We reported earlier this month that the “Nuns on the Bus,” who made national news for their social justice tour during the 2012 election, are going back on the road on behalf of immigration reform — and they just released their tour schedule:

A total of 6500 miles and 53 events in 40 cities across 15 states, over the course of three weeks, starting May 29 at Ellis Island in New York and ending on June 18 on Angel Island in San Francisco. Woody Guthrie ought to be the soundtrack.

The official title: “NETWORK Nuns on the Bus: A Drive for Faith, Family, and Citizenship.”

“Nuns on the Bus” road map courtesy of Network

It’s an impressive road trip, by any standards, and a huge step up from the nine-state, 2,700 mile tour across the Midwest and Northeast that first vaulted the Nuns on the Bus, and their charismatic leader, Sister Simone Campbell, into the headlines and onto “The Colbert Report,” e.g.

(“By the way, where’s the outfit?” as Colbert’s faux blowhard said to Campbell. “You burn it at one of those radical wimple-burning parties?” I suspect real blowhards, and others, were applauding!)

In any event, Network, the social justice lobby that Campbell heads, seems ready for the challenge, and perhaps supporters — and protesters — will be ready for them. They’re not coming out of nowhere like last time’s magical mystery tour.

What to watch for: whether, or how many, bishops join on. This time the nuns and the bishops are on the same page on a shared issue, immigration reform. But the nuns are still under Vatican scrutiny. Will they make common cause for “commonsense immigration reform”?

“They don’t have to ride on the bus,” Campbell told me earlier this month. “They can come stand with us at the events.”

Stay tuned. And meanwhile check out the full schedule of their Southern swing.