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newbie sayin HEY—currently in Oregon
welp, I went and bought a bus y'all. I turned 37 on May 9th (jeez I'm gettin old!). that same day (my birthday) just so happened to be the day the check from a federal class action lawsuit I started against my former employer for wage theft, cleared the bank(we settled out of court). early that morning, a friend and I drove straight down to Reno, NV from Eugene, OR to pick up my new ride, a 2006 IC Corp PB305 (RE200).
Yes, I know, the VT365! it's funny cos everything I read about it prior to purchasing basically screamed DON'T BUY THAT BUS! I'll openly admit that I'm stubborn and will do things my way any day of the week, every week, once I've made my mind up. I've read everything I think there is to read about the Ford Powerstroke 6.0L/VT365 and am pretty confident that I can perform any and all upgrades (egr delete, upgraded oil cooler, coolant filter, etc.) and/or *most* repairs to keep this baby going strong.
when i was in my early 20's, I bought a $500 craigslist sailboat in Quantico, VA. it was a 27' Pearson, I read and learned everything i could about fiberglass repair, bottom paint, masts and rigging, outboard motors, you name it, I did it! got her seaworthy enough to motor down the Potomac (three days worth!) (with the mast laying across her deck) and across the Chesapeake into Norfolk where I had her hauled out and fixed her up good as new. I lived on her three years with my dog Moses til i met my first husband and returned to landlubber life.
my bus has 170k miles on it, only 40k put on in the last 8 years— she's in excellent shape. as far as what I've done for her in the last month-
•removed the seats
•scraped and caulked the roof seams
•pulled and sealed the hatch
•painted the roof white with Henry Tropicool
•carefully bladed off
—front and back SCHOOL BUS
—all DOT and Bus Numbers
—almost all of one sides worth of FIRST STUDENT and WOODWARD SD markings along with all their accompanying black spray paint coverings.
•dismantled, cleaned and reassembled both front and rear heaters
all of that done over three weeks of boondocking by myself! one week up at Willamette Natl Forest and two one week stretches 45 minutes up an old logging road on BLM land near Blachy, OR. the latter spot was absolutely stunning, a dead end at the top of a ridge, didn't see another human being the whole two weeks there, just me, the dog (this ones a basset hound named Dennis the Menace!) and our pet squirrel- Splinter.
stealth camping has been hard as stones but thankfully I haven't had any run-ins with John Q. Public, and I'd love to keep it that way. as of right now I'm in Portland and my future isn't really planned. I know that it's nearing the time for me to find work and then get the heck out of Oregon. I'm a bartender by trade and have been one most of my adult working life. a year and a half ago i lost a very close family member. already a very heavy drinker, I was scared of depression and worried I'd drink myself to death because of it, I quit drinking. I moved to Oregon in October from New Orleans, and can't wait to get on outta here.
aside from searching for a job/life, next up for the bus is pulling and resealing the windows, pulling the ceiling and walls, floors and new insulation. I really just wanna grab supplies and head back to the mountains, but my friends told me I need to stay around civilization just a bit longer. my one regret so far, and it's not really that big of one, is that this bus is SO DANG BIG! and damn, these people in Oregon LOVE to stare and look in windows! it's like they even got no manners at all!
anywho, thanks for having me, I'm very happy to be here and have found y'all to be the biggest help even if you didn't know it.
best,
Zach
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