The Boys

We were an adventure-loving group of young men in our twenties. Some were childhood friends, others met later, but all of us shared the urge to do something that had never been done before.

It all started in 1966 on a drive back from to Amsterdam. Ron (“Loophole”) Sverloff was renowned for getting around rules. In those days moving companies had many truck regulations but there were none for buses. Thinking we were going into the moving business, Ron drove us home in the newly purchased mini-bus, but instead, he exclaimed,

“No one has ever driven around the world in a double-decker bus.”

With this our adventure was born.

Meet the Essex Bus Boys

  • Rob Carter, Photographer/Secretary
  • Derek Jones, Maintenance
  • Albert Pidgeon, Treasurer
  • Ken Wilkinson, Cook
  • Skip Reina, Mechanic
  • Ron Still (henceforth, “Twiggy”), Public Relations
  • Ron Sverdloff, Navigator
  • (Chris Price was an original Seven, but left tour early due to a medical condition)
  •  1. In front of bus just unloaded onto the dock in Sydney, Australia, 1968
      top row L-R: Albert/Ken/Twiggy
     bottom row L-R: Rob/Ron/Derek/Skip
  •  2. On top of the bus, Dallas Road Victoria BC, Canada 1969
      -Ken/Albert/Rob/Skip/Derek (sitting)/Ron/Twiggy
  •  3. South Australia newspaper photo 1968
      -Skip/Ron C./Ken/Derek/Twiggy
      -Ron/Albert (small inset photo)
  •  4. On the dock in Sydney, Australia, 1968
  •  5. Nancy, Twiggy's girlfriend, who traveled with the bus for 6 months
  •  6. Interior of bus
      -Top: Skip/Ken/Derek
      -Bottom: Ken/Rob/Albert/Skip
  •  7. parking ticket Adelaide Australia. 1968
      -Rob/Skip/Twiggy/
      -Ron/Derek/Ken, Albert
  •  8. Adelaide, Australia, 1968
      -Derek/Skip/Ron/Albert/Ken/Rob/Twiggy
  •  9. Ron Sverloff pointing to map of South America.
    The farthest south that the bus travel was Queenstown N. Z.
    The farthest south on the American continent was Panama.