What got you on the Busnut highway?

[Ed Hackenbruch]

In 58 or 59 my dad bought an old (1940s?) Chevy shorty schoolie. I can remember, ( i was only 9 ), helping him take the seats out and building the table/seats/bed/bathroom out of plywood. Nothing fancy but worked just fine. We only had it for a year or two and then he sold it or traded it for something......maybe a couple of Scotch Highland cattle.  I had forgotten all of this until about 2-3 years ago and so i looked and was able to find a picture or two that brought back a lot of memories.   In the summer of 03 i decided to buy an rv and become a gypsy.....travel some and work when i had to.  Had kinda narrowed it down to a Barth but could not find the size/layout/powerplant that i wanted in my price range. Then i happened to find a converted bus on ebay and ended up bidding and winning it. Been fulltiming ever since.

[Cary and Don]

We went looking for an rv.  The more we looked the more we realized we needed something at least 20 feet to be comfortable.  There was an add in the paper for a 1950 bus conversion,  $9000.  We had never heard of such a thing so called about it.  It was sold, but the owner gave us the sermon on bus conversions.  We were sold.  Started watching Ebay for buses and knew that they were for us.  Well, the itchy finger pushed bid button and we became bus owners.  It needed a complete new interior, and a lot of other things, but it was mechanically in excellent condition and we never regretted buying her. Our GM4107, and it came with an issue of the BCM magazine in 2001.

Don and Cary
GMC 4107
Neoplan AN340

[NewbeeMC9]

My brother In-law was single and needed a place to stay, and i recommend gettin an rv and he could stay wherever he wanted. and move when he wanted.

At the time I was seriously considering a harley,  so jeolous of his abilty of freedom and harley wouldn't promote family togetherness, i decided i wanted an RV


We had discussed getting a motorhome and traveling some when we retired but i was not interested after being in the NAVY.

I was thinking I wanted a fifth wheel i could pull with my truck but took a trip a beach in the truck and decided that wouldn't be the best of comfortable travel. I want to ride in the rv.  Next was looking at motorhomes Calass c and A,  What i could afford i wouldn't have because it needed total rebuilding and what i wanted i couln't afford.  I wanted air ride suspension and started thinking if i had to rebuild start with a bus an build what you want plus , much more storage on bus. and the chassis just seemed so much safer and better quality.  Anyway isn't thats why the rock stars used buses.

Now the other benefit is attitude,  if the world goes to P#$$ and i have to give up the house etc.  I still have the bus.  So life is good when the worst thing that can happen to you is you have to live in bus .  Won't have to worry about being homeless.  Always good to have a Plan B.

[Peabody]

http://www.poulsborv.com/pre_owned_detail.asp?sid=03363916X1K19K2009J12I51I39JAMQ3616R0&veh=918346

Need I say more,I fell in love when I saw this bus.But it was,is out of my price range and needed to much interior work for it to be right for me.But someday I keep on hoping. Hugs Peabody

[Blacksheep]

After my really bad divorce, I decided to look on the internet for new friends! Came across the BNO board and THIS site. The rest was history. Yea it's not what you think Tom! I met Susan someplace different than the internet! LOL

Anyway, since I never have flown in a plane and wanted to travel, and figured if John Madden could do it, why not me? Again, the rest is history!

Then when I visited the great state of Florida there was a small town (Eloise, Fl) where a fireman was converting a 4104 or 06 in his shop. At the time it looked cool to see all the windows open and extension cords hanging out with various items being made and installed in the bus. After a few months, the bus was finished and it looked like a home on wheels. No it wasn't mine! I think it was being built for Wynn Silver of Central Florida Transit but it was awesome. I knew I had to have something like that one day and after finding a 4107 that was already converted, I became a bus nut! The problem with that bus was where we lived. The land lord said I couldn't park it on the grass so one of us had to go. Oh and by this time Susan wasn't sure if "I" was the one for her! Always getting her into situations like this! LOL So we found a house together and bought that. The problem with that was the driveway was only 35 foot long at the house we bout which was in a cul-de-sac and by the time we moved, I had already made a deal for a 40 foot Eagle. Ahh the joys of becoming a bus nut!  Now where do we put the bus! You guessed it! In the back yard! Oh, I didn't think about the trees growing so getting the 40 foot Eagle OUT of the back yard almost a year later was well, lets just say challenging to say the least!
Not satisfied with that bus after completing it and staying at Jacks Rally for one week, I had already made a deal for what we have now. A 40 foot, very tall Prevost H3!
Yea I think I heard Susan say one day, "THAT'S IT"!

She may become like the land lord and say "one of you has to go"!  I pushed my luck thru the years and better not push it! LOL

Before I forget, the looking for friends thing on the internet was all made up but I wanted to include you guys in my post somehow!! 

Ace

[JackConrad]

    My grandparents raised me and they always had a travel trailer. Usually Florida in the winter and Colorado in the summer, so I grew up RVing.  After getting married, we traveled first in a tent, then a slid in camper in our pick-up, then a Dodge maxi van that we converted. From there, we got a 24' Winnebago. That was when we met Paul Lawhon at a Bluegrass Festival near Okeechobee in 84. Paul had a 4104 and we decided we had to have a bus. About 1 year later, we were the proud owners of a seated 4106. A couple years later, igt was a fully converted 4106.  We sold it when our boys got into high school. After they graduated and married, it was time for another bus. We now have our MC-8, which we bought as a seated coach in Oct. 99.  About 3 1/2 years to get it 90% converted. The last 10% will never be done, because we always find something new/different to add/change. 
    The other factor was that working as a paramedic, I saw what was left of S&S motorhomes after whay I would consider minor or moderate accidents.  Jack

[bigjohnkub]

My wife and I cook chili on the CASI competion circuit. Many of the cookoff require that we spend the night. Most of our friends have fifth wheel trailers, and a few with class a motor homes.
  The first year we qualified to cook in the World Championship at Terlingua, my brother offered us his converted Fish bowl . I was a bit,maybe more than that , to take an old GMC bus 700 miles one way, and live in it for a week. He assured me profusley(and since he is a baptist preacher I knew he was truthful), that I would have no problems. Guess what! He was right. I loved it.
  We decided to get us a fith wheel and truck to pull it. $50 to $60 thousand dollars. Jeez... Then my brother called. He had a friend who had a PD4903 that was partially converted. Engine had been overhauled,new clutch ect, for $10,000.  Since he had been sick he would take $5,000 if I wanted it. I drove over to look at it and EURIKA.... I'm a bus nut.
  We love the bus, and I like sleeping in MY bed. It is still partially converted as I'm building a house now, but has been to one TBR and will return. I am a class A diesel mechanic and semi skilled carpenter, plumber, and electrician. I can fix this machine to fit Me! Many thanks to the people on the bus boards for their advice and ideas. This a great community.

[TomC]

It all started in elementary school riding a GMC bubble nose 4 rows of seats bus to school and the lady bus driver (Mabel) allowed me to open the door myself (4th grade)!  Always had a pension for large vehicles.  In junior high (middle school now) rode Crowns to school.  The morning bus had a Cummins 220, the afternoon bus had a hot rod 250hp Hall-Scott gasoline which out accelerated the Cummins 220 and Detroit 210hp all the time.  But loved the sound of the Cummins and Detroits.  Always remember a student stuffing a grapefruit up the exhaust of one of the buses and the bus driver seeing that and starting the bus with his foot on the floor-needless to say that grapefruit went flying!
During junior high, made hundreds of motorhome floor plans for various length buses.  So when I converted my first bus, none of my friends were surprised.  The AMGeneral transit I converted was a hard convert since I spent nearly the first year on my back under the bus removing and creating the space for the tanks, batteries, generator, and storage space.  I anticipate my truck conversion to be alot easier since I am designing the rear living space myself.  Good Luck, TomC

[Charles Seaton]

Was lucky enough to grow up in a house with a bus route out front.  In 1950s New york, would sit on the front steps and watch the GM Transits roll by about every 15 minutes.  Mostly GMs, but some Macks.  In high school (late 60s) learned how to drive working for a small bus company in Westchester County, parking and washing transits.  Always loved buses, especially GM transits and suburban models.  Bought my first bus (1958 GM transit) in 1991 and have had buses ever since. (Currently a 1967 GM fishbowl suburban with four-speed Spicer and 8V-71).

[busshawg]

I think for me (more than my wife at the time) it was a restless bone. I have a hard time staying in one place too long. It just seems to be a same old same old situation, which to me makes life drag out. As I trucked 48 states and across Canada I thought when my old truck gets tired I'll stretch it out and turn it into a motor home and go where ever, when ever.  I enjoy meeting people but have found getting close to people is usually a let down , therefore traveling is good. Meet lots of people help one another and move on before judgement gets too harsh.  It's all good. I never thought I'd be able to afford a bus , then I met a friend of mine who was on his way home with a BUS!! What a good idea, ecpecially when he told me what he paid. I thought to myself, hey,  I'm handy enough to do a conversion, we did a complete reno on our house. We've been working on our bus for the last year and a half with probably another year to go. As we move along with it, my wife also has been talking about more and more. Our dream isn't to go camping etc. but rather to live in it fulltme. When we finally get it more or less complete and have done a few decent road trips, (test runs)  we want to move onto the next chapter of our life. Sell almost everthing ( maybe even my other passion 1955 F-100 ) and hit the road, work when we have to, meet people , see some country and most importantly , Have Fun along life's journey!

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

What got you on the Busnut highway? ... My GPS of course!  Lol...

When I was 4 yrs old,[68'] my dad converted his second bus for us to use as an RV. His first was a rolling showroom for his refrigeration equipment.

Dad also converted a couple of 4104's through the years too which I was able to help him with. Then it was my turn....

I have alot of bussin/camping memories with my family and that will continue for some time...

Yup, that's me... I think i was a problem child.
Nick-

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Dad's first rolling showroom.

Nick-

[Jeremy]

I did a real double-take looking at Nick's photos there. A Hillman Imp in South Carolina! Somehow that seems really incongruous but really cool. Probably a good car to tow as well as they're very lightweight. They were in many ways a superior car to the Mini, and quite advanced for the time with a rear-mounted all-aluminium engine.

Jeremy

PS. My choice of a bus was easy, as there aren't really any Class As or 5th-Wheels here, and I needed something that could tow a boat and have much more space and weight-carrying ability than a typical European motorhome. So it was either a bus or a truck, and while trucks can make good motorhomes a bus seemed fundamentally better as they were designed from the outset for people rather than cargo.

[DSweet]

Our adventure began when my sweet wife looked our 30 foot 5th wheel and said,
"I wish we had a motor home.  A short time later we purchased a converted PD4104
from a friend [we are still the best of friends] after refurbishing the interior and making
it suitable for our life style, we are basically full timers.  We sold the 5th wheel and have
never looked back.  Its great to drive home where ever we want to go.  Not to mention that
our miniature Dachshunds love their home as much as we do.  Once infected Bus-nut-itis it is
forever.
Blessings,
David, Alene and the Doxies 

[Dreamscape]

This has been a great thread. I'm reading about so many fulltimers taking the plunge. That's exactly what my wife and I are doing in March. Although we are staying in Abilene we will still take it out for short runs.

Keep the replies coming!

I'm getting more excited by the minute!