Moving On

Chapter one complete. My accounts of adventure in South America have come to an end, and what you can read far below this post represent distinct cohesive accounts of particular spurts of activity from Argentina to Ecuador and most of what lies in between.

So now its time to move forward; strike it rich with a new prospect for adventure, hidden somewhere where my imagination and capabilities collide. 

Last September I bought a bus. It's a short, four row school bus that I'd found sitting without use in the vehicle lot of a school district in Seguin, Texas. It had been out of use for four years, they said, and had not been started in that time. So essentially, they didn't much care to have it lying around anymore, and would have loved to see it be taken away. Thus, I got a $450 school bus to take home and take apart.


The idea of renovating a school bus into living space for a few good friends and just roaming for months at a time in our mobile home was dreamed up throughout endless bus in the Andes, when you have nothing but your imagination to keep yourself entertained. It was a common subject to dedicate some time wondering about, crafting blueprints in my head, features my dream bus would sport.



Now that I had gotten it, things could begin. 

We took out the seats and all related hardware, took off odd padding on the walls and removed the stop sign. We took out the floor and molding, sanded and refinished the wood, and laid new vinyl floors. Molding was painted and replaced, and stained birch panels were cut to cover the interior walls. Ceiling panels were painted green.


I reused a bus seat that we had taken out initially, and bolted it back in facing another, then built a table in between, and we have a dining area. There are bunk beds for two, and room for two more yet to come. 


So here's our vehicle, a good 80% of the way through construction. This vehicle will be the home to three friends and me for two months this summer. 



We'll go out west, passing up through Denver then back down through
the deserts in Utah and the Grand Canyon. Onward through Las Vegas, Death Valley, Sequoia, King's Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks we'll drive, camping in parks along the way. Then we point east, and make the quick jump across Nevada, past Salt Lake City, and up to Grand Teton and Yellowstone. After Glacier in Montana, we're bound for Canada, and Banff National Park (which I'm told is breath taking).

Our route takes us through most of the national parks of the west, and we've got just two months to see it all.

Cross the continental divide, head down the western side of the Rockies, and from Vancouver, to LA we've got a straight shot down the coast, seeing the Redwoods and all the great cities on the way. One final stint through the deserts of the Southwest to Big Bend, Texas will bring us back home to Austin two months after we set out.

Were all 19, and don't have much money, so trip attitude will be gear heavily towards high consumption of canned tuna and crackers, as well as many nights spent at highway rest stops with the truckers. 


It should be exciting. Keep posted to catch updates from the road. Coming June 15th.