Hi!
We are Dave and Mitzi. Back in 2015, I, Dave, undertook a different but similar project to make a "Teardrop" type camper from scratch (Project album here: https://imgur.com/a/9TFcr/ ). I knew woodworking and some electric, but had to learn how to weld and a myriad other skills. It suited our needs for going camping at a moments notice.
A while, later Mitzi and I got to talking about dreams and aspirations getting off the East Coast, away from the hustle and bustle and get our feet back on the ground. Ultimately, possibly end up living and working remote 100% of the time. Not being locked to the 9-5 cubical dwelling race.
So we talked, and while we could have sunk some savings into buying a manufactured RV or 5th Wheel, we opted to go more of a DIY route and expend blood sweat, tears and a lot of time into a more ambitious project of creating a RV from a school bus. Something referred to as a "Skoolie". Why a school bus as a platform? Well for starters, they're cheap. You can pick one up for between $2000-5000 pretty easily from school surplus auctions with decent mileage (less than 150k) and they are usually well maintained. Second, they are built like a tank. You can roll a school bus over and while it may get some damage they won't disintegrate like your typical RV will.
While it may brand us as hippies, I'd rather be a creationist person than a consumerist one. I count myself a part of the back to nature and mother earth news type of hippie.
Where will this journey take us? I don't know and that's part of the excitement of it!
Will we always live nomadic? Likely not. Both Mitzi and I would like to buy a chunk of land. And while I will likely always work in IT as it's a profession I enjoy and count myself good at, being more self sustaining is an objective in my life. For now, however, we're really looking forward to every chance we get to work on the bus, and getting out to see some of this country. We're going to learn a lot of new things, and discover even more about ourselves, and we invite you to come along!