The Real Mighty Machines: Tree Planting Buses

The official bus of Kenogami 2013 contract, during it's paint job

One of the coolest aspects of tree planting in my opinion is the camp's bus. It's like the Statue of Liberty but for a tree planting village. Nothing gets 30 or 40 people crammed together down dirt logging roads in the middle of nowhere better than a beat-up old school bus that smells like death itself, and has pieces falling off over every bump in the road. Sometimes when a section of road has been washed away, planters actually have to build a bridge to get the bus across. It's hard work maintaining these buses, but if you take care of them they take care of you.

 With a camp bus comes a sense of pride. Every year planters can paint their bus with anything they'd like (barring obscene profanity, usually), adding to that feeling of pride. it also provides a great camp activity for a weekend. Both the outside and the inside get spruced up (spruce, like spruce trees, hilarious, James!) On the inside planters write messages, both to themselves and to future planters, messages like "veterans don't fear the Reefer," or "picking up dimes" (a metaphor for planting trees at ten cents each) or the one below, which was one of my favorites. Often these messages are inspirational or humorous, bolstering a planter's mindset.

"Into the path where no one goes. They hold no quarter, they ask no quarter." Led Zeppelin lyrics written in the bus

The bus is what gets planters away from camp on weekends. Some of the greatest road trips I've ever had were on tree planting buses. The sun's shining through the grimy windows, everyone's in the weekend mood, somewhere on the bus Outkast is blaring on a small portable speaker and we're heading on into the next small town, or pulling up to some tucked-away lake in the middle of nowhere.

Not only is the bus great for getting planters to and from work, it's also great to have around camp. I can't count the number of evenings I spent on the roof of my camp bus with my friends during my contracts. There's something relaxing about being up there, watching the sun set and the stars come out, listening to the wolves howl. These are magical moments, and that beat up old bus is an integral part in what makes it so special.

Nothing like a coldbeer on the bus after a long day at work

It can even offer shelter, should a planter make the unwise decision to sleep in the bus for the night. While it may seem like a great idea in theory, when you're trying to sleep while suspended between two bus benches you find falling asleep a bit difficult. Trust me, I tried very hard.

So maybe the bus does smell awful. Maybe the seats are too small for a large group of adults. Maybe it's vital organs are falling off on old dirt roads. There's something special about that bus. It's a part of the tree planting family, almost a planter itself.

All Work and No Play?

At this point I felt the need to clear something up that may not have been obvious in my previous posts. Maybe I made tree planting sound like a prison sentence, filled with endless days of hard work. There's definitely hard work involved, and some longer days may feel like a prison sentence, but planters are given a day or two off every week to relax. So how does a  tree planter spend his or her downtime?

Fishing on a nearby lake

A tree planters' weekend spans Sunday and Monday, not the standard weekend format. Generally Saturday night after planting and dinner is spent socializing around a bonfire, usually bigger than it needs to be, sharing stories from the week, having a drink or two and just unwinding after a long week. These evenings can go late into the night, sometimes until early morning.

Sunday is typically the day everyone goes into town on the bus to do laundry, buy food for the weekend and enjoy civilization for a change. Maybe use a real toilet instead of an outhouse for a change. I liked to use that time to call home, since cell service out in the woods is hard to come by. After everyone's ready to go back the bus collects everyone and heads back to camp. By now it's usually later in the afternoon, so most planters will make dinner. Sunday evening is spent much like Saturday evening, with a big fire and a social evening with the entire crew.

Have time off? Why not build a boat?

Monday is the day to totally relax. There's no need to go into town again, so the time is yours to spend how you you'd like. Go fishing, play some volleyball, write a letter to a loved one, etc. Mondays are the most relaxing days to a tree planter. You don't even have to wake up if you don't want to. The latter portion of Monday is used to prepare for the following work day. Gear is packed, boots are cleaned, shovels are sharpened. A sense of the coming work week is in the air. But don't worry, we'll do it all again next week.

A tame version of a tree planter bonfire