Ken Kesey’s original “Furthur” bus on its latest trek

It’s some 37 feet of rusted steel, peeling paint, and shattered glass. But even at rest, this 1939 International Harvester school bus, called “Furthur,” conjures a sense of motion. “Furthur really is a call to action,” said Kelly Harris, director of the Haight Street Art Center in San Francisco. “It reminds us to never stop creating, never stop exploring, and keep pushing further.”

The bus is the centerpiece of an ongoing exhibit, “Forever Grateful,” that celebrates the countercultural revolution that bloomed in Furthur’s wake.

“I do believe that Furthur is meant to go further,” Harris said. “So, the journey is just beginning. And there should be an opportunity for generations to feel inspired by the bus.”

The man behind the bus was author Ken Kesey. In the early 1960s, as a Stanford creative writing student, Kesey was a willing test subject for U.S. government experiments using LSD. His 1962 novel, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” drew upon Kesey’s drug-induced visions. At the time, LSD was legal for public use.

And that’s where the bus came in. In June 1964, Kesey led what amounted to a rolling encounter session from California to the World’s Fair in New York, all aboard Furthur. Kesey and his companions, who dubbed themselves “The Merry Pranksters,” documented their trip on color film. Consider it the psychedelic precursor of reality TV.

“Very much a social experiment, fueled by alcohol and LSD,” said Ben Marks, curator of the bus exhibit. “It was obviously not this kind of perfect experiment where all the outcomes were positive. A lot of people were emotionally damaged by the whole thing. There’s accounts of some of the people who suffered psychologically for not being able to kind of navigate all of this.”

But despite this, by the time the bus returned to California, Furthur became an emblem of liberation. “That was kind of a moment where people knew the culture was going shift in some respect,” Marks said. “They just didn’t quite know how.”

Kesey’s influence continued to grow, most notably when he invited a local band to play at Prankster parties. They became known as the Grateful Dead. Six decades later, the Dead’s music still inspires new fans, as well as pilgrims to see Furthur. “This is a religious experience for us, because we just love the music so much,” said Stephanie Koziol.

Eddie Wilson said being at the exhibit was “Magic. That’s it. This is pure magic.”

As for Kesey, by the late sixties he had retreated with his family to Oregon, taking up farming and resuming his literary efforts. Furthur was parked in a bog, where it began rusting away.  

Kesey died in 2001.

His son, Zane Kesey, said, “‘Nothing Lasts’ was their motto, and that’s, as Dad would say, why they would try to achieve nothing, because that would last.”

Zane is the keeper of Furthur’s flame. “It’s in sad shape; it’s going to need a lot of help,” he said. “We’re going to work hard to save as much of the magic and as much of the bus as possible, which will be expensive.”

And so, this past August, a crew assembled to carefully maneuver Furthur onto a flatbed truck for its first journey in more than 50 years.

The Keseys hope public exhibits will fuel fundraising to preserve and display the bus; and Haight Street’s Kelly Harris agrees that it’s high time to save Furthur for the future.

Asked what message she hopes the bus conveys, Harris replied, “I think it’s about feeling inspired – inspired by art, inspired by music, inspired by the idea that people can come together and gather and feel the vibrations from this bus. It’s really about creating your own path forward.”

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters (1990)

Story produced by Ed Forgotson. Editor: Chad Cardin. 

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For more info:

• Exhibition: “Forever Grateful” (Haight Street Art Center), at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco (through Oct. 25)
• Haight Street Art Center, San Francisco  
• Furthur Down the Road Foundation
• Key-Z Productions
• “Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place” (Magnolia Pictures)
• “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey (Penguin Classics), in Hardcover, Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
• “The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test” by Tom Wolfe (Picador), in Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org

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