How old are you? Are you a full time Bus dweller? Bus Generation 2.0?

[Darkspeed]

How old are you? Are you a full time Bus dweller?

I am pre middle age and it seems like the Bus thing skipped a generation because when I tell people I bought a bus with the intent to live in a bus they think...

1. Most girls dont get it.. Most young guys dont get it.. Then they say aren't buses for retirees in Florida?
2. If they are a middle aged married guy they are jealous and start muttering about freedom and escape.
3. If they are a middle aged divorced guy they think im a genius and have some kind of Easy Rider flashback...

It seems like with the boom in the tiny house movement / skoolie movement that buses are becoming a thing again in the younger / starter family circles in contrast to the retired bus operator / trucker that are associated with buses.

[DirtbagSwag]

My wife Sam and I are 26 and 29, respectively.  I did time in the Navy, and she's a tattoo artist.  I'm an outdoor instructor by trade, and spent time living in a jeep for a while.  Neither one of us can work full time jobs, and even with my VA Loan we couldn't get a mortgage for a really cheap house anywhere.  This is the only way we can find to do what we want to do and get out of the rent pit.  If we're going to spend money on where we live, we may as well live where we want doing what we want. 

[Darkspeed]

My wife Sam and I are 26 and 29, respectively.  I did time in the Navy, and she's a tattoo artist.  I'm an outdoor instructor by trade, and spent time living in a jeep for a while.  Neither one of us can work full time jobs, and even with my VA Loan we couldn't get a mortgage for a really cheap house anywhere.  This is the only way we can find to do what we want to do and get out of the rent pit.  If we're going to spend money on where we live, we may as well live where we want doing what we want.  

Very cool! I was a single guy living in a large house in Texas in a high stress job and one day I quit, drove around the US for a month, came back, sold everything, bought an old Airstream, restored it, and I am so much happier! Now Im building a full time bus as I can afford to do it.

[PRZNBUS]

Just turned 56 and I'm married to a very tolerant woman. After I bought the bus, she's the one who wanted to convert it to an RV. Being in law enforcement, I could have retired in June of 2014 but I have no marketable skills (even though I been everything from a pig farmer to a corporate pilot) so I'm planning on sticking it out maybe three more years or as long as I can pass the physical tests. The good part of my job is the scenery around Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The bad part is coming up with the 75th annual Sturgis Rally next week.

We have never owned an RV just a tent but this should be fun as getting up off the ground and crawling out of a tent isn't as much fun as it used to be. I have mechanical skills and ZIP, ZERO, NADA for electrical by choice (soon to change I guess) and a well equipped shop which is unfortunately too small to get the bus in.

Bruce

[Tnghost]

I'm 33 and just use the mci to camp in for now got tired of 10 foot box with my vintage Shasta and bought a bus but if my ole lady boots me now I have a place to stay 

[TomC]

I am 59. I bought my bus when I was 37. None of my friends or family were surprised when I bought it. Have always been an RV/bus guy. To this day, can still hear in my head the wonderful sound of the Cummins 220 and Detroit 218 in the Crown buses that I rode to junior high school.
I "finished" converting the bus in 2000. Met my wife in 2001 and married in 2003. One of the tests was that she liked travelling in the bus-which obviously she does-especially with her bad back.
Now am still converting my '85 Kenworth. Still have the plumbing to do (have the PEX and shark fittings ready to go), install generator, one more A/C, etc. Hoping to have it done by next summer.
Will be retiring from truck sales at the end of the year. Already am winding down, not really getting new customers. Looking forward to finishing the truck motorhome and getting on the road to be semi full timing. Good Luck, TomC

[eb99603]

I'm 30. Bought the bus to be a giant moving van, and then later to be a motorhome for leisurely travel through AK. Distances between cities are large and weather delays are frequent. Having something comfortable to ride/live in during those times seemed like a no brainer.

[Ed Hackenbruch]

Almost 65, bought the bus when i had just turned 53. This is our 12th year of fulltiming. Did a 15 state, 10,000 mile trip the first year and then had to go back to work during the summers so just traveled between Yuma for the winters and Wa. state for the summers. Work dried up about 4-5 years ago so have just been traveling since then. I can start to draw my pension this fall so we are planning on selling the bus and moving back to Hawaii where we lived for almost 11 years. Hope to make the move some time after the first of the year. 

[thomasinnv]

I am 44, my wife is 27 and we have 4 kids. I have been full-time rving it for over 7 years, 5 of that in the bus. I have owned pretty much every kind of rv there is and nothing compares to a bus, or the sound of the old 2stroke. We have a gospel tent and travel several states setting up and holding revivals.

[oltrunt]

Hello All.  This has turned out to be a very interesting thread.  Who'da  thunk there would be such a variety among us.  Wiffy and I are in our 70's and watching our 80's roll at us like a runaway DD.  We're a bit long in the tooth to be thinking about full timing so enjoy short trips of a week or less each.  Nevertheless, we have managed to put over 5000 miles on Honeysuckle Rose since her completion in October of last year.  Jack

[Darkspeed]

Hi Jack, good to hear from you! Glad to see you are still busing at 70+. This kind of worries me though, as the seasoned experienced bus generation bows out of bus ownership at some point, are we going to be left with a knowledge void unless we start learning everything they know! I feel lucky owning a GM 4016 because it is about as complex as a box of crackers but some of the old buses are quite intricate as far as mechanicals go. I had joked about 3D scanning all of the replacement parts im putting on my bus so someday I can print some replacements when the "Luke" supply runs out...

[LuckyChow]

I'm 59 and hope to retire in about 6 years.  Right now work keeps me really busy with only weekends to enjoy the bus. I am a transit administrator with a small fleet of 131 buses including MCI DL's.  I decided to convert a transit bus to show the guys in the shop that there's nothing wrong with using a transit for a conversion as longs as you're willing to make some accomodations for storage space and you start with the right bus.  I also have an ASE Transit Bus Master Technician certification, but may have learned more here from Clifford than I ever knew before hand.      

Most of my usage is for weekenders, going to dog shows and to the nearby Corp of Engineer lake campgrounds.  I'll probably use my bus until I get ready to retire and then think about either building or buying a coach to have a little more storage space.  I'm not sure which I enjoy more, building it or using it. 

[HB of CJ]

HB of CJ here.  I am 69.  Back in 2001 I bought a 1974 Crown Supercoach 40' 3 axle 10 wheeler ex school bus.  VIN 37317.  Funny how one remembers such stuff.  Lived inside the stripped shell for about 8 years. Health/injury issues forced her sale.  Very fond memories indeed.  Very fun and cheap to live in and a blast to drive.  RTO910.  85mph.  A gear for every situation.  Cool.  Hope this helps.

[bevans6]

Hello everyone, my name is Brian...  I'm 57 and I own a bus.

Bought a somewhat converted MC-5C in 2009 pretty much on a whim,  hadn't planned to buy a bus at all when I got up that day.  The reason we bought it was it was from Arizona, had very little rust, had a usable conversion in it, new tires, and looked great.  I  re-did the electrical, the plumbing, did a fair bit of work on the mechanicals, installed a new engine, far more working on the bus than driving in the bus, but we really enjoy traveling in it.  Traveling more than camping, we're not really campers.  I am just as happy in a truck stop as I am in a commercial campground, but I really like State Parks in the south, and Canada's National Parks.  Exceptional, and reasonable.  I bought the bus in 2009, bought my retirement place in Nova Scotia in 2010, got somewhat forceably retired in 2011 (age 54) and here I am.  It's really possible that we will spend a winter or two in the bus down south, but to be honest, winter starts in November here, and this year it ended in May, and that is a long time to be off the homestead.  I live in fear of driving back anytime from late December to early May, and getting stuck in a snow storm too bad to drive in, with temps well below freezing.  I've sat for half a day on a closed down I-77 in West Virginia in early December before, don't need to risk it again.

Brian

[Darkspeed]

I'm 59 and hope to retire in about 6 years.  Right now work keeps me really busy with only weekends to enjoy the bus. I am a transit administrator with a small fleet of 131 buses including MCI DL's.  I decided to convert a transit bus to show the guys in the shop that there's nothing wrong with using a transit for a conversion as longs as you're willing to make some accomodations for storage space and you start with the right bus.  I also have an ASE Transit Bus Master Technician certification, but may have learned more here from Clifford than I ever knew before hand.    

Most of my usage is for weekenders, going to dog shows and to the nearby Corp of Engineer lake campgrounds.  I'll probably use my bus until I get ready to retire and then think about either building or buying a coach to have a little more storage space.  I'm not sure which I enjoy more, building it or using it.  

LuckyChow, that bus is Sharp!