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

[bigred]

I am 73 wife is 70. Been rv ing for 35 years starting out with a '75 Winnebago 20ft "eyebrow".Since then we have owned 5 RV'S and now own a '94 Prevost COUNTRY COACH EDMONTON. I will have to say ,out of all the RV's we have had ,the Prevost is the easiest to drive and for the most part ,easy to work on once you figure out some of the quirky things CC did!!!! Can't go full time due to elderly MIL but would love to!!
!!

[Darkspeed]

I'm 32 and my wife is 30. We have full-timed now in our MCI 9 for 4 years (self converted). We just purchased a 1992 MCI 102C3 shell and will be converting it too. Owning two buses simultaneously thrust us officially into "busnuthood" but we also have our first child due October 2 of this year. A little girl will take up some time and slow our conversion process a little I suppose

Scott, I just looked at your bus photos. You did some amazing work! Very impressive!

[DKO]

The bus bug bit me early when my Dad bought and converted an old school bus when I was a kid. We never traveled far in it but camped with other families with converted school buses or regular RVs in the summer.

We have lived in RVs while working on the road for over 13 years and bought the bus in March of 2008 at 41 years old. We have had it coast to coast many times since then.

Davy

[Runcutter]

Now 62, wife similar age, with 45 years in the transit industry.  Bought a 4107 several years ago.  We couldn't keep it at the house, so it was in a storage area.  Another tenant backed into it and damaged the front end.  While his insurance paid for the repairs, the shop was slow to work on it.  In the 2 years or so it was at the shop, we decided that we want to do more international travel.  Combined with the fact that we'd have to drive for over a day just to start to get somewhere (from Dallas), and the costs for anything going wrong with a bus that's been in the industry 1 year longer than I have -- we decided that it was a good decision when we bought it -- but didn't fit now.

Fortunately, someone else on the board has a 4107, and needed the vista glass.  He was willing to buy additional spare parts at the same time -- and drive the entire collection home in one piece.  Although at about the price I'd have gotten for scrap, the bus will live on -- not sure which of his two 4107's will be the survivor.

All told, I figure I spent between $25,000 and $30,000 -- new radiator, starter, drive shaft, alternator, road A/C fan motor, roof AC's, etc -- and registering, insuring, and storing it.  Impetus for buying it was that my wife wanted to buy a bus and convert it when we retired, and eventually I signed on when I was sitting in the driver's seat of a museum 4106 -- felt like home from decades ago.  The fact that I enjoy my work and won't retire voluntarily, changed travel plans -- and eye surgery that put me on a vision waiver for my CDL -- made the final decision to sell.

I keep telling myself that it was a good idea at the time, and I think it was.  One of the reasons is that I became part of this community -- one of the rarer places on the internet where most folks pull for the common good.

Arthur

[dbldragon]

  The wife and I will both be 51 by years end. I have wanted and thought of many layouts for a bus for many years. Sandra lived and worked on boats in the past ,66' and48' so a bus wasn't a stretch to talk her into. Health forced a early retirement so we went to look for a bus last summer.
We picked up our 91 MCI 102 a3 last sept. I was given a 1 yr. deadline to make our first trip or it would be sold.( Sons grandpa has been working on one for 10 yrs and although pretty does not move on it's own) We just got back from a 36 day 4500 mile trip around BC.Yukon Alb. Idaho and Washington.
The bus still needs some finish work like cupboard doors and a bedroom door and some electrical completed. It is low tech and low need as we left home with no need for 110 or a way to plug into it ,which shocked a couple of camp managers. Found we can go 4 days without putting out our small solar panels and never needed the gen set or battery charger we took just in case.

Chuck   Sandra

[luvrbus]

AT 75 full timing looks better everyday,I am sick of maintenance on a place and leasing my place from some government tax agency you never own it you just lease it on a year to year lease.I just received a notice my taxes will increase next year,the system is broke they penalized for improving your property

.My 28x32 garage just a shell which cost me $12,000 to build they say is worth $35,000 as they tax on poured concrete dumbest thing I ever heard of so I guess I will finish it now  

My well pump just went out for 100 bucks in RV I could have replaced a water pump not $3500.00 and waiting 3 days for a pump and a idiot with a truck to pull the pump.

What I pay for power every month I could stay in a RV resort,I would miss my shop and toys but I could get over it in a hurry I think.

To me folks trying to live on SS as their only income they don't have much of a choice even with a 401K which can go go south in hurry,then banks don't pay any interest on your savings so you gamble on the stock market it works sometimes   so much for my rage I woke up at 3 am today thinking about all this BS    

[rip]

Im 64 my wife 62. I retired from Phx.P.D.in 2000 and had a cabinet shop till 2003 when we sold everything and went full timing for seven years.I built a house and finally sold it this June and finally back to full timing again.
  It is going to be a long time before we every get another house.I converted a 1985 Prevost and its the only bus we have owned.My wife really wants a newer bus with slides,but I doubt if that will ever happen.
  Don

[Scott & Heather]

Lol cliff, I hear ya. Fulltiming has been one of the best decisions Heather and I have made. Now that I've finished building the bunk beds in our 9, we are ready for the next chapter....kiddos.


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[AndyyCoulic]

I'm 25, and i started my bus adventure when i was 24. Middle of completely redoing my 4106. Im up in canada and working on making the bus capable of handling canadian winters. Will most likely convert another, larger bus after my 4106. Or maybe ill keep it. Don't know yet!


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[Darkspeed]

Met a very young full time couple at walmart who were in a 4104 that was in desperate need of tires. The guy had inherited it from his grandfather who had passed away recently. Told them about the forum here and they were excited because they felt all alone in bus land.

[wg4t50]

Love the thought of full timing, however the DW does not travel, so I normally take a nice trip each summer, like MT, ID etc, house is not going to be sold, the question ?  How much does one need to properly retire, here, age 73, $$$$ wise could hang up the business, just hard to give up.  Would be bored silly, so I keep the business going, keeps me busy.  How to break that cycle ?
Am envious of folks who can retire and move on cheerfully and $$$$ secure.
With conditions today, it is scary $$$$ wise.
Dave M

[thejumpsuitman]

I am 43 and my wife is of an earlier vintage than me  .  We bought our Silver Eagle in 2011 with plans to live in/work out of it.  Our plans changed when I was offered a position I couldn't afford to turn down, so we planted ourselves right here and bought my wife her dream house.   The bus no longer seemed to fit our lifestyle, so we sold it in late 2014.  It only took a few months to realize that we had gotten rid of our one common hobby!  .  To remedy that, we recently picked up a 1986 Bluebird Wanderlodge PT-40. 

[lostagain]

Ah, so Jumpsuitman, you did go for the Wanderlodge! How is it? And what happened to the 7?

JC

[thejumpsuitman]

Ah, so Jumpsuitman, you did go for the Wanderlodge! How is it? And what happened to the 7?

JC

It was a VERY tough decision...  My heart really wanted the MCI, but I couldn't resist Clifford and Tom C's logic of the BB having the 8v92 and more reliable Allison 748... also parts availability in general.

The Wanderlodge is nice.  I have driven it a few hundred miles and am very pleased with it.  Nice and strong.  . Mostly needs a good cleanup and a need to tinker with a few house systems.  Also going to replace coolant hoses on the 8v92, especially the compressor coolant hoses.

The MC7 is still available as far as I know and a twisted part of me wants to buy it too...  But my wife would likely shoot me.  LOL

[jackhanow]

I'm 44,My wife and I lived full time in our mc5 for 2 years then I got a call my dad was ill so I bought a house 3.5 yrs ago. Parked the 5 so I could see it out the window. A realtor came by offered me more than twice what I paid for my house. Have a mobile mechanics bussiness and said something to a client about the deal, he said he was wilingl to rent it for xxxx and I said you can move in November 1 and bought a 102. So the count down is on to full timing it again. My dad was career army, so I grew up moving around a lot. After 3.5 years of just doing the same routine I'm ready for a new one again. My first house was a 1972 olds 4 door cutlass I bought for 250.00. I've lived/camped that way for most of my life since I finished going to college. I was in the Air Force. And most of the time I was in I slept in a corner somewhere in my sleeping bag, my barracks room was just where they let me store my few belongings. My wife grew up on the back of a motorcycle roaming around with her dad. I did notice the age gap when we were living in the 5. Seemed most of the bus folks were 25 or more years older than me. Yet I bought a house in a neighborhood where the folks are more my age, and I can't stand to be around them. They LOVE seeing 2 buses in my yard.  They ask and I respond better to be in a national geographic moment than see a1000 on tv and I hate sitting on the couch. Almost ready to go again