A retired school bus filled with aid items has reached New Mexico after almost 10 days on the long road from Salt Spring to Cuba.

The island to island venture is part of an annual event organized by the Pastors for Peace, who describe themselves as “an ecumenical agency whose mission is to help forward the struggles of oppressed peoples for justice and self-determination.”

Local Caravan to Cuba organizer Lou Ellis reported Tuesday the bus crossed the border into the United States without incident on July 4, and all aid items passed through without problem. Since then, Salt Spring driver Axel Dollheiser and crew have travelled through Washington, Oregon and California and are now moving inland, stopping for public events in cities along the way.

The bus will meet up with other caravan participants in Texas before crossing into Mexico. It will eventually travel by commercial freighter from the port of Tampico to Havana, where it is destined to stay along with the aid items it holds.

Ellis said the bus is the first ever to travel from Western Canada in the caravan.

“Aid contribution was less than it has been in other years, but we sent the bus. That to me is the most significant thing,” she said.

Dollheiser had acquired the bus and it received a custom paint job before it left Salt Spring.