New To Forum -and Excited

[KeyWestPirate]

I decided to do a Skoolie as a means to keep an affordable footprint in the US. I have a farm in Nicaragua where I spend most of my time, (well, used to,, last two years not so much).


The bus I intend to buy is a diesel pusher. I already work as a bus driver, and there are a choice of good buses they have not been able to take to auction the last couple of years. These are all Cummings diesels, well maintained, with generally 200 - 300K miles on them.



In Arizona they have monster A/C compressors in the engine compartment, with enclosed ducting along the sides at ceiling level (above the glass), running the length of the bus. I would remove one, and keep the other.


In Nicaragua we are completely self sufficient electrically. That technology is cheap,, available, and easily to manage. We have a 16 GC battery, 18 solar panels, 5KW inverter system that meets all of our needs. The bus could get by with half that, except for the inverter. We use a propane fired on demand water heater. Works really well. All that could be worked into the underfloor " baggage compartments".


The roof I was going to paint with that expanding urethane coating, and further shade the roof with the solar panels. Bus height is 11-9 at the moment, and I am considering raising just the back over the bed, perhaps two feet??



Anyway, that's the plan. I'll be browsing the site for good ideas, but welcome any suggestions, especially those that will help me avoid rework as I go.


I don't have a pic of the bus as I haven't bought it yet, but anyone who knows school buses knows what I am talking about.


I did attach a pic of my farm. I'm in the Nicaragua mountains almost to the Honduras border. We have the eternal spring that everyone talks about.


I drive back and forth routinely,, it's a long trip,, but with the cost of flying, for two people it's no more expensive to drive. And I can pack that bus with a LOT of $h!t . It will surely be a bit more difficult than with the Ford F150 I drive now,, but not that much.

[TheHubbardBus]

You can have our bus if we can live on your farm

Welcome!

[Veloc]

Bus height would be the main concern I can see, based off your blurb here. In the US, overpasses on interstates are generally 13ft 6in minimum, off the interstates it could be lower. Your proposed roof raise would be 13ft 9 in, plus however high the solar panels are.
Outside the US, no idea on height minimums. On one of your trips home and back I'd suggest paying close attention to the height of anything over the road, and stop and measure anything that looks low. The last thing you want to do is shave off your solar panels, or worse yet your newly raised roof.

Beautiful countryside down that way. My dad was in the US military and was stationed in Panama in the mid 1970s. One of these days I want to take the wife on a visit down there.

[KeyWestPirate]

To Hubbard and Veloc: You are welcome any time. I have 40 acres and guest quarters with hot water.



Drive your bus down for the adventures of a lifetime. Diesel is cheaper in Mexico and Central America.


Why stop in Nicaragua,, continue on through Costa Rica and Panama.



Then,, SELL your bus and fly back !!!


Living is cheap in Nicaragua. You can easily live for $1000 /month. Property taxes on my 40 acre farm are $25 a year. I pay my caretaker $10 day and I outrageously overpay him. Everyone else pays 7 or 8. Grow your own,, pigs and chickens,



Nicaragua is a nasty dictatorship, but they don't bother expats at all. There are quite a few down there.


I drive from Arizona to the Guatemala border in 4 days,, if you are midwest, plan on three days in Mexico if you are driving through. There are so many wonderful places in Mexico that it's hard to "drive through" .


You might be able to do a 10 year import on your motor home, cheap,, in Mexico.

Otherwise you get 6 months for a $400 deposit and $50 for the paperwork. The 400 you get back promptly as you leave Mexico for Guatemala. Guatemala is $29, 90 days,, Honduras is $40, 60 days, El Salvador and Nicaragua are free, 30 days but you can renew once. Costa Rica is 90 days,, free but insurance is $45,

Don't know about Panama,, you can tell me when you get there.



You want to stay in the mountains like us through the summer,,, winter works anywhere.
You drive on your US license everywhere. Get it renewed,, and then tell them you lost it so you have a duplicate . You should have duplicates of all your "originals".


Stay away from the shysters at the borders. Other than that it's a pretty straightforward trip. Long. But if you are not in a hurry,, very pleasant.


Mexico has big Pemex station plazas you can park over night in for a buck or two after you fuel up. Get drinking water there too.. They all have mini marts and some have restaurants and hotels
Sewage is more of an issue,, but as long as you dig a hole somewhere really rural and bury it,, I think you would be OK. That is what I am going to do.


English is generally available everywhere because of all the deportees, and everyone you meet has family in the US.


Good luck,, let me know if you have questions. I've been making the drive since 2012.


On the raised roof,, I just want to raise over the bed. Just enough to put in some glass Bed will be up off the floor,, so I don't want to bang my head when I kneel on the bed.

Thank you for your suggestions!

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

You can have our bus if we can live on your farm

Same. You could end up with three skoolies!

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Same. You could end up with three skoolies!

Is Nicaraguan soil lacking in iron oxide?

[Veloc]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

Is Nicaraguan soil lacking in iron oxide?

Quite a lot of Central America is. When my dad retired from the military we moved to the midwest, and it kinda freaked me out because dirt is supposed to be brown and all the dirt around here is orangy red. I was about 7 at the time, and we'd lived down there 3 years. Took a while for me to get used to red dirt, and it still doesn't look "right" to me.

[KeyWestPirate]

I'll get a pic later today of the soil. Our property is a gentle downslope to the NE from El Fraile, one of the tallest "mountains". The mountains are not that tall,, the highest is Mozonte at 7000 meet,


We've not had trouble growing anything. I've heard the soil is deficient in manganese, but haven't tested it for that. The property is a series of downslope, bench,, downslope, bench. Where the house,, greenhouse, pig and chicken enclosures are is a large "flat" area. We have a very large "lawn" in the front and on two sides that has to be mowed weekly. A good part of the farm is pasture, but we have no cattle at the moment.
The higher part of the property is covered with mature pines.



Until a year ago we were both coming and going. I was there more of the time,, Shelley was working as a nurse. She retired and has no intention of ever coming back. She loves it there. Riding her horse, Muñeca, gardening, and she has the leisure to cook now. She was a circulator, she managed an OR at a surgery center in Tucson, and it was stressful, demanding work.


We're coming towards the end of the dry season. It should start raining towards the end of April. It's the best time of year for us, warm sunny days, cool crisp nights, and dryer. You can see in the pics how everything is drier. In May it will all turn to a lush green with the rains.



Pic of my horse, Luna, and Shelley on Muñeca. Arnold our new macho, he will eventually be as big as Gaylord, who got to 600 pounds,, , and Nancy. We sold most of Violeta's litter,, kept Nancy and Chuck. Butchered Chuck at 8 months. There is still some Chuck and Gaylord in the freezer. And always chickens, or course. We smoke a lot of the pork, and some of the chicken. Pic of Shelley and a friend,

Arnold is a purebred Landrace. I want to improve the pig stock by bringing in some new blood. Nancy is the daughter of Violeta who was an excellent mother. It will be almost a year before Arnold is ready to "step up",, so to speak.



That last pic is of my scrotum where Violeta knocked me down and snagged me with an incisor. We were separating her from her piglets. Pig mothers are very protective. Even though you are "friends", you learn quickly to avoid getting between them and their piglets.

[EastCoastCB]

I know you're excited but try to hold off on the scrote pix lol

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by KeyWestPirate

That last pic is of my scrotum...

That's something you don't hear every day. At least in the circles I frequent.
Haha, I like you already. It takes balls to make a post like that.

Is the pic directly above that Violeta after the scrotum incident?

[KeyWestPirate]

The roasted meat is Chuck. Above that is Nancy. She's ready, but we are going to let her get bigger. There is a cycle of life there. We're in the campo, and it has a rhythm all it's own. People buy our piglets to fatten for New Year's


People are poor,, meat during most of the year is chicken, and they are scrawny. Corn tortillas, beans, squash, yucca, are the mainstays of the diet.



We plant a lot of feed corn in May,, harvest it September, October. I thin it and chop that up for both the pigs and chickens. The rest dries on the stalk, then we husk it, dry the grain a bit more in the sun, store it as grain, and grind it as we need it. I have machines for both getting the kernels off the cob, and grinding the corn.


Someone asked about soil. Here are a couple of pics taken by Shelley this morning of corn and carrots

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

Is Nicaraguan soil lacking in iron oxide?

Hey now! Everything that's gonna rust on my bus is already gone. It's now 99% Dynatron-550 and Rust-Oleum.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by KeyWestPirate

Someone asked about soil. Here are a couple of pics taken by Shelley this morning of corn and carrots

Ha ha, TheHubbardBus was just making fun of my, uh, slightly rusted school bus.

[Veloc]

Now that is some beautiful dirt for growing crops, and is what I thought dirt was as a little nipper. Then I move back to the states and see this kind of dirt. The picture is of my back yard. I own a hilside and had a dozer cut me a flat spot out by digging in on one side and pushing it out on the other. My camera isn't the best in the world, that dirt is really more of a rusty orange than that.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Hey now! Everything that's gonna rust on my bus is already gone. It's now 99% Dynatron-550 and Rust-Oleum.

Element 119... Dynoleum!

[RamRod4]

Originally Posted by KeyWestPirate

I decided to do a Skoolie as a means to keep an affordable footprint in the US. I have a farm in Nicaragua where I spend most of my time, (well, used to,, last two years not so much).


The bus I intend to buy is a diesel pusher. I already work as a bus driver, and there are a choice of good buses they have not been able to take to auction the last couple of years. These are all Cummings diesels, well maintained, with generally 200 - 300K miles on them.



In Arizona they have monster A/C compressors in the engine compartment, with enclosed ducting along the sides at ceiling level (above the glass), running the length of the bus. I would remove one, and keep the other.


In Nicaragua we are completely self sufficient electrically. That technology is cheap,, available, and easily to manage. We have a 16 GC battery, 18 solar panels, 5KW inverter system that meets all of our needs. The bus could get by with half that, except for the inverter. We use a propane fired on demand water heater. Works really well. All that could be worked into the underfloor " baggage compartments".


The roof I was going to paint with that expanding urethane coating, and further shade the roof with the solar panels. Bus height is 11-9 at the moment, and I am considering raising just the back over the bed, perhaps two feet??



Anyway, that's the plan. I'll be browsing the site for good ideas, but welcome any suggestions, especially those that will help me avoid rework as I go.


I don't have a pic of the bus as I haven't bought it yet, but anyone who knows school buses knows what I am talking about.


I did attach a pic of my farm. I'm in the Nicaragua mountains almost to the Honduras border. We have the eternal spring that everyone talks about.


I drive back and forth routinely,, it's a long trip,, but with the cost of flying, for two people it's no more expensive to drive. And I can pack that bus with a LOT of $h!t . It will surely be a bit more difficult than with the Ford F150 I drive now,, but not that much.

Keywest, I just saw this thread after going back and forth with you quite a bit. Welcome!

Your property is something out of a dream. If we ever pus down that far we may pay you a visit!