Why a School Bus?
I'm anticipating the most frequently asked question we will get is why a school bus, or maybe even more generic why any of this at all. So this post will attempt to accomplish the tall task of answering that question. Hopefully reading it will give everyone an idea of what Robin and I were thinking and why.
We've Been Feeling the Itch to Travel
To say the last year and a half has been challenging is a supreme understatement. COVID has impacted almost every facet of our life and completely flipped how we were living on it's head. With Robin being immunocompromised and Emma too young for a vaccine we've been pretty serious about our quarantining. Thus we're itching to get out and do some travelling and we think that camping out and touring the country is a great option. I grew up camping through Boy Scouts and have a deep connection to the outdoors. From regional camping every month, to high adventure treks all across the country I spent a lot of my childhood outside. On the flip side, Robin has never even been to a National Park so this is a new experience for her that she's excited to learn about and explore. Being able to share that experience with Emma is even better. We want Emma to have the opportunity to learn and grow with the outdoors.
But Why A School Bus?
Travelling and getting outdoors can be accomplished many different ways. We've done some tent camping before, but we knew we wanted to have the opportunity to do longer trips and have more space to live in while we were at it. In the new remote work world we're living in we also wanted the opportunity to travel and work at the same time if we needed to. This led us down the path of an actual camper or RV. For reasons I'll explain shortly we opted to make our own RV instead of buying one.
RVs Are Expensive
When Robin first mentioned the idea of a School Bus, my first reaction was let's just get an RV. Little did I know the price tags that come with that idea. New RVs the size of our school bus cost around $100,000. Our used school bus cost us around $10,000. True the RV comes with everything you need to hit the road immediately and our School Bus needs some conversion work, but as I'll explain later that's all part of the fun for us.
We Wanted To Recycle Something
At this point you're probably saying "ah ha", what about a used RV. That would be cost effective and ready to go. While I'm not going to claim I'm being an eco warrior by buying a diesel powered school bus I do like the idea of recycling/repurposing something. This school bus had a long life of service in Austin ISD and now Robin, Emma, and I can give it a second life as our travelling camper. Rather than purchasing something new, or buying something purpose built for the camping we're taking a bus and repurposing it for our needs.
We Like DIY Projects
Would it be easier to have something purpose built for camping? Yes, 100% it would be easier, but we're actually very excited for the DIY aspects of this endeavor. We get to work on something from the ground up, from demolition, to construction of floors, walls, and furniture, to plumbing and electrical. This is going to be our project and every part of it will be unique and special to us. My good friend Ethan put it very nicely the other day when he said
I hope some of Emma's first memories that stick are of working on the bus.
We're bonding together as a family, building memories and our school bus, and having a great time doing it. Simply buying a camper just wasn't going to give us that opportunity.
So we bought a used school bus, have pulled up our sleeves and are working towards our goal of travelling and getting outdoors in something we made. It's going to be tough and there will be times that we may struggle but in the end we think it's going to be all worth it.