In January of 1947, George and Herb Rustad bought three school buses and started running school buses for the Kerkhoven School District
In the 1950s their school buses increased to 11 routes, and they were granted authority to transport adults any place in Minnesota.
In the 1960s, the two brothers bought their first coach-style bus.
When the 1970s rolled around, they began going on longer charter trips outside of the State of Minnesota. In 1977, Herb sold his share of the business to George and his son, Charles “Chuck” Rustad, and they started Rustad Tours. It began as one and two-day tours, and by 1978, Rustad Tours expanded by taking tour groups to the Black Hills, Minnesota’s North Shore, and in time, Nashville, Branson, Yellowstone National Park and Washington, D.C.
In the 1980s, Jean Rustad, Chuck’s wife, began running the many aspects of the business—school buses, charter trips, and tours—while Chuck began traveling across the countries of Canada and the USA. George and June Rustad retired to a 40-acre farm eight miles outside of the town of Kerkhoven.
The fall of 2024 brought in the next generation as Chuck and Jean’s son, Thomas Rustad, took over the operation of the family business. Chuck and Jean can be found still working, but more behind the scenes.
Rustad tours is sending a huge thank you
Jean and Chuck have returned from a UMA (United Motorcoach Association) convention in Nashville, Tennessee. This is the largest motorcoach association in the USA and Canada. It is made up of companies large and small that operate motorcoaches in all 50 states and Canada. Every year they award 2 Vision Awards. One to a small company, 14 or less coaches and 1 to a large company, 15 and more coaches. The Vision Awards recognize operators that:
- Engage in sound business practices
- Have excelled safety records
- Regularly employ innovative marketing operations and customer service approaches
- Are good corporate citizens within the community
- Raise the standards for all morotcoach companies
- Riase the profile of the entire motorcoach industry and are financially sound
Rustad Tours received this coveted award for 2020. This would not have happened without all our great employees and customers. This letter is a Thank-you to all of you who helped form the company that we are all proud of.
Rustad Tours is proud to be members of
