Our bus conversion “Brucie” was designed and hand built almost entirely by Asa between May 2018 and April 2019.
We then drove her 13,027 miles on an epic journey stretching from the flatwoods of the Southeast, across the great plains, down the Pacific coast, and back again through the Southwest. Along the way we visited twenty-two national parks and took a full measure of this country’s amazing public lands. Between May and November of 2019, we saw a lifetime’s worth of natural wonders, camped in some amazing places, and met many lovely and fascinating people.
We set out with grand designs of blogging our way across America, but somehow having adventures usually seemed to take priority over writing about them. Nonetheless, we did document the build and a few travel posts to our wordpress site. That wordpress site has long since been decommissioned but the posts are preserved here.
Today I sanded the floor and applied the first coat of oil.
Before oil (after sanding) Starting the application. Huge difference in color between oiled and dry wood Application complete. Only two more coats to go before waxing! We had a tremendous thunderstorm this afternoon which brought close to an hour of driving rain. This was the first real test for my window repairs, so I planted myself in the bus with a towel in case there were any leaks. There were, and I spent the next hour running around inside the bus trying to keep water off the floor.
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I’ve spent the last few days wrestling sheets of 3/4" plywood, cutting foamboard and playing with fire, all to get the floor installed.
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Jade and Reuben came out for the day on the 23rd of June to assist with floor removal. (Thanks guys!) Even with three of us and an air hammer I’d borrowed from Lucas, it took most of the day to get the floor down to metal.
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Over the past couple of weeks I’ve finished coating the roof, installed the racking for the solar array, pulled apart the dashboard, deep cleaned the interior, started rebuilding the heater and ventilation system, and started assembling the heart of the off-grid electrical system.
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The past two weeks have been largely dedicated to stripping the inside of the bus down to the shell, cleaning years of accumulated detritus and filth, and collecting parts and supplies necessary to install the electrical and plumbing systems.
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As some of you may know, we have been making plans to travel the states for a time after we get married. The where and for how long still isn’t entirely nailed down, but the how is pretty much settled as of last week.
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On Thursday, December 21st, 2017 I proposed to the love of my life atop Haytor, high on the windswept expanse of Dartmoor.
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