This is the second year for The Missing Link, a west coast budget transportation and adventure tour service. For 23 years the Green Tortoise sleeper coaches have been touring travellers across the U.S., down the west coast, up to Alaska, down to Mexico and Central America. The 12 budget travel buses are set up so that the couches you sit on during the day convert to sleeping plaftforms at night. You play during the day, and sleep on matresses with fitted sheets while they drive. In the morning you wake up in a new destination where you might be able to take a hike, go for a swim, explore a town or enjoy a campfire.
Passengers contribute to a food kitty that covers the majority of meals.
The tours also enable you to hike in Canyonlands National Park, take a guided tour of Monument Valley, and visit Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. The bus swings by Las Vegas and Bakersfield before returning to San Francisco. New for this year is the 16-day Southern Parks Loop tour, which heads out Sept. 11 and visits Death Valley, Las Vegas, Zion, Bryce, Canyon, the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Canyon De Chelley, Chaco Canyon, Santa Fe, Taos, White Sands, Juarex and Saguaro. A budget tour service geared to backpackers is now offering Appalachian Adventures. The Blue Blaze Bus now leaves Washington D.C. every Monday morning and heads out to the backroads to experience the cool mountain air and laid-back southern hospitality of Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina.