Oh hey, it’s been a few years! I thought I was a blogger. I guess I wasn’t a regularly-scheduled one of those.
We got fed up with California. We decided we want to move state, but can’t decide where we want to move to. We’ve looked at Indiana a couple of times, and it’s beautiful, but is there enough to do there? We’ve considered Missouri, but need a trip to help us decide. We’re considering Tennessee, but probably should have a trip to help us decide. We’ve considered Arkansas, but need a trip to get the lowdown. Are you seeing a theme here? We need a way to get around and see places. We also need something to live in while we do that. RVs are expensive and cheaply made. They crumble like soda cans in an accident and aren’t made for living in, but for summer trips.
Trying to remember where I heard of Skoolies. I know there’s a Netflix documentary called Navigation Nowhere, and I did see that, but that’s not what got me interested. Maybe it was a FB suggestion in my feed? It may have been that. I get sucked down rabbit holes pretty easily, so whatever it was that first caught my interest led to looking up more and more and MORE Skoolie stuff. And I was hooked. And then I got the husband hooked.
It wasn’t difficult to get Vin interested, which surprised me. I get obsessed with things and he side-glances me like oh no, what this time? But this idea perked him, piqued him, did funny things to him.
He liked it. So I hit Craigslist and found a semi-local Catholic school that was selling off three of their school buses to replace them with newer ones. We chose the 40′ pusher, a ’99 Bluebird with Cummins engine and Allison transmission (the good stuff), and it was in really good shape aside from a couple of scrapes and dents on one of the underbelly doors. And it was only… I shit you not… $1800. We bought it.
Being in SoCal, there was a problem finding parking. I see people on Craigslist buying school buses and begging on Craigslist for someone to rent them a place to park while they do their build. I often see those same people re-selling their buses on Craigslist when they fail to find parking. Prices in RV lots are $450 and up because there is no space and demand is high, and you can’t do a Skoolie build in RV parking… it’s not allowed. There is an affordable lot within a half hour of our home ($250/mo), but the waiting list to get parking in that lot is over 600 people long. Dammit, things are difficult and frustrating in SoCal. But we got lucky!! We found someone who owns a farm and rents out a few spaces for RVs and trailers… and now Skoolies. That farm is 45 minutes from home, but the price is right and we can do the build there!
It’s been slow-going due to distance, and may continue to be slow-going due to the current price of lumber (we should have bought plywood early on), but it’s happening!
You can follow our slow build at The Tiki Varoom – A potentially Enchanted Skoolie Undertaking and also on Instagram at The Tiki Varoom
Mahalo!
