About Us
Hi there! We are a family trying to make a change, and this is our website. We live in SoCal, have three freaky cats, and we are all very messy and creative. Really messy. Slob status messy.
We bought a school bus. Yes, we did that, and it’s probably the weirdest thing we have ever done. And maybe the best purchase we’ve ever made aside from our Soda Stream. Bubbly water is great.
We’ve been living in California for far too long, and we want more. More space, more weather, more sanity. Kat’s a native, Vin’s an Aussie transplant, and California is the only United State we’ve lived in. We’ve been on road trips… lonnng ones. We really like the other side of the country with its greenery, its seasons, its fireflies, its down-to-earth people, especially the midwest states. We’d like acreage, and maybe a hobby farm. We want to build a Quonset home with mid-century style, unless we find the perfect mid-century modern home at a mid-century price. We just don’t know where. And that’s where our bus comes in!
What better way to figure out where we want to live than to actually live in various places for long enough to decide if a place is right for us or not? We don’t want the commitment of having to rent a place for six months at a time, so we discussed motorhomes. Brand new motorhomes cost far beyond what we’re willing or able to pay for something meant to be temporary. I mean, some cost as much as stick-and-brick homes. And they’re really kind of flimsy. We figured that if we were going to live in a flimsy, temporary thing, we should probably find something used. But we looked, and those are pricey too, especially for the size we’d need for the two of us and two grown sons. This is one time I was grateful for social media algorithms. I (Kat) was looking at motorhome-related stuff on Facebook when I was targeted by group suggestions for “skoolie” communities that had really interesting photos of converted school buses! Of course I joined several groups (and dumped a couple right away due to politics and infighting, but the others are great). And of course I showed these groups to Vin right away, and we discussed the skoolie option. I was gung-ho, because I’m always gung-ho about “crazy” ideas, and Vin was fascinated, but awkwardly resistant. Because… school bus. Who does this stuff? Not us. We’re too careful, comfortable and fuddy-duddy to do something crazy like converting a school bus.
Where would we do it? Where would it live while we did it? Would we start it and decide it was too hard?
And then the pandemic-schmandemic hit. And our state went nuts. And we made the final decision that we really don’t want to be in California anymore. And we scoured government auctions, but the buses up for sale were too far away and in areas where they might be prone to rust. And then we watched Las Vegas Bus Sales for a couple of months and really enjoyed watching the main salesperson, Johnny Ringo (great name), do video walkthroughs of the school buses they have for sale. And then Vin decided he wanted a charter bus instead. But the charter buses we saw in great condition were thirty grand. And he still wanted one (and I kind of did too, but thirty grand?). And then one day I saw some school buses for sale at a local Catholic school, and we went and looked at them, rode around in the one we liked best, and went home and talked about it. For $1800 we were both pretty convinced that we found the bus we could work with.
We bought it the next week. We bought a freakin’ school bus! And this blog is our means of telling you what we’re doing with it, how we’re doing it, and where we’re going with it.
We’re calling it The Tiki Varoom! We’re former Disneyland cast members and that thing in common inspired us to choose a Disney theme. Vin tried to slide in there with an Australian bus name… The Platabus, The Wallabus, The Kangabus, The Aussieanythingbus… but I argued that I am not Australian and that we should choose something we have in common. I think he thinks I’m mean. But he did come around to a Disney theme. And that tiki theme also ties in with our favorite resort (because it’s the only resort we’ve ever been to… haha!), Tahiti Village in Las Vegas. We’re not islanders, and we’ve never spent time on an island outside of Catalina, but we love the style, and so it is. It’ll be medium-tiki, because we actually have to live in it without tiki torches, hula dancers, and palm trees. We’ll see how it turns out, and so will you.
We bought a school bus. Yes, we did that, and it’s probably the weirdest thing we have ever done. And maybe the best purchase we’ve ever made aside from our Soda Stream. Bubbly water is great.
We’ve been living in California for far too long, and we want more. More space, more weather, more sanity. Kat’s a native, Vin’s an Aussie transplant, and California is the only United State we’ve lived in. We’ve been on road trips… lonnng ones. We really like the other side of the country with its greenery, its seasons, its fireflies, its down-to-earth people, especially the midwest states. We’d like acreage, and maybe a hobby farm. We want to build a Quonset home with mid-century style, unless we find the perfect mid-century modern home at a mid-century price. We just don’t know where. And that’s where our bus comes in!
What better way to figure out where we want to live than to actually live in various places for long enough to decide if a place is right for us or not? We don’t want the commitment of having to rent a place for six months at a time, so we discussed motorhomes. Brand new motorhomes cost far beyond what we’re willing or able to pay for something meant to be temporary. I mean, some cost as much as stick-and-brick homes. And they’re really kind of flimsy. We figured that if we were going to live in a flimsy, temporary thing, we should probably find something used. But we looked, and those are pricey too, especially for the size we’d need for the two of us and two grown sons. This is one time I was grateful for social media algorithms. I (Kat) was looking at motorhome-related stuff on Facebook when I was targeted by group suggestions for “skoolie” communities that had really interesting photos of converted school buses! Of course I joined several groups (and dumped a couple right away due to politics and infighting, but the others are great). And of course I showed these groups to Vin right away, and we discussed the skoolie option. I was gung-ho, because I’m always gung-ho about “crazy” ideas, and Vin was fascinated, but awkwardly resistant. Because… school bus. Who does this stuff? Not us. We’re too careful, comfortable and fuddy-duddy to do something crazy like converting a school bus.
Where would we do it? Where would it live while we did it? Would we start it and decide it was too hard?
And then the pandemic-schmandemic hit. And our state went nuts. And we made the final decision that we really don’t want to be in California anymore. And we scoured government auctions, but the buses up for sale were too far away and in areas where they might be prone to rust. And then we watched Las Vegas Bus Sales for a couple of months and really enjoyed watching the main salesperson, Johnny Ringo (great name), do video walkthroughs of the school buses they have for sale. And then Vin decided he wanted a charter bus instead. But the charter buses we saw in great condition were thirty grand. And he still wanted one (and I kind of did too, but thirty grand?). And then one day I saw some school buses for sale at a local Catholic school, and we went and looked at them, rode around in the one we liked best, and went home and talked about it. For $1800 we were both pretty convinced that we found the bus we could work with.
We bought it the next week. We bought a freakin’ school bus! And this blog is our means of telling you what we’re doing with it, how we’re doing it, and where we’re going with it.
We’re calling it The Tiki Varoom! We’re former Disneyland cast members and that thing in common inspired us to choose a Disney theme. Vin tried to slide in there with an Australian bus name… The Platabus, The Wallabus, The Kangabus, The Aussieanythingbus… but I argued that I am not Australian and that we should choose something we have in common. I think he thinks I’m mean. But he did come around to a Disney theme. And that tiki theme also ties in with our favorite resort (because it’s the only resort we’ve ever been to… haha!), Tahiti Village in Las Vegas. We’re not islanders, and we’ve never spent time on an island outside of Catalina, but we love the style, and so it is. It’ll be medium-tiki, because we actually have to live in it without tiki torches, hula dancers, and palm trees. We’ll see how it turns out, and so will you.