For ALL you skoolie owners......

[lornaschinske]

I am very disappointed in Escapees. I didn't think they were like FMCA. I do hope that it was simply an oversight on the editors part. I'm sure this was a submission from an Escapees member. I think you need to put together an article with LOTS of pics to show other what a skoolie could look like. Perhaps all of us need to start actively trying to change the stereotypical image of the "hippie bus" that most folks think of when they hear "converted school bus". For now, I will give them the benefit of the doubt... until I hear otherwise.

 

[lornaschinske]

Well I have RIF chewing me out for something I posted about this (well, a little bit about this and a lot about the narrow mindedness that is occuring on the RV boards lately). Granted I did not read the article (members only mag & I'm no longer a member). But I object to the phrase ""Besides, it was only a small school bus converted to a camper, so it really shouldn't count as losing a "bus".. RIF says Smitty took it out of context. I have read enough of Smitty's postings that to believe what he says the article said and the tone in which it was written. RIF... not so much. This is a guy with a huge fiver and appears to be very proud of his stuff (sig link at the bottom of his posts.."2000 Volvo 770, 500HP/1650FP Cummins N14 and 10 Speed Autoshift 3.58 Rear 202" WB, 2002 Teton Aspen Royal 43 Foot, Burgman 400 Scooter"). If memory serves me right (and it may not... my memory is a bit faulty) he had a hissy fit once because I referred to his manufactured fifth wheel as a stick-&-staples. Lots of them have... it's so hard to keep them straight. I guess I will have to start censoring my posts on Escapees.




http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=86427&hl=

 

[baadpuppy]

Hrm... if Stick and Staple offends, perhaps prefab would be better.

 

[bus-bro]

A lot of S&S people have a thin skin because they owe alot more on their RV than it is worth. Now if you drive up in a quality Skoolie, that is much better built and owned free and clear, how do you think they'll feel about that.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I will not say anything either way without reading the whole article. Err...anyone have it? I can't find it.

 

[wmah]

I'll go the same as Jarlaxle.
Can't decide what to think unless I see the whole thing.
I can decide not to pay for access to a web site, but my decision is not cause of a few words printed by an author on the site. My decision is based on the idea of actually paying for something that I have no interest in in the first place and never heard of until now. I have gotten compliments from the "real" rv owners about what I have. They admire how we put in the work to make it the way we did. Maybe sometime I will try and pull up to some of them $500,000 units and see what they say as they come out of the same walmart store that the rest of us shop at.

 

[Abbott-SKO]

It didn't seem like that big of a deal to me ~shrug~

 

[Redbear]

. . . I can decide not to pay for access to a web site, but my decision is not cause of a few words printed by an author on the site.

To clarify, the SKP forum (website) can be read by all, and registration to post is free, just like skoolie.net. The story in question was an article in the members' magazine, which is not public.

I've been on the forum there without being a dues-paying member for 3 years. I signed up in order to keep track of vagabond SKP "Lifetime Member" relatives. I think I actually found skoolie.net from a reference or following links in someone's post there.

Lorna, GREAT rant on Smitty's (aka "Neon Moon's") "How I Lost My Bus"? SKP thread.
(http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=86427&view=findpost&p=392344)

Smitty, I don't know if you went back to your bus thread and looked at some of the replies:

SMITTY: I checked on the link in your post but couldn't find anything offensive. . . just some of your previous posts. My wife and I full-time in a fiberglass and stapples class A. . . we'd NEVER put down any other bus. . . your new home rolls. . . now its up to you to make it rock. I've been following your build project and love it! You can park next to me anytime. We're currently at the SKPs rally in Goshen. . . heading south at the end of the week. . . we'd be proutd to sit next to your great skoolie. As always, oRV

--------------------
oRV
75065 Lifetime Member
2010 Phaeton 40 QTH

I have a shiny new 43ft bus. But guess what my favorite forum thread was? Your "skoolie"! I am SUPER impressed by your workmanship, your problem solving ability, and your ability to complete what I can only hope to do. I think most everyone here does as well, so if one article is considered offensive just ignore it. There are more than a few who respect your bus!

== John
--------------------
2009 Monaco Camelot 42 ft. diesel pusher with 2010 Honda CR-V toad
Web site, albums, blog and more here

If oRV wants you as a neighbor (as if you want neighbors), then you will be OK with most of the folks there.
As for the few others, all I can think of is "Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up!"

 

[lornaschinske]

I've not heard anything back from them either and I e-mailed a message to the forum moderators. Guess they either don't read the e-mails or they ignore the ones they want.

 

[TerryBull]

I am sorry I offended you. Perhaps I did not consider wisely my wording ... The original article (humor) is here http://www.mt-nesters.com/pb/wp_3494ab8 ... 4ab8b.html I hope ... If you read it, I hope you will see that:
1. We loved our bus and kept it for 15 years ... We traveled all over in it and when it gave up the mechanical ghost we used it and loved it still ( btw I have had 2 other converted buses).
2. In context, I was mocking the fact that I lost my bus (which I did) but at least in my defense it was not 45 feet long so it was not so bad ...

Once again, sorry that this line was so offensive to your community. It was neither intended nor representative of any bias on my part .... Please read the article and comment to me here or via our site. I wish someone would have let me know earlier as I loved all 3 of my school busses and enjoyed the 2 convsions I made.
Terry Roebuck

 

[TerryBull]

Good idea - I'll do that.

 

[lornaschinske]

Just checked and at this time there wasn't any mention. It isn't just the single article, but the article combined with the "attitude"of some of the posters. Skoolies tend to be looked down on by the folks who have the shiny RVs... with all the problems but they tend to forget that their RV's sit at the repair shops for so much of the time. I will take a skoolie that we have converted over a sticks-n-staples RV. I find it a little disturbing that the RVing community (especially the full-timers) looks down on converted school buses, cargo vans, cargo trailer, etc yet they are looked at "differently" because they do something "different". You would think that they would understand. And here we have some one who claims that he likes skoolies yet disparages them in print. As a group, skoolie owners fight against a 40 to 50 year old "stereotype" (the Hippie bus). The "Hippie bus" stereotype is thrown out at us as an excuse for many private campgrounds to discriminate against us. "Poor workmanship" is another excuse. Yet they allow poorly built commercial RV in their parks without a second thought. As for some of the "wilder" more artistic paint jobs on the skoolies... I have seen some really UGLY abstract splashy swathes of colour,that I can only assume was chosen by a colourblind designer, on some of those big fancy RV's that has more mirrors in them than a Las Vegas whore house (not that I have any personal knowledge of Las Vegas whorehouses).... and what is the deal with their furnaces that kick on for 30 minutes, shut down for 10 and then kick back on again! They are LOUD!

 

[lornaschinske]

Same thing posted here is now on the Escapees site.

 

[Redbear]

Well, now that there is a link, I read the article. Overall, it was pretty funny and well-written. The author disparaging his own memory was the main theme, and the first skoolie put-down seemed innocent and humorous:

soon that big-6 motor was running like - well like a big-6 motor in a 1967 bus - sort of like a cross between a cement mixer loaded with rocks and several cats fighting.

Ok, that's funny. It might even fit with some of our rigs. I make cracks about our 18-year old box truck with the DT-360, like "It will go 65 miles per hour - straight down off of a cliff." But further in, I can see where It might feel like the author was insulting to the skoolie genre, and not his mechanical aptitude or the previous owner "Bill's" conversion skills:

(though it is a bit disconcerting when he tells me "you should sit in the front so we get more weight up here to keep the front wheels on the ground - that's a damn heavy bus".)

There was some minor fuss over failing some inspection and getting a ticket and some muttering about 'road menace' but I put all that down to the petty jealousy of traffic cops envious of a chance to RV in such style.

Occasionally, my wife would mention something about 'neighbors complaining' or 'rats' or 'crack-bus' - I forget just what

The author was clearly being self-depreciating, but I can see where other skoolies could feel slighted due to "guilty by association." or by imagining a Greek Chorus of stick-n-staples pilots nodding their heads in an "Amen."

Overall, I think it is kind of like an ethnic joke told about an ethnic group other than your own. It's like if Chris Rock says something people laugh, and if Don Imus says the same thing, he's fired. Not that any of that is OK, I'm just sayin' people take it differently . . .

 

[Jarlaxle]

Wasn't a skoolie, but having driven a 1972 F-800 with gas 361FT power (said "power" being largely theoretical, especially when loaded), this:

soon that big-6 motor was running like - well like a big-6 motor in a 1967 bus - sort of like a cross between a cement mixer loaded with rocks and several cats fighting.

...made me shoot coffee out my nose! Off a cliff was about the only way that truck would top 65...even 60MPH was about 3100RPM for that little gasser.