December 4, 2008, 1:39 pm
Posted by: Jer

It’s the morning after, and I am still in bed. It was all I could to just to roll over and grab my laptop this morning after six incredible and exhausting days. We met some awesome people, raised a huge amount for charity, and (in the final moments) one of our best friends got engaged. Talk about a fantastic success!

The fact that the site still takes a while to load suggests a large amount of traffic, even though we’ve stopped driving, and I wanted to take a couple minutes to note where we go from here. It will take some time to bring the site fully up to date, but of course we want to post the remaining milestone pictures sent in by our viewers. Those of you who participated in our various contests and activities generated a huge amount of creative content, from insane video game names, to fables to limericks to slash fic, and we want to make sure that is also full archived. We have things to sign and mail out, and probably some more stuff to do that I’m blissfully forgetting at the moment. We expect our donation total to increase slightly over the next week or so as well, as outstanding e-cheques clear and are deposited to Child’s Play.

I also wanted to offer up thanks to everyone who helped us make Desert Bus 2 the staggering success that it was this year. Our current donation toal is over three times that of last year, and that success lies greatly on the shoulders of those who called in to wish us encouragement, who took time out of their days to come down and support us, and who used their personal blogs and creative outlets to promote us. You people are amazing. Thanks also go to the press for covering us, sometimes multiple times, and encouraging readers and viewers to prolong our suffering.

Last but certainly not least, I want to thank those of you who’ve been with us in the chat, and who have watched us over our web streams. All of us pointed to interacting with you as our favourite part of the whole experience, and it’s ultimatele the part that makes Desert Bus so special. Thanks also for the donations; $70,000 is a phenomenal amount to raise, but is more significantly a phenominal amount to donate, and all credit for that goes entirely to you. It wasn’t until I looked at Rosco’s facebook this morning that it really dawned on me how many individuals go in to making an event like this what it is, and I need to reiterate my thanks for the huge amount of support over the last several days.

Please come back and see how things shape up. If you’re interested in spending more time with us, stop by LoadingReadyRun and check out our forums, as that’s where we’ll be until next year rolls around. Also, make sure to add Rosco on facebook to keep up with his future adventures.

Cheers, beers, and thanks again for making Desert Bus a phenominal success!

–Jeremy Petter
Driver, duck wrangler
loadingreadyrun.com | desertbus.org

10 Comments on “The Bus Has Stopped: Achievement Unlocked”

  1. Any word on the Rockband bundle raffle? Who won?

    By James (TX) - December 4th, 2008 2:47 pm
  2. You need to throw memcached infront of your site next time around so pages will load quick.

    http://www.danga.com/memcached/

    By tim - December 4th, 2008 4:08 pm
  3. It is not Jer, driver, duck wrangler, it is Jer driver, duck fancier

    By Lord Chrusher - December 4th, 2008 4:55 pm
  4. I have a question…

    how many points did you get?

    By Oliver - December 4th, 2008 6:07 pm
  5. What you guys did amazing. While I watched the live feeds it dawned on me that you guys pretty much ran a live telethon (webathon?). The interaction with the viewers and those in chat was truley a unique and rewarding experience. I’m already saving to see what goofy things you guys will do for money next year.

    By OilDrop - December 4th, 2008 11:11 pm
  6. That was an incredibly gratifying and humbling experience as an audience member and LRR fan. Some of the amounts being donated in lumps sums, let alone cumulatively, was staggering; In US dollars no less. But not once did any of them make me flinch. I was as excited for each as a Leafs goal in the playoffs (it’s a pretty rare thing, its pretty exciting.)

    One of the biggest disappointments of only finding LRR this year, (thanks to Max Effect) was that I missed last years Desert Bus. I would have been even more upset if I had missed this one. Having just 2 or 3 hits of LRR a week is a buzz. A raging torrent of 5 days was completely incapacitating, robbing me of human contact for 125 hours (even while at work.) Just when I was about to OD.. the I.V was cut and now I’m suffering some serious withdrawal.

    By Keith K - December 5th, 2008 1:04 am
  7. It goes to show you, sitting at your computer, or a console, for hours at a time? Really can make a difference. I will miss seeing everyone and being able to take part in this amazing event by simply passing the word around – but don’t worry! I’ve already begun informing anyone who will listen about next years event! Just think about it! Maybe you’ll hit $100,000, or, even more of a milestone? 200 hours.

    I shall miss you, Ninjer, despite the fact that you took Jesusco hostage on that Desert Bus. And you too, Dr. Space Monkies, whose shavings and waxings (for the children) were some of the most deprived things I’ve ever had to endure watching. But, I think I shall miss you most of all, Skinny Christ, your brooding silences and malnutrition has set an example for us all – Hallelujah.

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