GREEN TORTOISE
i
Eugene la just
one slop on the
Green Tortoise's
weekly trek from
Seattle to Los
Angeles.
Mobile counterculture alive on Green Tortoise
ON HOARD THE GREEN TORTOISE
HUS (AH) — An Eric Clapton guitar rill
hangs in air redolent of lofu burgers and
patchouli oil It's time for life-experience
show-und-lell.
Leslie Halt holder dttscrilxis what it was
like to he in Iterhn when the Wall came
down Trevor Heighten listens intently
He's from either DC or Son E'raru im o
on one coast he's a hike messenger, on the
other a ro< k climber.
Spraw led on n pile of sleeping Imgs, (ex
su n Stone and her Imvfriend Eddie Allen
lav with arms entwined, taking suggestions
on naming the child they just found out
they're going to have
They're all passengers on the Gown Tor
toise (ms — a trav eling commune, a road
show on wheels, a new head space with
plenty of leg space
Greyhound was never like this
Twit e a week. the trademark green hos
es make a •tH-lumr trip from Seattle to Los
Angeles for $7<l one way. Compared to
S125 on Greyhound and St57 on Amtrnk.
it's the cheapest way down the coast
Hut a trip on the Tortoise isn't just alxnit
getting from here to there It's alxnit what
happens in between.
It includes eight hours of sightseeing in
San Francisco and a three-hour layov er at
the company i ompound in southern Ore
gon, complete with a vegetarian feast,
sauna and — if you're lui ky — an
impromptu African drumming session
"It's a 24-hour timeout, a place where
you don't have to worry about playing the
game," says driver Stove .Spahr. .'in
At 7 n m. on a clear Seattle morning. 30
passengers mill around in the < old wait
ing to board the bus Fresh fat ed young
women t lutch sleeping bags and pillow s;
to Itnik at them, they might Is- on their way
to u slumber party
Spahr, a hear of a man with a mischie
vous urin and a wild black heard, is the
cha|>erone of (his par
ty For him. driving
I hit Tortoise isn't a
job. it's a calling He
sets the karma for the
trip
I.ike a high priest
of huadom. Spahr
presides over "the
nightly miracle" as
the Tortoise's hand
crafted interior trans
forms to a vast
expanse of cushions — enough to sleep 45
comfortably. Seats fold out and tables fold
up.
Spahr initiates new passengers into the
intro at ies of "the leg thing "
'Think, sardime., people," he says, inter
im king his fingers in illustration Bundled
in their sleeping hags, passengers lay per
pendicular to the side of the bus, inter
twined like the teeth of two combs
It's all perfectly respectable Jolee Har
row. ;t>», of Voshon Island, Wash., and her
three teen-agers traveled to Sail From isco
to visit her sister She chose the Tortoise
over Aintrak as a chance to teach her IS
1 It’s a 24-hour timeout,
a place where you don’t
have to worry about
playing the game.’
Steve Spahr,
Green Tortoise driver
year-old. football-player son Caleb a lit!It?
tolerance
"lie's the one with the crew-cut over
there." she savs She points to the front of
the tins, where Caleb is in the middle of
an energetic game of Hearts with a young
man sporting a ring in his nose
I bis mobile counterculture was l>orn of
n '60s wanderlust Kent Gardner, now 46,
was working at ms
father's upholstery
business in Wey
mouth, Mass., in
1972 when he
iKHight an old school
bus and decided to
drive to Central
America with his
wife and two chil
dren
"It wasn't that
uncommon a thine
to do in those days." savs Lyle, Gardner s
25-year-old son and manager of the bus
company.
"For a while when wo got back. 1 Lid sold
stuff from Guatemala on the streets of
Berkeley. He didn't have the money to take
us back to Boston for Christmas. But we
had this bus..
Gardner printed up fliers and sold S75
tickets for a "Home for the Holidays" cross
country trip He filled the bus with pas
sengers, drove to Boston, made n profit,
and a company was Inim
At 7 p.rn., 12 hours after its departure,
the San Francisco-bound bus arrives at the
Cow Creek Compound, the Tortoise's lay
over site in southern Oregon. Generator
run lights cut a path through dark firs to
the appropriately named "Thought F’ro
voking Structure "
hong, thin saplings are woven to form a
huge oval room. Sandwiched between
them, a layer of clear plastic keeps out the
rain hut lets the stars shine through.
At the Structure, a young French-Cana
dian woman just back from a year's stay
m Mali brings out a drum and begins to
play. Others join her on drums, guitars and
spoons. Nineteen-year-old Anja Becker
from Germany stops at the entrance, her
glasses fogged from the temperature
extremes.
'It's like a dream." she whispers as 40
near strangers make music ana dance to
an undulating rhythm under the flicker
ing lights.
The next morning. 46 passengers wake
in a tangle of sleeping Isigs as the bus cross
es the Hay Bridge into San Francisco.
Spahr downshifts, easing the bus to a stop
behind the Tronsbay Terminal downtown.
Passengers spill out onto the sidewalk
in the bright California sun and there's a
flurry of activity as address books come
out for the ritual exchange
"Hverybody got their bags?" Spahr says.
Passengers hug Spahr goodbye and one
presses a leftover orange in his hand. Then
they slowly disperse into the workaday
crowd, tie-dyed shirts blending in among
business suits.
Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship
Presents
Dr. Thomas Kindall
Thursday, March 11
Lecture I
DINOSAURS !
A review of
geological dating.
1 pm in the
Ben Linder Room.
\
“dure II
BIG BANG...OR
BIG BOONDOGGLE!
A study of the origins
of tne universe.
7:30 pm in the
Fir Room.
I For more information call ns at 346-0910 or stop by
our office at the EMU building Suite 5.
LATE NIGHT
with Track Town Pizza
• All Medium Pizzas Discounted •
Medium 1 Item
$6.95
All Medium
Specialty
Pizzas
*3f>°
TRACK TOWN PIZZA
Two convenient location# to serve you
CAMPUS 484-2799
1809 Franklin Blvd.
WEST 484-4262
2511 W 11th & Wilson
136 E. 11tfi • (near Willamette)
342-3358
Must be 21 or Over
Wednesday mkd h> $3
Funnel head
Truman’s Water
Sunrunner
Thursday m«h h $3
Compost
Flowers
Conifer Bog
Friday m.**. u $4
from Portland
Snow Bud and the
Mower People
Gravel pit
Marshal Plan
Music Starts at 10pm
Mon-Sat
Music starts at 8pm Sundays