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On the morning of September 11,2001,
Will Gaul entered a local car dealership and purchased a used 1989 Chevy Bluebird Bus.As the sales clerk completed the paperwork on his purchase,she got a call from her mother about the first plane hitting the Twin Towers.She informed Will of this;he paid the clerk and returned home with his new bus, just in time to see the second plane hit the Twin Towers.
For years Will had followed the Grateful Dead,and when Jerry Garcia passed;he followed The Other Ones.
To Finance his travels, Will had ran a Tour Kitchen out the back of an old extended Dodge van dubbed the 'Deadsled' covered with hundreds of stickers.
It had a pullout kitchen,that he could set up quickly in the Tour Lots.
However,he was tired of 'cooking in the dirt' (as he called it) and envisioned a clean,weatherproof full kitchen were he could have a oven and the ability to bake.
In true deadhead style,he decided to convert a bus to contain this kitchen.
So during the fall and winter of 2001,Will built what is Now known as The Purple Bus Cafe.
He chose to paint the bus purple because it was a 'royal' color,and also he liked the color of the bag Crown Royal Whisksy came in.
In the spring of 2002,Will took the bus out on String Cheese Incident Tour and debuted his new Kitchen at Veteran's Memorial in Columbus,Ohio.
He then appeared at Frontier Ranch and at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park. The Purple Bus Cafe was a instant hit.
On July 14,2002 ,while at the Flats in Cleveland,Ohio at a String Cheese Incident show,the band approached Will and asked if they could use his bus for their portion of the "Go Further" Movie being produced by Woody Harrison.Will said sure,and brought the Bus around for them to use.
The pictures taken that day now form the basis of the website of http://www.purplebuscafe.com.
Since then, the Bus has appeared at many Festivals,Tour Lots and Venues,all over the country.
Fans of Hookah,WSP,Phil and Friends,The Dead,Ratdog,Plant Drum,DSO,Donna the Buffalo,and others too many to mention,have enjoyed Will's brand of Soulful Homestyle Cooking.
The Purplebus Cafe over the years has become a gathering and networking place for Family,Friends and other vendors on Jamband Tours everywhere.To see more pictures of The Purple Bus and it's travels and more Friends and Family, click on the bus.