For those of you who haven’t been following along, we did a thing. Visit strugglebustour.com to read about the adventure.

Alternatively, click on one of the buttons below to read about a particular stop along the way:

The Story

It was the middle of May, and we had a plan: take off on the ol’ Struggle Bus Tour as soon as the COVID numbers dropped and states began to enter their latter re-opening phases.

Numbers dropped. States reopened. It looked like our 2020-long nightmare might just be drawing to a close.

We masked-up and began our trip. Two days after we arrived in Philadelphia, virus numbers began to reverse course. Ugh. The Struggle Bus Tour was off to a fitting start. Thanks, Corona.

Fortunately for me, my family is amazing at adapting to the curve balls that life throws at it. Of course, I’d be lying if I said we didn’t have a few “I’ll pull this van over right now!” moments. Also, this was a constant battle:

Me: “Do you need to go potty while we’re stopped at this gas station?”
4-year-old: “No.”
Me: “Are you sure?”
Him: “Yep.”
Me: “Are you absolutely sure? Because we won’t be near a bathroom for another hour or so…”
Him: “Yes. I don’t need to go potty.”
Me: “Ok.” [starts driving]
[5 minutes later]
Him: “I need to go potty!”
Me: …

Worth noting: when my 4-year-old says, “I need to go potty,” he doesn’t mean “Excuse me, Mom and Dad. I am feeling the need to use a restroom. If it doesn’t inconvenience you, please stop at the next available establishment that houses an adequately maintained restroom.” He means that he needs to go potty right at that very moment. Worse, he sometimes means that he’s already going a little bit.

The struggle is real. I think our 4-year-old marked his territory on the side of the road in every state from PA to TX.

But, I digress.

Overall, our masked-up, heavily sanitized Struggle Bus adventure was truly wonderful. We laughed. A lot. We sang. We danced. We swam. We played. We prayed. We had a ton of great conversations about riots and race and religion. We had fun giving away a ton of Struggle Bus books in the most ridiculous way possible. I’m sure that some of those books will at most be utilized to even out the leg of a wobbly table or something; but I hope that at least a few people will be blessed by them.

Oh, and a very special thank you to Fast Signs Amarillo for donating a couple magnets to grace the side of our van.

And now, a few previously unshared trip highlights:

In other news…

1) I was runner-up to a pig mystery

Struggle Bus was named a finalist in the “humor” category for The National Indie Excellence Awards. So, that’s fun. If you’re keeping score at home (hi, Mom), that makes Struggle Bus a finalist for two national awards…and ultimately a loser for both. This time, I lost out to a humorous pig mystery. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. That’s the bright side. One can’t be mad about losing out to a humor book whose primary plot is “pig mystery.”

2) The Dark Lord weighed in on Struggle Bus

One reviewer, who calls himself “The Dark Lord” wrote, “I did not expect to find this both so funny and so heartwarming.” I’m not going to lie. That’s probably a sign that my book has peaked. I mean, how do you top the fact that your book has simultaneously tapped the funny bone and tugged at the heart strings of Voldemort? You don’t.

In all seriousness, I continue to be humbled by the reviews that continue to roll in. Read some of them here: https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/1632963922/ref=acr_dp_hist_5?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=five_star&reviewerType=all_reviews#reviews-filter-bar.

3) I have a couple more super-fun projects in the works. More info soon.

Now that the Struggle Bus Tour is over, I plan to leave http://www.strugglebustour.com online for anyone who would like to read about and/or see the highlight photos/videos of our journey. Here are the links to the recaps for each stop on the tour:

Until next time…