The 2 week challenge - 2000 International Thomas conversion

[yannik]

Hi,
We introduced ourselves a while back but have been too busy to post anything since. We are a group of people from the UK, and have come over to America for the summer with the idea of buying and converting a school bus and travelling round in it.

We arrived last Thursday (June 11th) in Maine, on Friday managed to buy a white painted 2000 International Thomas 72 passenger bus, and on Monday it was finally delivered.

Due to other friends flying to meet us in certain locations at certain times, our aim is to be on the road by the 1st July, which now gives us just over 2 weeks to carry out on the conversion! It's going to be tight...

So far our excessive planning has paid off (a lot of it thanks to you guys :biggrin, but theres still a lot of physical work to do.
We are going to try and keep this thread up to date with pictures and progress to hopefully help others in the same way this forum has helped us, but we are also updating some other places for friends back home, if you're interested they are this blog and this twitter.

So, the progress so far:
Heres the bus after it was delivered:

The first day was spent taking the seats out:

We have now started laying some flooring and building bunk beds, all looking pretty good so far, we will post some photos when we get another spare moment!

Thanks

 

[milkmania]

not to put the cart before the horse.....
but, what are the plans with the bus after you go back to the UK?

I'm nowhere near Maine, but recovering your investment might be something you want to look into.

 

[milkmania]

ohhhhhh................. there's 2 The 2 Week Challenge threads!
I was trying to figure out where my post went

 

[bansil]

cool, what is the rough route? and sites?

 

[M1031A1]

My legs, back, and arms ache in empathy.....

 

[yannik]

Hey,
Its been a busy couple of days... the bus is starting to look pretty awesome though..

Got both bunk bed structures in, flooring complete and started on the kitchen counter and the sofa.

Some photos:

Cheers for the responses! Here are some replies:

@milkmania Yep sorry posted a thread but then uploaded the wrong pictures! tried to change them but then just had to start a new thread... The resale value is definitely something we're conscious about, although we are already thinking about storing it somewhere and coming out again next summer...

@bansil The rough route is just America clockwise starting from Maine! So far we have it planned until Portland Oregon and the main places go something like: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Smoky Mountains, Orlando, Miami, Tampa, Tallahassee, New Orleans, LA, Las Vegas, Death Valley, San Fran, Redwood Park, Portland... Hoping to find plenty of detours along the way though!

@M1031A1 Thank you! Ours have been aching a lot too! And I don't think its over quite yet...

Had a few margaritas tonight to celebrate the progress but shall try and post some more photos soon!

Cheers

 

[somewhereinusa]

Fantastic work in so short a time. Can't say I would go anywhere near your itinerary though. The last place I want to visit is any big city. Where will you park?

 

[EastCoastCB]

If you would like to meet up and have some beers and local made liquor give me a ring when you get to Florida.

 

[milkmania]

And holler when you come down Interstate 40 in Oklahoma.... I'll meet you at the A&W @ Sallisaw Oklahoma

fyi: I-40 is a major highway stretching across our nation...
follow the red road, (but it's not really red)
https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Interstate_40

 

[Polarweasel]

And if you happen to be near Boulder, Colorado...

 

[rvingoffgrid]

i think i would have bought a yellow school bus with all the school bus stuff still on it, tint the windows as black as you can, then you can park anywhere incognito, as long as you didn't have a window unit hanging out of the windows or something that obvious, its funny to me how people seem to just ignore certain vehicles, school buses and garbage trucks no one seems to pay them any attention.

 

[rvingoffgrid]

i have a company from Germany that parks their bus in my storage and they come A couple times a yr to take it somewhere, then a couple months later they are back and its parked here for another 6 months or so.

 

[yannik]

Hey,

Made some more progress over the last few days, although most time was spent standing around, pointing and figuring out how to do everything…

We have managed to recycle a bunch of old materials from our friends garage which has been great. The walls for the bathroom/storage cupboard are now in and we’ve boxed one of the wheel arches.

Sofa structures are now almost complete too..

City parking has been one of our main concerns, we plan to try and find as many free places as possible otherwise it will have to be RV parks as close as we can get to the centre. We have liberty harbor RV park in New York booked as our first destination (anyone been there?) but have also been using http://www.campendium.com to find a lot of free overnight parking. Any other tips apart from that?
We are also little concerned with how we might be received in RV parks when turning up in a bus conversion, will some parks refuse entry if not a proper motorhome?

And also cheers for all the invites! We’d love to meet up with some fellow skoolies on our way round We’ll give you a shout when in those areas! :biggrin:

 

[Tango-SKO]

The use of the old doors is simply brilliant...and gorgeous too.

Reuse, recycle, repurpose!

 

[milkmania]

any updates?

 

[GuidoLyons]

This sounds like an epic adventure! How long do you have to travel? I think you'll be surprised how long it takes to drive across the country.

Good luck and safe travels!
How to Actually Drive Across the USA Hitting All the Major Landmarks - GeekMom

 

[The-Breeze]

Great find Guido thanks

 

[Polarweasel]

Updates are on their blog:

America, clockwise.

 

[milkmania]

Updates are on their blog:

America, clockwise.

Thanks!


"green with envy" here!!!

 

[milkmania]

shower pan tutorial needed.....

if anyone's got info, post it up please