Let's catch-up

[Collin Humble]

Hello Skoolers,

I have completely neglected this forum over the last year and a half. I apologize sincerely. So, let's catch up, shall we?

My wife and I bought our 97 Carpenter Crown in 2010, from a former board member here - and got a screaming deal on eBay, by the way! Anyway, he had done a little work, demo, and prep prior to being forced to sell. We scooped it up, I flew to upstate NY, and drove the thing back to Savannah, Georgia with no problems at all. We did a very quick and crude interior build, I did some plumbing and electrical over that winter and at the end of March 2011, we sold pretty much everything that we owned and moved into the bus full time. We had a basic route in mind, but basically didn't care where we went along the way. At a campground in Virginia, we decided to name it The Bustache, and paint the nose to suit. This took away the odd stares from people thinking we were a prison bus. It also created the odd stares of some people trying to figure out why we have a mustache on the front of our rig. But it was a blast, none the less. All in all, we ended up traveling through 30 states and 10,000 miles in three month's time. We saw many old friends, made some new ones, and managed to make a few strangers smile. It was an incredible experience, that we won't soon forget!

After the trip, I took an apprenticeship on an organic farm back home in Washington state. So, I actually continued to live on the bus for a few more months as well. When I took a job in Las Vegas last winter, I left the Bustache in storage at a friend's house in WA. Very sad to leave her, but the time has come to bring her on down to Nevada. I am going to be hitting the road in late September, and looking forward to having her close by again. Hopefully start doing some little trips here and there this fall and winter.

Anyway, if you are interested, follow the link on my signature for our Facebook page, which has some photo highlights from our journey. And if you are interested, I post plenty of useless items on that page for comedic relief - so "like" it too.

Looking forward to jumping into the boards and chatting with y'all.

[huff0026]

Hi, we're new to this forum and still looking for a bus. Yours looks a little like the one we are going to look at. It is a carpenter front engine i think, 89 model, in Oklahoma. Do you like a carpenter?

[Collin Humble]

I love our Carpenter! The flat nose took some getting used to for me, but I wouldn't go back now. The 5.9 Cummins and Allison transmission is a good pairing, in my opinion. Not everyone's favorite, but I have no complaints. Ours is a 36 footer, which gives us a ton of room to play with on the interior. We looked at some shorter buses, but I am really glad that we went bigger in the long run.

Where in Oklahoma are you located?