La Vie Boheme

[skoolie_n00bie]

Misty,
Welcome to the Kraziness!
Just read your thread, and it looks like your journey will be a memorable one.
Keep going, keep posting, and don't sell the action figures, specially if they're old!

[Robin97396]

Misty, we all know that if you're rich you're eccentric. If you're poor you're just weird.

You're fitting right in here.

[mysty]

You guys are the best! I feel like sharing my progress helps make letting go of things a lot easier. It can be overwhelming at times, and it's nice to take a break, hop on the computer, and remind myself of what my motivation is. Some of the pictures in the gallery and on the conversion threads are super inspiring!

I'm pretty sure we will end up getting a storage unit or renting a condo to keep some of our stuff that just won't fit on the bus. I'm not selling off my grandmother's china, for instance, but I don't think it would do too well rattling around on the road either! Still, for the most part, I think that it would be better to let a lot of the stuff go to a new home where it can bring someone else joy, rather than leaving it packed up in a box somewhere, forgotten and unused. Even my 7 year old is on board with that - she has been cheerfully searching for toys that she doesn't play with very much so that maybe some other child can enjoy them more!

[dan-fox]

Originally Posted by dgorila1

Hmmmmm, a loom. You could make the bed fold up and underneath a loom could fold up or down. ANYTHING is possible with a hammer, duct tape, 5 stripped wood screws, a rusty nail, a case of beer and a skoolie!

"Any moron with a crucible and acetylene torch and a cast iron waffle maker could have done the same. Whole thing only took me about twenty minutes." - Ron Swanson

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by dan-fox

"Any moron with a crucible and acetylene torch and a cast iron waffle maker could have done the same. Whole thing only took me about twenty minutes." - Ron Swanson

ha! you wouldnt want me near a crucible.. I cant even carry a cup of coffee across the room without spilling it everywhere,,, heheh

[mysty]

I stumbled across this picture today:


Yep, that's a spinning wheel... on a bus! So I clicked on their blog, and yep - they totally drive the bus around and shear sheep on the road for fiber art!


Haha, I nearly snorted my coffee out my nose. Just goes to show that anything really is possible.

[Robin97396]

Amen, if you can imagine it... somebody already did it.

[Robin97396]

I live on an old sheep ranch, but there haven't been sheep here for 50 years. Since you found the traveling wool art show after I imagined it, what do you think of dying sheep's wool before it's sheered. Lots of pastel sheep running around in the pasture?

[mysty]

Sure, why not?


Of course, I like the plaid variant!

[Robin97396]

Ok, now I'm out of sheep ideas. Just had to take a sheep shot anyway.

Those first sheep must be Easter sheep, while this last one is definitely Scottish. How else would they make plaid sweaters?

[trulytyler]

wow Mysty! You sound a lot like me haha I work as a uX designer with an art background myself. I also do front end development for websites as well (and I do agree, art school was harder). I'm 25 however, with a lack of family but a lot of desire to travel to the country with my fiance. I just graduated college a year ago and want to go off and travel, but am currently saving up and building our skoolie. I've had to get rid of my stuff multiple times and my best suggestion is to take everything you own and put it in a pile to see how big it is (room by room if your in a house) and take only the things you need. Then put the rest in bags and donate the rest.

Also there are TONS of videos on youtube and help on here that you really can't get with a tiny home. I did a cross analysis chart as well and I found that the bus was the most affordable, offers the most community support and is the most legal( super important for me who wants to be a full timer)!

[mysty]

Have I mentioned how cool it is to find such a great group of like-minded people?

I think traveling while you're still young and (relatively) care-free is a great idea! Especially when you have a job where "have laptop, will travel" applies. Maybe we can bounce ideas off of each other when it comes to figuring out internet, power management, and other aspects of life on the road as a digital artist/designer.

[skoolie_n00bie]

Originally Posted by mysty

Have I mentioned how cool it is to find such a great group of like-minded people?

I think traveling while you're still young and (relatively) care-free is a great idea! Especially when you have a job where "have laptop, will travel" applies. Maybe we can bounce ideas off of each other when it comes to figuring out internet, power management, and other aspects of life on the road as a digital artist/designer.

Been doing some research on mobile connectivity: although these new mifis are a breeze to use, they can be expensive! Sure, you can go to a Starbucks or McD's for a "quick" connection (and I use the term veeeery loosely)....

You can root your Android/jailbreak iPhone to share those connections, but your carrier usually doesn't like that.
(Moderators, please don't censor me! )

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by mysty

Have I mentioned how cool it is to find such a great group of like-minded people?

I think traveling while you're still young and (relatively) care-free is a great idea! Especially when you have a job where "have laptop, will travel" applies. Maybe we can bounce ideas off of each other when it comes to figuring out internet, power management, and other aspects of life on the road as a digital artist/designer.

"have laptop will travel" is how I roll.. im a partner in a company that builds and installs telecommunications in Hotels...

I created our product, my business partner had the market figured out and knows people... my product worked and worked well right out of the box partly because I wrote most of the code sitting at coffee shops, rest areas, on top of mountains, by rivers in downtowns of cities, well you get the idea..

enter my School bus.. for some reason it never dawned on me that I could create a mobile hardware / software development lab out of a school bus... one of my biggest issues is that while running marathon drives (yes I drive and get ideas)... I often have to stop, get a hotel room , set up my lab system, and then well sort of forget my grand idea.. and lose time re-remembering it...

while im not the type to Camp or "rough it".. the idea that when an idea comes to my head.. the nearest exit or rest area to park and too cool.. im ready to go!.. as well as not having to set up in a hotel room.. for hotels that accept truckers and busses are plentiful (yes I'll spend most nights in a room)..

so yes Have laptop will travel... the Bus will have Wired and wireless internet access.. (my DUal ATT / Verizon hotspots connected through a MikroTik router give me the wired and wireles.)..

love your style mysty!!
-Christopher

[skoolie_n00bie]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

"have laptop will travel" is how I roll.. im a partner in a company that builds and installs telecommunications in Hotels...

I created our product, my business partner had the market figured out and knows people... my product worked and worked well right out of the box partly because I wrote most of the code sitting at coffee shops, rest areas, on top of mountains, by rivers in downtowns of cities, well you get the idea..

enter my School bus.. for some reason it never dawned on me that I could create a mobile hardware / software development lab out of a school bus... one of my biggest issues is that while running marathon drives (yes I drive and get ideas)... I often have to stop, get a hotel room , set up my lab system, and then well sort of forget my grand idea.. and lose time re-remembering it...

while im not the type to Camp or "rough it".. the idea that when an idea comes to my head.. the nearest exit or rest area to park and too cool.. im ready to go!.. as well as not having to set up in a hotel room.. for hotels that accept truckers and busses are plentiful (yes I'll spend most nights in a room)..

so yes Have laptop will travel... the Bus will have Wired and wireless internet access.. (my DUal ATT / Verizon hotspots connected through a MikroTik router give me the wired and wireles.)..

love your style mysty!!
-Christopher

Are you guys hiring for tech support in S.FL? [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23]
What's your bandwidth with the ATT/vzw combo?

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by skoolie_n00bie

Are you guys hiring for tech support in S.FL? [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23]
What's your bandwidth with the ATT/vzw combo?

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

I know im looking to rent an apartment in south or mid florida.. we sometimes need Truck-roll subs down in that area for sure...

bandwidth in my testing varies greatly depending on where im at.. I run a Load balancing script but I get anywhere from 5 megabit up to sometimes 35 or 40.. now thats testing from my car or pickup truck.. im assuming once I get it in a bus it will be similar... just using standard Netgear LTE hotspots that support both ATT and Verizon;s advanced expanded-frequency LTE...

-Christopher

[mysty]

So, my skoolie dream has just taken a leap forward. My mom and stepdad returned from the cruise they've been on the past few weeks, so I gave my stepdad a call. He used to work at a steel mill (before it closed down), and has rebuilt vans in the past, so I figure he could probably show me a thing or twenty about working with metal and building out a bus. He and Mom have generously agreed to let me (and my younger daughter) live with them for however long it takes to do the conversion, and he will teach me how to weld, let me use his tools, and park/work on the bus in the yard. We get to spend some father/daughter time together, and I get to learn from a pro!

I'm not entirely looking forward to being almost 700 miles away from my husband and older daughter, but I guess that's motivation to work hard to get it finished. Anyway, they're in Ohio, so maybe I can meet up with some Ohio folks (Christopher, I'm looking at you) and check out your skoolies in person!

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by mysty

So, my skoolie dream has just taken a leap forward. My mom and stepdad returned from the cruise they've been on the past few weeks, so I gave my stepdad a call. He used to work at a steel mill (before it closed down), and has rebuilt vans in the past, so I figure he could probably show me a thing or twenty about working with metal and building out a bus. He and Mom have generously agreed to let me (and my younger daughter) live with them for however long it takes to do the conversion, and he will teach me how to weld, let me use his tools, and park/work on the bus in the yard. We get to spend some father/daughter time together, and I get to learn from a pro!

I'm not entirely looking forward to being almost 700 miles away from my husband and older daughter, but I guess that's motivation to work hard to get it finished. Anyway, they're in Ohio, so maybe I can meet up with some Ohio folks (Christopher, I'm looking at you) and check out your skoolies in person!

now thats fantastic!!!! what a great way to work on your bus and also learn new skills!!

it will definitely be fun to meet up.. im just getting started too.. (I dont even have my bus in my hands yet, I can build lots of stuff but body work is not one of them so im having work done to my bus before I fly to florida and pick it up.. {funny thing is my bus originally lived in ohio}..).

whereabouts in ohio are you going?
-Christopher

[mysty]

They live in Lorain, about 2 hours north (and a little east) of you. We're still working out details of when exactly this is going to happen - I still have to finish cleaning out my house and get it on the market. That's going slower than I'd like. The garage and kitchen are about done, but I still have the library, the music room, the dining/game room, the media room, the office, the studio, the play room, 4 bedrooms, and 4 bathrooms to go. 9 closets and the laundry room, too, I suppose. And the sunroom. (See what I meant about a huge house?)

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by mysty

They live in Lorain, about 2 hours north (and a little east) of you. We're still working out details of when exactly this is going to happen - I still have to finish cleaning out my house and get it on the market. That's going slower than I'd like. The garage and kitchen are about done, but I still have the library, the music room, the dining/game room, the media room, the office, the studio, the play room, 4 bedrooms, and 4 bathrooms to go. 9 closets and the laundry room, too, I suppose. And the sunroom. (See what I meant about a huge house?)

its funny about "bigger is better".. when I built my house I took on the mantra that I wanted a reasonable sized house with fancy house features.. so I built a 1300 sq ft ranch with fancy house features.. "complete smart house, 3 HVAC zones, high end lighting, floors, oak windows etc".. and I sprung for a full basement and enlarged garage (I was restoring and building hotrods at the time in 2004)...

all I hear from my friends now is "your business is really taken off when are you going to buy a Bigger house??".. lol im just fine in my cool little house.. and even so am decluttering and getting rid of stuff i never use..

would i not have a good friend / roomate that depends on me for affordable, stable housing id probably move to one of those downtown Lofts...

I dont see myself living in a tiny house.. but its so easy to accumulate stuff.. stuff that you;ll never use.. or once used but refuse to get rid of because "you might need it"..

I wouldnt hurry.. you have time... your bus wasnt dreamed up in one night, and it doesnt have to be completed quickly.. in my opinion what most matters is that you enjoy and dont stress over it.. if you start to stress over it then it loses its purpose for cleansing and simplification in your life..

I quit building hotrods and going to car shows because it became a stresser and not a stress reliever... as the number of remaining classic cars becomes less and less (they dont build them anymore and people do wreck them).. the car show circuit became more cut throat and competitive... the straw that broke the camel's back was when I got completely trashed at a show for a build I thiught was quite nice... I had saved an old monte carlo from the crusher.. a car that really was headed to the junkyard. I resto-modded it.. nice big engine, A/C, digital gauges.. all the stuff it never had.. but because it had been some sort of "rare" combination when it was built, it was like committing murder to these people... so I sold the car to a very-happy buyer who was moving to miami and appreciated very much the fact I had added A/C to it... I asctually saw the car parked along ocean drive a year and a half ago when I was in South beach...

the School Bus brings back to me the stress-free building and enjoyment.. ever since I was a kid I wanted a school bus.. then I had one.. and I did nothing with it.. oh I did a beautiful custom A/C job.. BUT I was still doing hotrods.. then I started a business.. and there sat my bus.. till a garage fire burned it up...

wierd thing when that fire happened i got excited about a school bus again.. then came along a business-deal gone bad from 8 years ago... where I finally collected on what was owed me.. money I forgot existed!.. so now here i am totally excited and into the school bus thing again.. had that fire not happened?? my old bus wouldve probably still been sitting in that garage.. I forgot how much I loved busses until I spent that friday and saturday with Greg down at BGA.. crawling all over and starting up and driving busses...

the thing aboiut skoolies unlike classic-car clubs is that they dont judge you on your build, but will help you out if they see you making a mistake that could compromise your build or your safety.. everybody's bus is a different color, shape,size,design, and purpose.. some are Homes,. others Campers, yet others toy haulers, art studios and even still Busses...

so YES your dreams can and will come true and No you dont have to do it right away... take your time.. make your bus what you want.. oh that can change as you get into it.. just like when I had my house built, as the walls went up I visualized things differently.. your bus will look different as you build it than it did in your vision... thats not bad.. its good because you can alter as you go..
-Christopher