hello, new friends.

[husterdavid5]

My name is dave ( you apparantly already had one here, so he and i will fight it out later.) The wife and i are looking to turn this '82 bluebird wanderlodge (yeah, not really a bus) into our new home. Save the hippie jokes. Ive heard them all over the rest of the internet. You guys seem rad and willing to actually help, from what i've seen, get this bird off the ground. we're not going camping "sometimes",
and we're young and perhaps naive. but i found this site after hours of forums about retiring. sorry if that sounds bitter. we just want straight talk from people who "get it".

[husterdavid5]

and apologies to other dave. i havent fought anyone....ever. i think im funnier than my wife does. she's usually right.

[husterdavid5]

but for real we have some questions...

[M1031A1]

Well, start asking questions...... That's what we're here for. However, before asking, look at all the different threads about our builds so you can get a feel for what we've done, and, more importantly, messed up.

A good idea is to look at the small buses, the full-size 40'-ish buses, the coach buses, and write down (i.e. copy/paste) ideas you like and ones you want to avoid. This should give you a good foundation in which to figure out what you're looking to do. From there formulate your questions. Some old threads are really buried, so don't be afraid to go "fishing" for some information you may suspect is already on the site.

Best of wishes, and happy trails looking for your new-to-you bus!

M1031

[husterdavid5]

sorry, we're trying to pack up and consolidate 2 households into a bus-sized amount of stuff. its been a busy week. we've lucked out in that we have several friends who are diesel mechanics and more than willing to help get this machine road worthy while teaching us simultaneously (we feel we should be able to do as much as possible on our own). most of our questions at this point are based around the legalities of living in a bus/rv (where we can and cant go, etc.), as the actual laws are difficult to track down and the local authorities seem very confused. Also, we're looking for any advice from people who have lived on their bus, even for a short time. Stuff we may not have thought of. things to pack in we maybe havent thought of, etc. Anything would help. To bring up the "naive" thing again, and maybe it's better rephrased as "ignorant", we're exceited and optimistically flying into this relatively blind.

[husterdavid5]

also, there's an intercom. which i find much more hilarious than she does. i can ask for snacks from the bed in the back.

[husterdavid5]

one more... it's carpeted... which we're not huge fans of it. at least not throughout the whole bus. a carpeted kitchen and having a little dog seems like a mess waiting to happen. how much of an impact would pulling up some of the carpet have on the insulation/heat?

[husterdavid5]

we're also looking into how much water and power we can get living in it vs. camping in it. i can provide full info about the gen's and water tanks tomorrow. we're working on doubling the gray water system (we're hippies and farmers). thanks in advance for all the help.