NOMADVENTURE

We had sold our sailboat, and Maine winter was rapidly approaching. Our family of 5 was looking for a new magic carpet ride to warmer climes, but what would it be? After mucho debate, we went skoolie   (a converted school bus, for the uninitiated)! And we definitely followed a KISS (Keep It Simple Skoolie) mindset. We wanted to hit the road ASAP. The goal was not to get into a years long project… Let’s be honest: the American road trip is a sacred institution. It’s right up there with baseball, apple pie, and believing that we’re all excellent drivers (spoiler: we’re not). But if you’re thinking about hitting the road for the long haul—especially with kids in tow—you’ve likely found yourself in the age-old debate:  Skoolie or RV? A skoolie has a certain off-grid, rebel-with-a-wrench charm. An RV, on the other hand, is the Honda Odyssey of the nomadic world—practical, ready to roll, and suspiciously beige. That’s not to say we’re anti-Honda Odyssey! We owned a gray one affecti...

With our boat sold, and a bus procured from the local district in Maine, it was time to head south. But you can’t just travel legally far and wide in a yellow school bus, and painting outside in November’s freezing temperatures is foolish. So, we burned south, as the authorities turned a blind eye, until the butter melted in South Carolina. In a Lowes parking lot, roller in hand, Base Camp received her new sea-mist-green-you-said-you-wanted-to-be-stealth-but-you-FAILED color. After the 100th, “Oh isn’t that a cute bus,” comment, our youngest son said, “We mind as well have painted babies all over it…!”  We named our beauty Base Camp, and we fondly describe her as our mullet bus.  She’s “business” in the front, with three standard school bus seats still in place. And she’s a “party” in the back— not that a triple bunk bed, a double loft bed, and an enclosed bathroom compartment, containing a cassette potty in any way constitute a “party…” There is however a foldout galley on th...