The Blue Bird Bus

My wife and I were given this buss. We plan on rebuilding it from the ground up to live out of while saving for a permiculture land of our own. After that we will use this for the occasional camping trip. I will upload the designs once I have them. It is being design by Bear Paw out at http://www.bearpawartist.com
This is the bus that was talked about in the podcast with myself and Paul Wheaton. I will include a link to that podcast once it is up.

Here is another cool one that was sent to me with the same sort of idea.

Now _that's_ got character! <g>

Here's a forum of "bus people" with lots of info:

http://www.nomadichome.org/


Rufus

ghost driver

Ahh this takes me back..! Just wanted to also mention another great site if your into the house truck/bus lifestyle, mrsharkey.com PRobably the web's largest compendium of this type of stuff, as well as some great articles and details of solar stuff, and one of the neatest things. This guy made a diesel powered pusher for his electric car. Its made from a VW rabbit, but its just the front end and wheels, and is remotely controlled. Pretty neat stuff if you want to browse around.

I will live aboard this bus part time. Because it is used to transport up to 24 passengers, I will have to live lightly and roll up my bed each morning.l will install a 42 inch TV and a small sink. I'm outfitting it with a good PA system so that I can host kareoke and jam nights while parked at campsites.

That's weird. I don't remember parking on such a steep slope.. Good thing it has a good parking brake.

I love the bus/house. Call me crazy.

Also check out skoolie.net . I have a bus that we refurbished but we have since lost interest and I am getting ready to donate it. Skoolies is a great forum though - lots of technical advice there - they were a big help to us.

How Grapes of Wrath-ish!
Another option is RVs. They are self contained with kitchen, bath, bed, and for one who has owned several many are more comfy than a house.
There are lots of fulltime RVers out there who aren't retired and love it. No mortgage to contend with either.

Wow! Thank you for the responses so far. It is great to see I am not the only one in a bus! What have you guys done to make your bus's/rv's green?
I am thinking of putting a solar water heater and maybe even a little greenhouse on top.

LOVE the bluebird bus/home! Can't wait for the updates!

That sure has a vintage vibe going for it, Josiah! And I do mean in a good way.

I'm not sure what income models you're imagining at your permaculture homestead, but for some reason, your Blue Bird reminded me of one of my all-time favorite food trucks in Seattle:



Not that you'd want to cover up the Blue Bird to become something totally different, just that with a certain style, creativity or trademark, you could have truly memorable farmers market rig, B&B-style guest house (or something) down the road.

Planning for multiple uses and flexibility could really pay off in the end.