Trip to the "Magic Bus"

[ACEX2]

Has anyone considered going to the Magic bus? Or been?

[iggypoprhcp]

[code][/code]
I've never understood why people go there. There's not really much to do once you're there unless you want to camp there to live like Chris Mccandless did.

[blackdog]

Perhaps it show be renamed The Tragic Bus.

[peter force]

hey if your buying im flying!

the story on how that bus got out their is probably great.i wanna know that?


i think visiting this bus is like visiting any memorial.if you have a personal stake in it like if you were
a vietnam vet and visited the wall then you will probably feel something when you visit it.
just like folks who new chris.they can go to this bus and think about him.

[lisachat]

There is a documentary, The Call of the Wild, which goes into how the bus got there-mining at the time of WWII, it was used to transport supplies, then abandoned. It's pretty interesting, a lot of facts, but lacks the passion and beauty of the movie. He really doesn't talk to a lot of the key players, but the revelation at the end is worth watching for. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, if you don't want to know, but he did have ID and money with him, and he apparently wasn't poisoned. I, personally don't feel it's important to know if he was poinsoned or starved to death, or if he had ID or not, but it is interesting.

[Magic Bus Girl]

To say "I can't understand, why anyone would want to visit the bus", is clearly only stating your perception of it's value to you. Some people odd as it may sound, like me... We would feel a indescribable closeness to Chris's Spirit & journey. Where he played & danced & rejoyced & pondered life's mysteries & read & wrote & weeped & morned & died alone. Thats why... I would Love to go!

[magik_Bu5]

To say "I can't understand, why anyone would want to visit the bus", is clearly only stating your perception of it's value to you. Some people odd as it may sound, like me... We would feel a indescribable closeness to Chris's Spirit & journey. Where he played & danced & rejoyced & pondered life's mysteries & read & wrote & weeped & morned & died alone. Thats why... I would Love to go!

I think you hit it right on. I don't know if I'll ever get the tenacity to pull it off, but I like many on this board would love to visit the place that McCandless discovered in the isolation of Alaska's wilderness - if for no other reason than to pay my respects.

[provenlife]

I have thought much about taking a trip to the bus. For my next trip to Alaska, I'm trying to accommodate the drive and time from Anchorage. Of course some people do not understand the significance of visiting the bus, since it is just that, a bus, lying in rust. But it is a symbol of following your instincts, learning about yourself, pushing your limits, and the fact that we are all human, and death you find us, no matter where we are. He died in the wild, in the land he yearned for, that called him, and he answered that call.

[blue]

I recently saw the PBS special -- then added the movie to my Netflix list and bought the book this morning -- all the while being haunted that until that PBS special I had heard nothing about this -- and then it dawned on me -- the reason I had not heard or seen the news was that I was at Denali and Wrangall National Parks hiking/camping alone with my dog -- at the exact time Chris's body was found by the hunters. Anyhow, catching up now and am finding it fascinating. Thanks to Jon Krakauer for writing the book and to the McCandless family for allowing the story to be told by Krakauer, Penn and Vedder. May Chris' memory be eternal and may his soul rest with the souls of the blessed.

[roger]

My two cents? Rather than visiting Chris' "Magic Bus", I believe a much more fitting tribute to Chris -- a tribute more in line with his philosophy -- would be to embark on one's own journey of self-dicovery in an attempt to find one's own "Magic Bus." I think Chris would concur.

The "Magic Bus" is (for me) more metaphorical and symbolic than it is literal. Seems to me that Chris was more about blazing one's own path than he was about following the paths of others. He didn't want us to necessarily follow in his footsteps; he simply wanted us to live our lives in such a way that our footprints on the sands of time may be distiguished (in some way) from our fellow travelers on this journey through life. One of the messages I get from Chris' life is the importance of not being a perpetual follower; that we must lead, and that our duty is ultimately to lead only ourselves and no one else. "Nothing is a last sacred but the integrity of one's own mind."

I can certainly understand why one would be inspired to visit the bus, but I do not believe that one must travel to Alaska in order to find oneself. To paraphrase Emerson: One will never achieve success or experience happiness until he listens to that voice which only he alone can hear. Can't help but believe that Chris would agree with this advice.