OMG What are we doing?

So, I want to live and travel in a school bus.

I know, sounds crazy.

What am I thinking? Is this another of those crazy Pauly and Jennifer ideas that don't go anywhere? Well, no. Those ideas we tend to not tell you about. Like, me learning Korean, and buying a ukulele. Or trying to learn Korean and ukulele. However, this is a big life change that we have spent a lot of time talking about, thinking about, and praying about. We have had our piece of the American dream, buying a house, a steady ok paying job, we have a nice comfortable set up.

Sounds great doesn't it? No, not really. Sounds boring. Sounds like being in debt and trying to pay bills and, God help us, do some repairs on the house with our small incomes. Even buying a foreclosed house in a small safe town, we are living paycheck to paycheck. After a while of treading water, trying to stay afloat and not understanding why it's so hard. We get paid more than minimum wage and are still struggling to pay our minimal bills.

We don't want to do it anymore. We haven't been able to travel at all, either lack of money or lack of time. And a lot of people say, either you don't work much and have a little money, or you work a lot and have a lot of money but not time. Well, we don't like it. We disagree that this is the way things should be. We don't have to live our lives based on societal norms. And friends of Pauly know that he hasn't done that in a long time, if ever. However, it's taken this long for me to realize I can shake off society's expectations of me as well. I don't want to feel guilty that I don't have kids. I don't want to live in one house in one town for the rest of my life. I want to travel the world and see and do everything there is to see and do. I love learning new things! Hence, the Korean and ukulele. Which I am no master at, but I know basic conversation and my chords! :)

So, I told Pauly I was ready to live like I had always wanted, but been afraid to. I'm still afraid. A nomadic life is fraught with peril. But, I am no longer happy with staying still. So Pauly said 'Awesome! What are we going to do then?' And I thought, 'Hey, let's get a bus. I saw it on Youtube once.'

So we searched for what bus we wanted for a month. Not that long really. There are skoolies out there who waited years before actually buying their bus. I'm really impatient and even that one month was like torture. I wanted it and I wanted it now.

Pauly wants a Blue Bird, I want a Thomas. Then, I'm on craigslist, like I do, and I see a glorious new post in the Chicago area. This rounded beauty of a 40 year old bus, called a Crown. Isn't that cute? I do some research on the company and find out they shut down in 1991. Bummer. And this bus is 40 years old. Bummer again. And it has 220,000 miles on it. Major bummer. And it's listed for $4,000 (which is expensive for a school bus.) Biggest bummer. There's no way I could pay that much money for something that old! But I still liked the looks of it. I showed it to Pauly and was told 'No way. Not going to happen. Find me a Blue Bird.' Ugh. I did some more research on Crown Coaches and found out some really interesting information. Apparently, the reason they went out of business is because their buses were too expensive. They were too well built. Like a tank. With 90,000 psi steel instead of industry standard 45,000. The entire frame is a giant roll cage with bars 17.5 inches apart. Built to last, there were still some being used in California as school buses with hundreds of thousands of miles on them. They last forever. That Detroit Diesel engine doesn't quit.

I try to tell Pauly about all this great info I found. Then get frustrated that all he hears is 'went out of business 20 years ago' and '220,000 miles.' He keeps telling me no. I call the vintage car dealer where the bus is at and ask a few questions. It was used as a party bus in Chicagoland for 12 years. It was titled as a commercial vehicle. It has a lot of rust, but engine runs great. I am determined to go see it. I was going to go that day, but they were closing early for Independence Day festivities. I still want to bully Pauly into going with me anyway, so I tell them I'll be up in 5 days.

I try to talk to Pauly about it again. He doesn't understand why I'm being so stubborn about this. I'm pretty bad at communicating sometimes. I think I explain it fine, but he doesn't understand what I'm telling him and I'm about to try osmosis with my fist. So, I do what any rational person would do when trying to convince someone how great their idea is. I made a powerpoint presentation. (Thanks college!)

Took about 15 minutes to make, about 4 minutes to present and then he was sold. 'All right, let's get it!' A few days later we drive to McHenry, IL (about 3 hours) and take a look at a big rusted-out scary looking bus with dry rot on the wheels. All the decals for Crown had been removed, there were a couple couches and van seats lined against the walls and I could see the insulation through the rust holes. Then, we tried to start it. 'Tried' being the key word there.

Well, the batteries are dead. So they hook up three battery charges to it and charge for an hour or so. Still won't start. Well, it might be out of gas. Put a couple of gallons of diesel in it. Still won't start. While three of the four people working at this small vintage car dealer are trying to figure this problem out, we are in the office filling out paperwork to get a loan. They finance here and assured us they can finance absolutely anything. And yet, even though we have a fairly good debt to income ratio and good credit scores, we keep getting denied. First, it was because we live in Indiana. I don't know what that was about. Then, it was a school bus. Then we tried for an unsecured loan, still didn't get it cause credit score not quite good enough. OMG we were so frustrated. We hear from the last bank around 3 pm, we'd been there since 10, and were denied again. 

Right about then, the two new batteries they had to order arrive and get hooked up. Guess what? Bus starts! A big cloud of black smoke is belched out and then a steady cloud of white smoke. It purrs like a giant scary kitten. We talk to the owner of the place, who feels bad that he couldn't get it started and we couldn't get it financed. We put down a $500 refundable deposit and ask for a week to get the funds together. Then, through some miracles, a signature loan from my credit union, and selling our buick with the busted transmission, we have the money!!! Ahhhh!!! We're buying a bus!!!!

We were so excited! It was all coming together! We drive up when I get off work Saturday morning, pay the man $3,500 and get taught how to turn this bus on! Not an easy thing to do. Lol, there's a trick to it. Gas her up (about $140) and take the long back roads home not going more than 45 mph. Got home after 10 pm, 7.5 hours after we left the dealership. A very LONG ride home. Apparently the seat in the bus is not an air ride, Pauly was bouncing all over the place. Poor baby. So now there's a bus at our house, in the space Pauly had cleared for it 4 weeks before. And now begins the real work. Fun time's over kids. It's time to cry into your sweat and bleed on everything. And get stung by the wasps that are living in my emergency escape window.