We got a bus! For real this time. We own it and everything. No, really, we can prove it.
Anyway, now that that is over we thought we would answer some of those burning questions that you may have.
Is this legal?
Yes.
No, seriously. Is this legal?
Mostly.
How can this be legal?
Alright, this bus falls into a legal grey area. Technically speaking, it won’t be a bus. As soon as we get it, we are ripping out all of the chairs and painting it which makes it a privately owned recreational vehicle. As a privately owned recreational vehicle, we can register it, insure it, and drive* it like any other vehicle. The fact that this is not a commercial bus helps a lot.
So what happens when your breaks fail and you crash headfirst into a real bus full of children?
Hopefully we will be going faster than them.
So you are just going to drive fast? That’s convincing…
The bus is registered, licensed, and insured. To top it off, it is currently being checked out with small problems being fixed by a mechanic. So, yes, we will be driving very fast.
So, what color are you going to paint it?
Silver…with flames**.
What amenities do you anticipate having?
For furniture we’re going to work in a couple of couches, maybe a few easy chairs, a table, and some captain’s chairs from some RVs. We also may get a generator so we can power our laptops and charge our cell phones when we break down in the middle of Wyoming with nothing around.
What happens when you breakdown in the middle of Wyoming?
We’ll probably die.
You’re crazy.
That isn’t a question.
Why are you so crazy?
No comment.
*Assuming that your state does not have weight limits or length limits on private vehicles that you drive, you can do this too!
**The flames make it go faster.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Pwnd!
Just a quick update for today: we now OWN the second bus. No take-backs, no tradesies, no returns. Hopefully everything turns out well!
We also registered the bus as an rv, allowing us to legally drive it once it passes inspection. This means we have finally finished with the bureaucracy, which was a big worry! Fingers crossed we did it right ;)
We have decided on a couple of modifications. We are going to raise at least some of the couches and the bed higher than where the original seats sat, which will give us more storage and a nicer view out the window. We are also going to put belly tanks on this thing, which will give us more storage as well. Other than that, we really have no clue!
In order to continue procrastinating on his school work, Collin negotiated a stunning defeat (he claims it's a victory) for team Magik Skool Bus. There is now a large amount of rusty (s)crap metal sitting in the boys' living room which will eventually become belly tanks. Some of them are even rectangular-ish! This will certainly be a high quality renovation...
We also registered the bus as an rv, allowing us to legally drive it once it passes inspection. This means we have finally finished with the bureaucracy, which was a big worry! Fingers crossed we did it right ;)
We have decided on a couple of modifications. We are going to raise at least some of the couches and the bed higher than where the original seats sat, which will give us more storage and a nicer view out the window. We are also going to put belly tanks on this thing, which will give us more storage as well. Other than that, we really have no clue!
In order to continue procrastinating on his school work, Collin negotiated a stunning defeat (he claims it's a victory) for team Magik Skool Bus. There is now a large amount of rusty (s)crap metal sitting in the boys' living room which will eventually become belly tanks. Some of them are even rectangular-ish! This will certainly be a high quality renovation...
Monday, April 26, 2010
The 2nd Bus
Today we finally got our second bus. After 6 trips down 114, we finally have vehicle in (mostly) decent shape. We still have some repairs to do to make it drivable. These repairs* seem much more minor, and we are (probably) able to afford them** without resorting to using duct tape and our own homemade repairs. This bus is looking to be in much better shape than the last one :)
In related news, we still can't work on the bus because it needs to be fixed. This means our time line for getting it renovated is extremely short :( We are hoping to leave by May 22nd, which between graduation and the repairs will give us just under 3 weeks to work on the bus. We don't want to waste any time once we get the bus, so we took some measurements and are designing the interior as much as possible. We will hopefully have some pics of the plans up soon!
If you have any ideas on how we should customize our bus (psychedelic lavalamps, disco ball, vanity plates, etc.) feel free to post a comment!
*The problems are a leaky oil seal and a corroded pin
**Donations are gladly accepted
Saturday, April 24, 2010
We bought a bus!
Yesterday we finally bought a bus! After an exciting morning of driving to and around Goffstown (aka Stars Hollow ala Gilmore Girls), we finally arrived at Bus and Chassis. They were as eager as us to get this road trip started :) After a million, "OMG we have a bus"s, we finally got on the road.
After some wonderful driving by Collin and some wonderful leading by Jessie, we finally made it to the mechanic. They were busy and we were hungry, so we grabbed some food with Jessie's wonderful parents. They came back to the mechanic's to check out our bus. We'd like to send out a huge thanks to the Donovans for their support!
Unfortunately, the mechanic saw what we missed: the worn out tires, the leaky seals, and the rusty radiator. We were heartbroken. We were looking at another 3,000 - 5,000 in repairs, which was no where near in the budget. We caught a small break with Mr.Gee's tire shop. Mike Gee found some tires which would definitely work for about 1/4 what we thought we were going to have to pay. Unfortunately, 2,000 was still not in the budget. We began looking for alternatives.
Luckily, Bus and Chassis lept to the rescue! While we were calling our friends trying to arrange some additional financing, they did some searching of their own and found another bus which they are sure will be able to make the trip. We are exchanging our bus on Monday for a better one. We are extremely optimistic that everything will turn out great!
TLDR: We got a bus, it didn't pass inspection, we are getting a new one on Monday.
After some wonderful driving by Collin and some wonderful leading by Jessie, we finally made it to the mechanic. They were busy and we were hungry, so we grabbed some food with Jessie's wonderful parents. They came back to the mechanic's to check out our bus. We'd like to send out a huge thanks to the Donovans for their support!
Unfortunately, the mechanic saw what we missed: the worn out tires, the leaky seals, and the rusty radiator. We were heartbroken. We were looking at another 3,000 - 5,000 in repairs, which was no where near in the budget. We caught a small break with Mr.Gee's tire shop. Mike Gee found some tires which would definitely work for about 1/4 what we thought we were going to have to pay. Unfortunately, 2,000 was still not in the budget. We began looking for alternatives.
Luckily, Bus and Chassis lept to the rescue! While we were calling our friends trying to arrange some additional financing, they did some searching of their own and found another bus which they are sure will be able to make the trip. We are exchanging our bus on Monday for a better one. We are extremely optimistic that everything will turn out great!
TLDR: We got a bus, it didn't pass inspection, we are getting a new one on Monday.
Friday, April 23, 2010
The First Post
So a bunch of crazy tech school kids and a couple awesome comrades are embarking on a journey in a few weeks to drive an old school bus across the country. This is in celebration of our upcoming graduation. Tomorrow we're buying said bus and plan to modify it to suit our needs as we move at least eight people and a crap load of stuff from central MA to Salt Lake City, UT.
We have a budget and an approximate time frame - we want to leave around the middle of May and we have really not much of an idea how long this will take, possibly until mid-June. We're driving down south first and then hitting the West Coast. No real idea of the route home.
This blog will track our post-graduation adventure before we settle down and attempt to become real adults. Here we will record our planning and bus modifications and after we leave, our whereabouts and hopefully how we avoid staying out of too much trouble.
More news on the purchase of this bus later. Party bus coming soon to a town near you!
We have a budget and an approximate time frame - we want to leave around the middle of May and we have really not much of an idea how long this will take, possibly until mid-June. We're driving down south first and then hitting the West Coast. No real idea of the route home.
This blog will track our post-graduation adventure before we settle down and attempt to become real adults. Here we will record our planning and bus modifications and after we leave, our whereabouts and hopefully how we avoid staying out of too much trouble.
More news on the purchase of this bus later. Party bus coming soon to a town near you!
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