If you see a red, white and blue school bus driving around town, chances are Jeff Messick is at the wheel.

Messick, of Kalispell, is a patriot at heart and has spent the better part of five years chipping away at his project of converting the 1999 International bus into a motor home. He will be driving his colorful vehicle in Kalispell’s Fourth of July parade at 10 a.m. today on Main Street.

“It’s been a pretty big project, a pretty unique project,” he said.

Once he stripped the seats out of the interior, Messick began the task of building space for bunk beds and a living and kitchen area. His friends have helped him with various components.

“It’s a labor of love,” he said about his patriotic project.

Messick, 48, used to work for Flathead Industries and now is employed part time as a maintenance worker at Montana Raceway Park north of Kalispell. He picks up odds jobs here and there, he said, including lawn-mowing.

The patriotic-themed bus is the second such project he’s tackled through the years. He sold his first bus a couple of years ago after it was vandalized.

Messick likes to camp and fish in his spare time, and plans to use his bus to pursue those hobbies.

A road trip to Trout Creek will be one of his first excursions.