the only ones who really threaten this shelter to stay there for a long time.

erikhalfacre
Posts: 173
Joined: Mon May 24, 2010 12:48 am
Location: Palmer, AK
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Re: The bus is getting pulled

Postby erikhalfacre » Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:05 pm

I think just the sheer amount of public interest in it should be enough, rather than it's particular significance to the McCandless story. I think the same should be done with Bomber Glacier and other 'wrecks' of similar importance in the state though too. Hell, even the people who want it out of there have suggested taking it to an already existing park. Again, just a suggestion, it's not something I think would actually happen, I just think if someone were making some noise about it that "leave the bus there as it is" would then seem like the logical conclusion, not a loss for them. Having it not become a 'park' would be their victory.
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