Fudge it, we ball.

[auraboreus]

Heyo! Longtime nomad without belief that it would be possible for me to embrace that life. I'm starting from scratch with this sweet baby, who fell into my lap a lot sooner than I expected (I swear, the universe has dropped so many hints and favors that I stopped being incredulous). Details on the specs below!

As for what I'm planning to do, there's a few reasons I want to unmoor:

1. Rent is a scam. Ew.
2. The ties to my city have loosened enough that I can't even say I have responsibilities here.
3. I have community all over the country that I haven't been able to be a part of because of distance and resources
4. I'm excited to be a part of communal aid in all the ways I can offer to people who can't.
5. I LOVE TO SEE NEW THINGS.
6. Pretty sure this was always part of the plan.

So! I'll be switching from on the road to temporary stays in all kinds of locations. Heck yeah.

SPECS:

2006 GMC Savana Cutaway / Bluebird
Duramax 6.6L diesel engine (LLY)
Allison automatic
80k miles
New tires / batteries
Previously used as a school bus in the same district until it was purchased by a private buyer who then sold it to me (bonus: longtime friend of my mum's husband, so I can always go back if anything goes wrong)

I'd love to hear a few words of encouragement that you wish you had heard when you started.

 

[nikitis]

I usually start with words of discouragement, then proceed to encouragement first

First, welcome to skoolie.net!

Let's go over your items:

1. Rent is a scam. Ew.
   Yup
2. The ties to my city have loosened enough that I can't even say I have responsibilities here.
   No bonds to tie you down Why not?
3. I have community all over the country that I haven't been able to be a part of because of distance and resources
   Great reason to travel. Only downside is Diesel/Gas to travel far. You will pay rent in fuel and places to stay so focus on those items to stay cheaper than renting an apartment. Also maintenance costs can be higher than rent in a single month at times to repair your new mobile vehicle, but other months far cheaper. In the end it's usually cheaper for most but you do need to be conscious of your spending.
4. I'm excited to be a part of communal aid in all the ways I can offer to people who can't.
   Excellent
5. I LOVE TO SEE NEW THINGS.
   We all do, and this is certainly the way to do it.
6. Pretty sure this was always part of the plan.
   Maybe so as I can only find one discouraging thing to say, (Fuel prices and maintenance costs)
   

 

[auraboreus]

I usually start with words of discouragement, then proceed to encouragement first

First, welcome to skoolie.net!

Let's go over your items:

1. Rent is a scam. Ew.
   Yup
2. The ties to my city have loosened enough that I can't even say I have responsibilities here.
   No bonds to tie you down Why not?
3. I have community all over the country that I haven't been able to be a part of because of distance and resources
   Great reason to travel. Only downside is Diesel/Gas to travel far. You will pay rent in fuel and places to stay so focus on those items to stay cheaper than renting an apartment. Also maintenance costs can be higher than rent in a single month at times to repair your new mobile vehicle, but other months far cheaper. In the end it's usually cheaper for most but you do need to be conscious of your spending.
4. I'm excited to be a part of communal aid in all the ways I can offer to people who can't.
   Excellent
5. I LOVE TO SEE NEW THINGS.
   We all do, and this is certainly the way to do it.
6. Pretty sure this was always part of the plan.
   Maybe so as I can only find one discouraging thing to say, (Fuel prices and maintenance costs)

Have been all wrapped up in the acquisition that I hadn't had a chance to check back in here before now! Thank you for the welcome. It's always a nice touch that can seem small but means a lot.

* No ties because I've spent the last five years doing a lot of work on my mental and emotional help and learned about a crazy concept called boundaries. Turns out, there's often a lot of people who aren't a fan when you start upholding them so I was able to effortlessly cull out all the people who I didn't have a healthy connection with. And everyone left loves me in the way where I as a person am more important that the relationship we have and they don't need anything from me to enjoy that I exist. That includes being my cheerleader for things, which has been easy because everyone's first reaction is "Oh, that makes total sense, I LOVE THIS FOR YOU."

* The nice thing about community everywhere (seriously, off the top of my head there's Boston MA, NYC, Rochester NY, Allentown PA, five cities in NC, Savannah GA, New Orleans LA, Fayetteville AR, Nashville and Knoxville TN, St Louis MO, Chicago IL, and Minneapolis MN just for the eastern US) is that for times that I'm not travelling or living solely out of the bus or just need time to make money I have places to stay and people who love to give.

I have found that there are fun little caveats and rules and multiple ways to handle every administrative thing around a vehicle you live in, ESPECIALLY if it started it's life as a school bus. That's really annoying, but in the end it's worth it to me to do what makes my heart sing. I love Maine and it'll always be good to go home, but home can be anywhere and mine are many and can be found everywhere.

One last question; how have you found the best way to navigate and take advantage of the resource that is this website and forum?

 

[Bean Bus]

Congratulations!

I just bought my first bus, nice to see you going for it!

 

[Thurmond1317]

Congratulations and Welcome!

I'm still pretty new here myself but the best part of this forum is the community and the ideas/solutions these guys come up with. It's amazing the creativity and perseverance I've seen here.

A word of advice that has been helpful for me, pop on this site often and be curious! Read some random posts and follow the rabbit hole for a while, you'll learn some random things you never thought you'd need to know and just helpful information that is good to have. I personally went from wanting to stay far away from propane to having a 35 gallon tank, and from thinking solar was going to power everything to realizing I'll need a sizable generator to combat where I live.

 

[nikitis]

The best way to navigate this site is to simply ask your questions, and be detailed. We're all happy to answer. The more detailed your questions the better answer you'll receive.

 

[Slapdash]

Congrats on the new bus and welcome to the site! My wife and I are juuust finishing our first bus, like just trim left. We have a gas-powered GMC Shorty. The best words of encouragement I can offer are, and this may seem like discouragement, double (at least) the amount of time you think it's going to take. The worst thing you can be in is a rush. If you give yourself the space to fix mechanical things and do all the maintenance, etc., it takes a lot of the pressure off getting it done quickly. Best of luck to you and keep us posted!

 

[Bean Bus]

I'm giving myself a full year, taking it in small bites. I have a fear of propane that I assume I'll get over as I move through this process. I'm still in the dreamy layout process and watching 7000 videos of all the tips, tricks for storage and where folks got stuck. I'll post progress pics as soon as the cold raw weather lets up here in New England So happy to have this lovely community.

 

[Slapdash]

All sounds good! Wifey and I are propane averse as well. We just picked up a relatively low-watt NOS electric cooktop that we can keep mobile and use it inside and out. Those 7,000 videos are the fun part for sure!