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Bus(y) Livin - Adventures of Beanie Bus - Part 1

By: Halle Phillips

By KAVU

July 20^th, 2021

To do it, or not to do it?

That is the question........

In the middle of summer 2020, the four of us were sitting in the living room of a small vacation rental contemplating escaping the real world to live and travel in a van. At that point, COVID-19 had been raging for a couple of months and our lives felt like they were at a standstill. We all itched for something new and exciting to look forward to, something that was going to make us feel alive.

We all loved the idea of renovating a van and living in it together but we didn’t think we would actually go through with it. Life on the road is one of those things everyone dreams about but only a select few make it a reality - could the four of us, a bunch of inexperienced 20-somethings be part of that select few?

Turns out - yes.

Bus(y) Livin - Adventures of Beanie Bus - Part 1

Looking back on it now, it’s pretty comical that we thought we could fit 4 full-grown adults inside a van. Luckily, we came to our senses and decided that a school bus would be better suited for our needs. We spent the next month or so scouring Facebook marketplace in search of the perfect Skoolie and by the middle of August, we had found the one. With a big wad of cash in hand and a whole lot of stoke, Matt and Skye made their way to New Jersey to pick her up, and thus “4babesandabus” was born.

We were officially bus owners!

It was truly a surreal feeling to take that leap of faith and just go for it. At the time, Gaby and I had just started our senior years of college, and Matt and Skye were in the early stages of post-grad life, making this our very first “real person” purchase. While most people our age would have maybe chosen something more practical like a small apartment or a new car, the four of us are not like most people our age. We didn’t want to take the traditional post-college route of getting a 9-5 or going right to grad school, we wanted to experience life, to enjoy our youth, to explore the world, and to challenge ourselves. See the catch is - none of us had ever built something before, at least not something of this caliber. Not only was this all of our first real person purchase, but it was also going to be our very first home.....

AND we were going to build it.

Seeing as Gaby and I were both off at college, Matt and Skye took on the majority of the build as well as all of the research that came with it. Let’s just say that YouTube is our best friend. But even though we weren’t all together we still worked together. From Sunday night Facetime calls about the build to shared google docs, to each designing our own floor plans and then combining all the ideas into one, it was a team effort.

We now have a love/hate relationship with things we barely knew existed before, like tongue and groove planks and pocket jigs. If you had said the words “pocket jig” to me before, I would’ve said back “what did you call me?!”

It is wild how much we’ve learned throughout the process of building this beast. Skye likes to joke that she’s an electrician now because the 12v system she and Matt came up with works. It can definitely get frustrating at times, not knowing anything about what we’re doing, but once we put in the time to learn and get it done, there is nothing more rewarding. One of the best parts of this whole thing is being able to share our progress and brainstorm ideas with other people. The skoolie and van-life community has been a huge saving grace for us at times and we’ve made some lifelong friends before we’ve even hit the road!!

We are now only a couple of months away from our departure date and I am in awe of what we have been able to accomplish up until this point. I am still in shock every time I walk into the bus and see what we have been able to create with our own hands. There is something so fulfilling about seeing a project come to life and watching all of your hard work, effort, and energy pay off. We cannot WAIT to have Beanie the Bus be our vessel to many #KavuDays ahead.

ALWAYS do it.

#BusyLivin

Stay Tuned for Part 2

One Favorite KAVU Item

Footnotes

"Experience life, Enjoy youth, Explore the world and Challenge ourselves". That was our favorite part! Stay tuned for more Skoolie adventures to come!

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FootNotes

"Experience life, Enjoy youth, Explore the world and Challenge ourselves". That was our favorite part! Stay tuned for more Skoolie adventures to come!

Havasupai 2025

Bus(y) Livin - Adventures of Beanie Bus - Part 1

By: Halle Phillips

FootNotes

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