Here's the conversion thread for Haulin' Oats. It's called Haulin' Oats because we travel with a goat, and I thought it was funny because the bus doesn't go very fast. You can see my sense of humor.
I'm a gal named Fred, and my trip partner is called Dan. He's the man. He comes with two cats, Bartleby and Oscar, and I come with a cat, Frankenstein, two dogs, Piper and Juno, a rabbit named George, and a goat named Rosie. They'll all be living in the bus with us, and maybe some chickens later, too.
We traveled 25,000 miles around the country last year in a 1968 Cox Campsquire pop-up camper pulled by a 4-cylinder Honda Element. Our blog of the trip is at
www.onenationundergoat.blogspot.com and we will be adding our bus travels to that as well.
Here are some highlights of our little band of fiends:
Dan and Rosie having a serious talk
Rosie enjoying a to-go snack a la Fred
The Wanderer staked out in Moab, Utah
Rosie deliberately sassing us, as per usual
Piper, Juno, and Rosie in the pop-up
The other team: Frankenstein (left), Bartleby (front), Oscar (back)
As you can see, the camper was a bit too small for us. Hence, the school bus.
She's a 1993 International DT360 with an AT545 transmission. We've swapped out the 6.11 rear end for a 4.7 ratio so now we can go a whopping 56 mph. Hopefully 60 on the highway, but that's yet to be tested. We're planning on a veggie oil conversion.
1 - A first look on the lot. Purchased from Alamance County bus garage in NC.
2 - Driving her home. In the dark. With no CDL, a temp tag, and no insurance.
3 - In case you don't know what the inside of a bus looks like
4 - This is the view I had as a child.
5 - The bus compared to our 1968 Cox Campsquire popup
6 - It makes the house look small.
7 - Most have a "dog nose," but mine's a Pug!
8 - Piper's the owner now.
9 - First passenger!
10 - Juno's driving.
11 - Piper: Are you sure about this, Juno?
12 - Juno: It's what I was born for.
13 - Piper: Ok, but watch out for the cats.
14 - Bus tires are the perfect size for no-cat's-land.
15 - Piper: On second thought, just run them over.
16 - Juno: Ok, are you ready?
17 - Piper: I think I need a seatbelt.
18 - Piper's concerns began to grow when she realized Juno has the brainpower of an ant.
19 - Remember, kids! Don't idle!
20 - Especially when you only have this much room in the garage! The front end is 1 inch from an overhead beam as well.
21 - This is what the inside engine hatch of the pug nosed bus looks like.
22 - Coolant leak scare resolved. There's a whole anxiety-ridden thread on this.
26: The original plan. Three rooms. A wall behind the cab to prevent cat-gas pedal mishaps, then the living room area with maple laminate flooring, a storage couch/bed, a clawfoot tub with board on top to use as a table, then the kitchen in black and white vinyl tile, with large sink, propane oven/range, cabinet space, then a wall before the bedroom with two single beds that convert to one kings bed, then another wall to the mud room with the toilet, and washer/dryer in one, and finally the goat pen area with a drained grated floor. Some changes have occurred since the original plan.
The bus will also be veggie oil converted.
27: Seats out! Leaving the floor stock and filling the bolt holes with elevator bolts. (PITA)
28: Test laying the vinyl stick on tile.
29: Test laying the maple laminate floor and vinyl stick on tiles.
30: Test laying floor, view from rear.
31: First coat of interior paint. It's oil based, so it stunk for a while.
32: Second coat of interior paint.
33: Installing foam underlayment and luan for the vinyl tiles. Frankenstein supervised.
34: Installing stick-on vinyl tiles.
35: Stick-on vinyl tiles installed.
36: Planning out the laminate floor plank positions.
37 - Tools of the trade.
38 - Bedroom flooring halfway done.
39 - Completed bedroom flooring.
40 - No pic yet, but be installed a 10,000BTU window unit AC in the rear driver's side window.
41 - Framing the first wall behind cab and installing door.
42 - We have a working door!
43 - Second wall dividing kitchen/living room and bedroom.
44 - Insulation. The windows are covered with reflectix which we'll put up and down as needed. The reflectix and the first wall alone made the air conditioner able to cool the bus to a constant 85 degrees on a 97 degree day in direct sunlight.
45 - Second wall finished! We used peg board and it was great!
46 - 1970s camper propane oven
47 - Love that harvest gold. Hopefully it works. One knob is stuck and we haven't tested it yet.
48 - Bedroom wardrobe
More pictures of stuff to come!