bus, Bus, BUS!!!

Wow! We've got our bus! Went to a used bus yard in Whitehall, MT today just to *look*, and was offered such a good deal on what we wanted that we couldn't pass it up! She's a 1992 Bluebird with an Allison transmission and Cummins diesel ... and she's turbo-charged! With five external undercarriage storage compartments on each side and roughly an 80 passenger capacity, we've got PLENTY of room to add our fresh water tank, batteries to store solar power, and all the gear we can carry (which can be a LOT!). This will be her second conversion: she was originally a regular ol' school bus and was painted and converted into a transit bus for the Three Forks school system. We plan on re-painting the red stripe (we like green better), but other than that are really satisfied with the external physical appearance. She was the biggest and prettiest on the lot!

Harlow Bus Sales, the company we bought it from, is going to rip out the seats, over head bins, and television cubbies for us. This deal actually helped make the price of the bus a lot cheaper! No telling how long it will take us to convert her, but the first few things we need to do are rip up the floor and put in the floor that we want, lay out insulation, and map out our wiring system. Since it was converted into a transit bus, the whole she-bang is wired for overhead and floor lighting ... which equals a lot less work on the wiring part!

We'll keep y'all posted ... for now she's parked in Whitehall waiting for us to find a place to park her for the spring/summer. We hope to begin the conversion soon!

YAHOOOOOO!!!!

Kelly and Zach