It may have started as a joke, but that didn’t stop the Bus Collective from becoming a reality.
A group of friends were enjoying a fairly typical night earlier this year, talking, drinking, and sharing stories. But when someone floated the idea of buying a used bus to take a trip across the country as a joke, it stuck in the minds of a few.
“It all came about kind of as a joke one night,” Aidan Levy told the Coloradoan. “The next day we looked it up.”
Acting on impulse, Aidan and a couple friends bought the $2,000 bus on Craigslist, and soon set up a meeting to attract any other interested voyagers. Approximately 25 interested people arrived to the first meeting and began planning and whittling down the party to six committed individuals: Claire Heywood, Nicholas Mouton, Jasper Piccarreto, Kacey Flemming, Jeremy Mack, and Levy. Together, they took on the name The Bus Collective.
The first meeting was in May, and over the next six months the group worked to tear apart the inside of the bus and converting it into a living space including beds and a makeshift kitchen. They painted the bus green and transformed the “bare bones school bus to a tiny hostel” with a budget of approximately $9,000.
“It was something we could afford,” Heywood said. “We also think it’s cool and interesting. We were able to completely demolish the inner space of it so that we could just do something that was completely our own.”
The next step was to actually test the bus out. The original plans aimed for the bus to head out on its inaugural journey in October, but delays in getting the vehicle up and running pushed back the departure date to November 10, when the group set off from Seattle.
Levy says the bus only gets around 5 miles per gallon, a high price tag for the group with eco-friendly ideals, but the collective has made plans to keep costs down and make every second of bus travel count by stopping frequently to camp and enjoy the scenic beauty, as well as staying for more than a week at major stops. Not only that, but the group packed bicycles for each member to get around when the bus is stopped.
“We’re trying to pay homage to the fuel we’re burning and see all these amazing things while we can,” Mack said.
For the core group of Mounton, Picarreto, Mack, and Levy, the trip is also intended as a learning opportunity. The four work together at Hope Farm in Fort Collins, and they hope to use the trip to learn new sustainable farming techniques. They are also using their knowledge to find eco-friendly means of dealing with waste.
Mouton explains the group spent around a month debating what to do about managing “the facilities” before ultimately opting against installing a bathroom in favor of “using conscious camping practice while still fertilizing the land.”
While many who convert buses may not be looking to go quite as green as the The Bus Collective, their trip shows that any dream is possible with a repurposed bus. You can see the country however you want to see it, and you’ll most likely save money in the long run if you plan ahead. You just have to get your friends or family together and make it happen.
You can keep up with The Bus Collective here.
