Help Rusty Come Home!

Dear friends, family and dreamers,

Our beloved mobile, rolling steel, double decker multi-media mutant vehicle, The Rusty Iris, could truly use your help to finally make the journey back home from Nevada. If you can help, please go to our GoFundMe page or hit the Donate button here on our website.

In August 2025, after three years of planning, dreaming, building and fundraising, we travelled to Black Rock City to debut The Rusty Iris mutant vehicle at that big art festival in the desert, aka Burning Man. If you've followed our journey online, you may know we had many hurdles and hoops to jump through to get Rusty road ready to travel from Crozet, VA to Black Rock City, NV.

We travelled over 2600 miles to that fever dream, temporary metropolis in the desert. We passed the mutant vehicle inspection to great cheers (and maybe shed a few exhausted, happy tears). We set up Rusty as a beacon, lighting up the night sky and co-hosted camp parties. We survived the great whiteout, sheltered a few wind damaged campers and drove lovers and dreamers all across the playa. We welcomed aboard new friends, curious explorers and opened Rusty to all who wished to climb aboard and explore. We toured installations with those who could not physically manage the trek around the playa, we dropped riders off for late night pizza in deep playa. We circled up around the Big Burn, offering an elevated vantage point of the flames and fire works. At the Temple burn, we held space for those onboard.

As with all wild undertakings and best laid plans, we’ve had a few hiccups. The multiple whiteouts, with 80 miles per hour wind, tested our beloved Rusty. The wind not only bent steel, but also seeped sand into the nooks and crannies of this mutant vehicle. An extended Exodus compounded engine gremlins onto the pile and Rusty limped into Winnemucca. Bone tired, we began searching for a diesel bus mechanic. Because Rusty is not a traditional bus, we needed to find someone knowledgeable about diesel engines, but also adventurous enough to tackle the many systems added to a double decker mutant vehicle, mobile art sculpture with sound, LED lighting and fire elements.

From our multiple calls and inquires, we were able to get find this hero and get towed to a local shop. After a few days, we realised that Rusty was going to need an extended stay and we needed to head back home to families, pets and day jobs. We unloaded what we could onto other vehicles and said goodbye for now to Rusty.

In November 2025, following months of calls, texts and e-mails, we finally got the call we needed. The Rusty Iris was ready to make the trek home! With this news, we started making plans on how to best accomplish bringing Rusty back to Virginia. In completing the last leg of this journey, we really need community help to launch Operation Bring Rusty Home.

Operation Bring Rusty Home requires a team of two people to drive her back to Virginia. Our reserves are close to being tapped after the repairs and we are raising funds to bring Rusty full circle and complete her epic journey. The funds raised will go towards flying the team to Nevada to claim Rusty and drive her back. Included in our goal are funds for fuel and tolls. Any additional funds, over our goal, will go towards securing a two or three nights in a motel room for the Rusty Rescue Team. Driving a vehicle this big, wrestling it against the road winds is exhausting and the team could use a few good nights of rest during their long journey back.

So we ask you to please watch our videos and see what The Rusty Iris means to the many communities she’s touched. Check out the Facebook & Instagram accounts to see the various events she’s participated in from burns, art festivals and Truck Touches for kids big and small. If you’ve taken a selfie for the gram, danced on her decks, hung out in the Orb, or the DJ boof roof, please donate to bring her home. She has so much more to show you.

As always, in rust we trust, with love,

Kirk, Wendy and all of Team Rusty