That NW Bus as colorful and beloved as ever

WASHTUCNA - That NW bus, a popular stop for tourists traveling to Palouse Falls and college students heading to Pullman, saw lots of action as it got yet another coat of paint Saturday, April 3.

The 1955 Kenworth Pacific School Bus originally owned by the Toppenish School District was a popular sight to visit for graffiti artists and tourists alike when it sat rusting away on public land near the turnoff to Palouse Falls, in between Washtucna and Kahlotus. Now owned by the Washtucna Heritage Museum and located just off Highway 261 at the north end of Washtucna on land donated by Blankenship Farms, it's as popular as ever. And it's still ever-changing.

Washutucna Community Church Pastor Kris took time from a busy Easter weekend to paint her annual message of "Jesus is Risen" on the side of the bus, and in the two and half hours she was there, several cars parked; the occupants unloading to pose in front of the iconic bus.

Newlywed couples Kumar Abhishek and Rashmi Rai, and Suman Choudhary and Sonesh Kumar of Seattle laughed it up as they posed inside and outside the bus. Speaking mostly in their native Hindi language, the couples easily switched over to English as they engaged with Bottino and picked up a can of paint to add their own marks to the bus, including the Hindi word for "colorful."

The couples, originally from India, were on a visit to Yakima when they lengthened their trip to Palouse Falls by swinging up to Washtucna for a view of the bus.

"This is our first trip together, with many more to come," Abishek said. "We are staying in Yakima for three days, and heard lots of people come here, so we came to see it."

The men, who work for Amazon and Microsoft, immigrated in 2015.

"We got married and our wives moved over two years ago," Kumar said.

Mario Ayala and Katie Walley were on their way home to Spokane when they pulled in to see the bus.

"We went to Palouse Falls, and just had to stop here," Walley said.

Megan Barney, a WSU graduate and her sister Hayley Barney, a student at the University of Washington, also stopped in for a quick visit after a trip to Palouse Falls.

"I drive by this bus all the time," said Megan Barney, "so I wanted to show my sister." She said the two, along with their parents, had been hiking at the Falls, where it was particularly busy due to it being a Discovery Pass-free day. She still lives in Pullman after getting a degree in Public Relations, and her sister is a finance major at UW.

Willy Morales and Michelle Cordova, also students at WSU, stopped by while Bottino was painting the bus. They, too, had been on a visit to Palouse Falls. Morales is studying communications and Cordova is studying landscape architecture.

All the visitors admired the colorful artwork, while Bottino worked as quickly as she could in the breezy sunshine.

"My daughter is a professional illustrator, and she would say, 'Mom, this isn't your best work,'" Bottino said. "I was studying different graffiti styles online, but I haven't had much time to practice."

But that's the beauty of That NW Bus. The artwork comes and goes quickly. The Hindi word for "colorful" morphed into a patch of bright red tulips; their green stems and leaves seemingly bending in the same breeze that challenged Bottino's spray paint to land on the bus rather than blowing away in the wind, before the afternoon was over.