Any LA bus dwellers out there? Needing advice...

[mcnicol820]

Hello all. My name is Carrie and I live in Long Beach, California. with my husband Bryce, our daughter Jalynn and Kasha our pooch. We are very interested in having a more minimal lifestyle for many reasons.
We love the idea of bus conversion and are ready to jump right in except my husband works in LA and Burbank area at some of the studios and there are few options on where you can put a bus/rv. I was wondering if there is anyone on here who lives this lifestyle in the general LA area and how they go about it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[SchannepFamily]

I'm interested in following this thread! My husband and our three small kids just bought a bus and are on the same track. We live in Fullerton, so not too far from you. I'd love to hear your ideas for your conversion with kids.

-Robin

 

[mcnicol820]

I'm interested in following this thread! My husband and our three small kids just bought a bus and are on the same track. We live in Fullerton, so not too far from you. I'd love to hear your ideas for your conversion with kids.

-Robin

Hello Robin! I am so glad to hear we aren't the only ones in the area with this interest You are a lot further along in the process than we are by having bought the bus. I have been using google sketchup to layout my floor plan for a basic 40' bus. I have a few ideas on making the most of the space but I am big on open spaces and I want to avoid that hallway look through the bus. We are wanting to lift the roof to just below max height and that will give us the ability to do a small loft area for our daughters bed. She is 8 years old and loves the idea. I haven't got to all the power, water and fuel ideas yet. Are you guys planning on staying in the area or will you be full time travelers?

-Carrie

 

[SchannepFamily]

I totally forgot about Google sketch ups! Thanks for the reminder!! I completely agree about wanting to protect a more open layout and say away from that hall way look. I'm not sure how much farther along we are though, we have the bus, but we still need to go out to Tennesse to pick it up. Ours is a 34 foot 1995 Bluebird. We were looking at a 40 footer and debated about it. I'd like the extra space, but the smaller one was just built better and I'm a little intimidated driving a 40 footer.

How are you going to raise the roof? What's the process like for that? I'm really interested in that. Also, where do you plan to park yours while you're working on it? That's one reason why we aren't in a hurry to go get ours because we are still working on finding a parking spot for it.

We're going to be taking off for a 6 month to a year tour of the U.S. in about a year. How about you guys?

-Robin

 

[schoolmarm-SKO]

bus

Where in Tennessee is your bus located? I live in Obion,TN, about 100 miles north of Memphis.

 

[SchannepFamily]

Really?! I don't know anything about the geography of TN, but it's in Clarksville. Is that close to you at all? What is your skoolie like?

 

[EastCoastCB]

I got my bus twenty miles north of Clarksville in southern Kentucky. Todd County. Stayed the night in Clarksville. It got down into the teens and snowed heavily.
Great area and the bus I got is virtually rust free except the underside of the roof from the leaky hatches.
There isn't much in Clarksville, but they have a Chipotle so I was happy. The roads were complete shite and had narrow lanes that looked like they were paved during the New Deal.
We stayed at the Baymont Inn the night before we picked up the bus. Good rates and nice staff.
Be glad you won't be going south on I24. Between Nashville and Chattanooga there are some nasty grades to contend with.
Did yall get the TC that was at auction? Pics?

 

[SchannepFamily]

Carrie, I'm not sure if you have your sights set on a bus just yet, but there is a bus that is for sale in Anaheim right now. My husband and I went to look at it and almost bought it, but there was another family interested at the time and we moved forward with our bus in TN instead. Well the other family backed out and it's back up for sale. It's kinda ugly, but if you can look past the poor paint job and the sloppy interior it has good bones. It's a 40' Ward International. It's a 1992 I believe and it's a diesel puller. Here's the link for it:1992 40ft Ward/International School Bus Conversion

We're set to pick out beauty up the end of March!!! We're so excited!!!! Thanks for the tip on a motel. I think my husband and father in law are going to go out and get it. They have a 28 hour drive home ahead of them. Yikes!!!

 

[mcnicol820]

Robin, you're right, that is one ugly bus! And thank you for the info. We are actually going to wait a few more months before we buy one. We are going to try and find a good diesel pusher in Florida where we will be doing the overhaul. They have a ton of school bus auctions and stuff there. I have seen some people get really nice ones from auction for like $2500. Good luck on the pick up!

 

[theallnightdiner]

ive lived in my 37ft thomas skoolie for 8 months now all over LA. from hollywood, venice, to downtown which is where i currently stay. you can find out more.about my skoolie at theallnightdiner.com. i am a semi truck and bus mechanic too. been living on busses for sveral years now. my bus was also featured in the LA times if you search for the all night diner or my name, nicholas siemion.

 

[bansil]

ive lived in my 37ft thomas skoolie for 8 months now all over LA. from hollywood, venice, to downtown which is where i currently stay. you can find out more.about my skoolie at theallnightdiner.com. i am a semi truck and bus mechanic too. been living on busses for sveral years now. my bus was also featured in the LA times if you search for the all night diner or my name, nicholas siemion.

How about a thread and pictures?

Sounds like an adventure.....Welcome and good luck

 

[EastCoastCB]

Robin, you're right, that is one ugly bus! And thank you for the info. We are actually going to wait a few more months before we buy one. We are going to try and find a good diesel pusher in Florida where we will be doing the overhaul. They have a ton of school bus auctions and stuff there. I have seen some people get really nice ones from auction for like $2500. Good luck on the pick up!

Good luck on the search.
BEAT up conventionals have been going for over 3 grand here in Fl lately.
There IS a nice-ish 1993 Thomas in Tampa for asking price of 3800.
I can get you the link in you'd like.They would probably hold it for you...

 

[mcnicol820]

Good luck on the search.
BEAT up conventionals have been going for over 3 grand here in Fl lately.
There IS a nice-ish 1993 Thomas in Tampa for asking price of 3800.
I can get you the link in you'd like.They would probably hold it for you...

We won't be buying for another few months. But thank you for the lead! Currently I am just mapping everything out for the design and what products I want to use.

 

[EastCoastCB]

Robin, you're right, that is one ugly bus! And thank you for the info. We are actually going to wait a few more months before we buy one. We are going to try and find a good diesel pusher in Florida where we will be doing the overhaul. They have a ton of school bus auctions and stuff there. I have seen some people get really nice ones from auction for like $2500. Good luck on the pick up!

I have the same model. Don't let my bus know you think its ugly!

 

[mcnicol820]

I have the same model. Don't let my bus know you think its ugly!

Haha... Its not the model that I didn't like. It was what was done to it

 

[EastCoastCB]

I know! I've been kinda biting my tongue about it. Especially the 11,000 dollars supposedly spent.