So much for the plan... We bought a bus!

A few weeks back I was doing my daily search under the RV  tab on Craigslist when I came  across a rather simple ad for a GMC bus conversion.  I have always been really attracted to bus conversions, but Shad thought that anything without slide outs would  just be too tight a squeeze for us and the pets (he may be right).

So there was this bus.  After a phone call and an extensive web search finding several listings for the same rig we began to gather more information.   The pictures offered up a good looking rig both inside and out that could use some updating.  The bus is a 40' 1975 GMC 4905 with an automatic 8v71 Detroit diesel engine. The motorhome conversion was done sometime in the '90's by Texas Custom Coach.

This may sound good or bad to some of you that have knowledge of a vintage bus or diesel engine.  To us it means nothing.   We are total and absolute noobs to all of this.   So of course we decided to go and check her out...

After multiple visits with her including one with a mechanic, we decided to make an offer yesterday and it was accepted.  The transaction should go down before 01/02/13 and then we own a bus.

So what do we do now?  I'm scouring the web looking for the closest "good" bus mechanic. We called Good Sam and got some insurance set up and we have started researching local RV storage facilities.   We can't keep her at the house for more than a couple of days... she is just too big and I will be stressing about street parking.  Plus there are those pesky neighbors and city ordinances!  I have a very sweet friend that has offered to let us park on her 4 acres while we arrange storage if need be.

We are planning on getting everything checked out and properly maintained as soon as possible.  The previous owner had some records but they were poorly organized so we will need to get  those in order.  We know that maintenance and record keeping will be important in guiding us towards what the rig needs to remain in good working order.

We are still  planning on listing the house and going on the road full time.  Things will just be easier having the rig and a house at the same time for a while.  That has reduced tons of stress and I just think things will go easier this way.

As soon as we get the rig I will be back to add some pictures.  We are both excited and nervous and look forward to whatever comes from all of this.  We will now have a rig, that makes being on the road that  much more of a reality and less of a dream.

 

The Plan

It was about six months ago that my husband and I realized we wanted a different kind of life.

In the almost five years that we have been married we quickly figured out that we both love to travel.  We have taken multiple cruises and countless road trips since we have been together.  In June we started trying to plan our  big vacation for 2013...  Should we plan another cruise or maybe take another crazy two week road trip to New England or Canada from our home in Texas?  Do we want to take a trip with our dogs or leave them at a pet hotel?  Maybe we should rent an RV?

I can remember the moment that changed everything.  I quite casually said to my husband "Why don't we just buy an RV, live on the road, and go see America?"

Ever since then we have spent most of our time trying to figure out how we are going to make this happen.

What are we going to do about money?  We are fortunate that when we married the company that my husband works for allowed him to move to the town where I lived and work remotely, currently about 350 miles from his home office.  We  figure if he can do his job from here, he can do it from anywhere.   My situation is a bit different.  I have worked in a clerical position at a hospital for over 22 years.  While I have managed to get myself to an okay living wage with my years of service, I never obtained a set of skills that would easily translate to a mobile life.  I am still not sure exactly what I am going to do other than be our designated dog walker and house cleaner.  I am hoping that I can pick up some workamping gigs along the way and still bring in some money.

Class A or 5th Wheel?  We still haven't figured that out but are leaning more towards the 5th wheel at this point simply because of the extra space.  We have 3 beagles and 3 cats that are very much our family and there is no way any of them are going to be left behind.  With a 5th wheel we think that everyone will still have the space that they need to spread out; plus the dogs can still have room to chase each other from one end of the house to the other!

What about our house?  We are going to list our house in the spring/ summer of 2013.  There are a few improvements we will make in the spring (landscaping, new liner for the pool, paint, etc.) and we are hoping to be on the market no later than June of next year.

What about our stuff?   I have already started sorting through some of my things and thinning them out a bit with Goodwill donations.  We will keep a basic house in storage for about a year, just in case this thing doesn't work out.  Everything else will either have to be given to charity or sold on e-bay or craigslist.  I'm already seeing that this is going to be a very challenging issue because we have so much stuff, but we want this badly enough that we will make it happen.

Do we know what we are doing?  Well.... no actually.  We've bought  many books on the subject and have been following several blogs where others are making this dream happen.  Many of them give some really good insight into what this is going to entail.  I don't think that there is any way we can fully prepare for what we are about to do.  We are planning on traveling to Houston, TX in early February to attend a large RV show to help us decide exactly what kind of rig we want, but other than that this adventure is most likely going to be a learning experience along the way.

When?  Where?  How?  We are going to need to get out of our current living situation before we can do anything.  Once we have a solid offer on the house we will begin a search for our new home and hopefully we will know exactly what we want at that point.  In the spring we will go ahead and rent a storage unit and start to thin out and sell off our belongings so when we are near closing we should be able to make the transition easily.  After the RV show we will know whether we need to trade in both of our current vehicles for a big truck or just sell our Honda Pilot and purchase a tow dolly for or VW New Beetle.  We have looked at local parks and have picked a place that we would be good for staying in town for a few weeks after we get the rig, just to get the kinks worked out.  After that, who knows where we will go..  We have a wedding to attend in Austin, TX next fall, but other than that we are planning to go wherever our hearts take us.

Thanks for reading!  I will keep this updated as things progress!