The Big Blue Bus

If you’ve ever ridden the Dairy Loop or descended Rist Canyon, you’ve likely noticed the large, double-decker blue bus that sat for years in a field near Bellvue. Known to some as Miss Construed, the distinctive vehicle is more than just a roadside curiosity—it’s a custom-built, fully livable home on wheels with deep connections to Northern Colorado and a long cross-country history.

Recently, the bus was towed across the road by a farm tractor to clear the way for a new corn crop and irrigation system on land owned by the Graves family, who also own Morning Fresh Dairy and the Howling Cow Café. The short move reignited local interest in the iconic vehicle and its story, at least for me.

Most of the following information came from the bus’s original owner and builder, known as Dependent_Switch4712 on Reddit.

Hand-Built, Coast to Coast

The bus was constructed between 1989 and 1993 in California as a self-sufficient mobile home. Its builder combined two Volkswagen buses—a 1965 VW in the front and a 1963 VW in the rear—into the top deck of the larger chassis. Inside, the vehicle includes a kitchen, bathroom, wood-burning stove, solar power system, and bedroom with a skylight and rear hatch.

The interior features redwood paneling, more than 30 handmade cabinet doors, and an oak floor salvaged from a 1920s Beverly Hills ballroom. A steep ladder leads to the bedroom inside the rear VW, and the vehicle was once capable of supporting two people off-grid for a month.

The bus was originally part of a “Breakfast Bus” tour in 1988, serving meals to hundreds of concertgoers at $3 a plate. It traveled through 27 states, attending Grateful Dead and Phish shows, Rainbow Gatherings in Wyoming and New Mexico, and local events like City Park’s Fourth of July fireworks and concerts at the Mishawaka.

A Landmark on the Dairy Loop

The bus was moved to Fort Collins in 1994 and remained in regular use until 2005, when its builder got divorced and served a six-year sentence with the Colorado Department of Corrections. Since then, it has sat on Morning Fresh Dairy property near the base of Rist Canyon, visible from the road and well known to local cyclists riding the Dairy Loop.

Despite a broken window and two decades in the elements, the bus remains largely intact. The builder, who put more than 4,000 hours into its construction, says the redwood interior could be cleaned up and refinished, and that the structural condition is better than it appears from the outside.

What’s Next for Miss Construed?

While the builder has daydreamed about seeing the bus restored as a public installation, perhaps near the Howling Cow Café, neither he nor the Graves family have any current plans for its future.
“It breaks my heart that it’s just falling apart in a field,” he wrote in a public forum. “I’d support a restoration effort if it picked up steam, but I don’t have the time to lead it.”

For now, Miss Construed remains a quiet part of the landscape—moved, but not forgotten. Whether it becomes a future community feature or fades further into local lore, the big blue bus remains a unique part of Fort Collins cycling culture and history.

Photo by Reddit user Dependent_Switch4712