BAY CITY, MI —

When the 150-foot-long Barquentine tall ship

begins sailing toward Marquette on Monday, July 15, a bus bearing the ship's name will follow in its wake.

The Peacemaker bus got its start from an earlier bus that helped to quell a riot at a Grateful Dead concert in Pittsburgh in 1989, tall ship Peacemaker Captain Larry Clinton said.

“We averted a riot by getting between riot police and the rioters,” said Clinton, 61, of Savannah, Ga.

Clinton, a licensed EMT, said the people on the bus began spreading their Christian sentiments and communal approach as part of the

.

A tan-and-brown, tiered bus with an interior identical to the design of the ship, the Peacemaker bus currently acts as a home to about 12 tribal members for a short period of time as they travel the country spreading

.

“We believe in love,” David Woodward, 60, of Cambridge, New York said. “Everywhere we go we try to love people.”

“We meet people and we make friends,” he said. “We found how every bird of a feather can fit together.”

The bus has been following the Peacemaker ship since the

in Cleveland.

Woodward said the group is assisting ship crew members to come and go, as well as making sure the ship has necessary supplies for the festivals.

Aboard the bus, the crew has all it needs, Woodward said.

From a kitchen that can serve up to 60 people, to a shower, room for 16 people to sleep comfortably and their own water tanks, the crew need only leave the bus to access the refrigerator and freezer in the attached trailer.

Woodward said no group stays on for a particularly long time, but rather members of the communal groups from around the country take turns with their families aboard the bus.

Other countries around the world also have begun to use a bus system to spread their word, with one under construction in Canada and another in use in Brazil, said Peacemaker ship captain’s assistant Robert Brooks, 58, of Londrina, Brazil.

“It helps us to meet people,” Brooks said. “It’s a social forum and a vehicle for that.”

Woodward said all who encounter the bus should remember they are welcome to board and ask questions.