Wanna Ride the short bus? & roam the country

[Deleted member 20]

I am in Southeastern Massachusetts & am looking to travel this winter. I have hitched & road freight but am thinking of collaborating with another traveler or travelers to buy this bus. Here is the catch, I have no drivers license so you need one with no warrants etc. Would be titled in your name & we would have to register it & insure it. I am hoping of wandering the US & posting & responding to ads on digihitch,stp & craigslist to find hitchhikers who want to hang with us & pitch in gas money,food,beer,music,stories,company etc. I am invisioning a mobile gypsy commune who always picks up fellow travelers hitching. Maybe we can get a tinker caravan with other vehicles traveling with us. Hoping to see live shows,hobo gatherings,visit people places etc. The bus is in Maine I am near the Cape so we would have to get up to Maine to fix it & register it & of course decorate the thing. I have offered to trade him my dirtbike for the bus so we will see what happens.

http://maine.craigslist.org/rvs/225635381.html

Post edited by: highwayman, at: 2006/11/06 07:41

Post edited by: highwayman, at: 2006/11/06 07:43

 

[Deleted member 20]

Wanna Ride the short bus? & roam the country

Found another BIGGER bus converted to biodiesel much more money but room for more people.

Blue 1983 International School Bus.
Wall in the back built to store things from the back door. Queen size bed platform with storage space under, 4 futon platforms.

Perfect for touring groups -- bands or other acts.

Vegetable Grease System installed, needs a little work to function reliably, in the meantime drives with diesel.

 

[Deleted member 20]

UPDATE

We are making progress. We have two travelers(no licenses), one helper & a deal to barter for the bus. We need more partners & helpers to paint a "HOUSE" or build a shed.

I have almost succefully brokered a deal for a trade on the Big Blue Bus. Here is a quote from an email from the owner. She also says that the team who did the work on the wvo conversion intend on repairing there faulty work in the next few weeks.

"Hi Kevin.
Thanks for your interest.
We don't need a dirtbike -- are there skills you could trade? One idea is we need our house painted. If there are other handy skills you all have, it may be possible to work something out. Are you near Boston? We also need to build a shed.
Best,
Allison"

 

[Matt Derrick]

UPDATE

damn, that's pretty impressive... im living in eugene right now, but i might like to get on this project. it depends on what happens in the next couple of months. im also trying to put together an as of yet unnamed anarcho-pirate conference that would be in the eugene area in august. we have a few bands that need help getting from the east coast out here. im not sure if you'll be around the east coast then, but if you wanted to give them a ride out to the con, we could possibly throw out a couple of hundred (200) bucks for gas...

but if the con falls through (it's still in the idea stage), i have a license, and possibly some money saved up by the end of the year. also im really good a tech stuff, so im sure i could set up a computer with pirated internet if you wanted it hahaha...

but yeah, you should take this bus on tour or something. maybe some kinda circus? maybe i could be a story teller

anyways, good luck, keep us updated!

 

[Cush]

UPDATE

matt, where is eugene? i live in New jersey and if i'll be around for this conference doohickey of yours i'd love to go. any clue of when/where it is.

and PS. if you do end up doing the circus thing contact me if you need a juggler, caller or firebreather.

 

[Deleted member 20]

UPDATE

Its nice to see others are interested. I have come across this nomadic hippy tribe online,

[ame="http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172098"]http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172098[/ame]

I myself am not a hippy, just a traveler looking for the road. But hell I am sounding more & more like one with the alternative fuel & now with a bus commune. There was a lot good stuff about that tribe that I do like. They have been around for ten years, wow. As for a circus or whatever I am sure everyones collective talents will come together to artisticly raise money & poples spirits all over the country.
NEW additionS to the team, digihitch member EESO from RI.
BRYAN an anarchist/wanderer/philosopher who goes to school in Boston & got word from, http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/vol/231954777.html

Post edited by: highwayman, at: 2006/11/10 03:18

 

[Deleted member 20]

UPDATE

A few things to keep in mind -- either the house painting job or building the shed would be intense, probably full time work for 2 weeks or so for 3 people. All the people involved will need some place to stay and funds for food, etc.. during that time. Make sure that is clear to people if they aren't local.
Allison
So we all now what we need to do. We need to get more support than we have already. The more people we can get to pitch in the faster we can get it done & the better it will be fror all parties. Maybe some cool people in around the area wouldnt mind us sleeping on there couches/floors. I am confident that we can accomplish this project in half the time we just need more people. All these car/housing/mootrcycle shows on the discovery & Mtv are able to do serious amounts of work in short time becaus ethey are passionate & they always have a team of others.
_________________
Happy Rails!

KO

 

[Deleted member 20]

UPDATE

I have bartered more of our labor for shelter. Sorry but I dont have any cash & nobody has offered any lodging or cash for us. I posted an ad on couchsurfing.com & CL & have gotten some responses. 1 is an apt in JP that is being rehabbed/demoed of plaster/walls etc. We can clean & tape up a section so that it doesnt get dusty there to sleep in with use of stove,bathroom,private entrance etc if we tear down the ceiling & a few existing walls. I am bringing my bike if we do this & have two other bikes for the other two 2 to ride. They have kids so no drinking,drugging swearing etc in the house.

Also we have another prospective traveler.

Riloh from digihitch: hey there, name's chris, 22, from southern california. just a little background, i'm basically tired of the 8-5, button-down, desk-job life, and i'm turning in my two-weeks to hit the open road and just explore the country, no destination, no time frame. i've backpacked through europe, but never in the states. i've basically just been waiting for a partner/partners with experience.

 

[Deleted member 20]

UPDATE

I have bartered more of our labor for shelter. Sorry but I dont have any cash & nobody has offered any lodging or cash for us. I posted an ad on couchsurfing.com & CL & have gotten some responses. 1 is an apt in JP that is being rehabbed/demoed of plaster/walls etc. We can clean & tape up a section so that it doesnt get dusty there to sleep in with use of stove,bathroom,private entrance etc if we tear down the ceiling & a few existing walls. I am bringing my bikes & will have two other bikes for the other two 2 guys to ride around. They have kids so no drinking,drugging swearing etc in the house.

 

[Deleted member 20]

The BUS DEAL FELL THOUGH. Sorry.

I just got an email from the owners of the bus who said that they researched painting & found out it will be too cold to cure properly if done now. This whole time the only thing that I was worried about was the weather. To all the people who pledged their support, I thank you for trying & am glad to have met everyone if only online. I am actaully gonna head out via rubber & rail to points south/west/warmer/?. Hit me up if you wanna roll!

Thanx

HighWayman

 

[Matt Derrick]

The BUS DEAL FELL THOUGH. Sorry.

damn... that sucks... well, it's still a really great idea though, and i think maybe we should still try and find some way to work it out. im completely broke at the moment, but ive been kinda fasinated with the idea since you proposed it. how much was the bus going for? im sure there's plenty more buses out there somewhere...

 

[Beyond The Sun]

The BUS DEAL FELL THOUGH. Sorry.

Damn that's too bad. Like Matt said though, there's got to be other buses out there. I'd definetly be interested in doing something like that if it ends up working out. Just a question on the license thing, do you need a special one for buses or does a regular driver's license work?

 

[Matt Derrick]

The BUS DEAL FELL THOUGH. Sorry.

as for the license, you don't have to have a special one like a cdl (commercial driver's license), you can drive it with a regular license. you just have to get it registered as a recreational vehicle. in most states this is ridiculously cheap. also, you can supposedly register anything as an rv as long as it's bigger than a car, and you can fit a bed in it. i.e., a van.

another advantage is that ive been told that when you register a vehicle as an rv, it has the same rights as to 'search and seizure' as a house. meaning, police cannot enter or search anything beyond the front seats without a search warrant. just an interesting tid bit i thought ya'll might be interested in.

Post edited by: MattPist, at: 2006/11/20 20:16

 

[Deleted member 20]

The BUS DEAL FELL THOUGH. Sorry.

Yeah the Big Blue bus was $3,500 & it had the waste oil conversion already(they run about$1,000 in parts. I too am broke, & there are other busses out there. Licensing for most skoolies(converted school buses) is just a regular license. Most people register/title them as a camper & then never refer to them as a bus again, for insurance reasons etc. Most large school buses have a hydraulic brake system opposed to an AIR that requires a cdl endorsement & they are usually under GVW. I had found some gas busses really cheap but after researching it, diesels will run forever & then there is the availability of cheap fuels. Straight vegetable oil, Keroseene, Heating oil, Waste veg oil, diesel, or the combo of any of these. If anything the interest & support of all total strangers to almost pull this off was verry cool in it self.

 

[Matt Derrick]

The BUS DEAL FELL THOUGH. Sorry.

well, ive become facinated with the idea, i wish i had thought of it when i still had money

i think we should still try and do something like this... for example, if 3-4 people came up with 1,000 bucks each, we could all easily pitch in on a fullsize bus. ive decided to start saving as soon as i get a job

im hoping ill have enough by the time the end of the summer rolls around, i just gotta find others willing to pitch in. also, im trying to figure out a way to 'incorporate' the bus, so it isn't in any particular person's name, kinda like a land trust association for a house. i can't go into why at the moment, but i can't have my name on the title. besides, it would be more 'anarchist' this way

also, i think one of the most important parts would be making sure everyone can live together and get along, especially people putting in the money to buy the thing in the first place! so i guess anyone going in on this would have to meet up and hang out for a bit before committing to this project.

so my idea to make this project *somewhat* sustainable, is to of course run the bus on veggie oil, and then dumpster as much as possible to feed ourselves, and then do performance art/shows or something like that to subsist our living expenses. like a traveling circus or something like that.

i also already have ideas like for rooftop storage of veggie oil, and bikes so we can park in a town and hit up whatever needs hittin up without buring fuel everywhere. as well as setting up a computer with a powerful antenna so we can get free wifi. im a little sketchy about the details, but im fairly certain i can get a working setup with solar panels and batteries pretty easily for the most part. oh and bunk beds and other furniture that will have to be worked out later.

last, but not least, paint the whole damn thing black and call it the 'black pearl'... arg!

and maybe paint on the front of the bus "battle wagon" backwards so people know we're coming for them in their rear view mirrors. haha...

anyways, im gonna start a new thread for this (called new bus deal), so the 'bus deal fell through' title won't give people the wrong impression, and post this there. post your ideas, or if you'd be interested in doing something like this with me, k?

(im working on putting together a huge anarchist conference in mid august, so im thinking after that would be when we would start trying to find a bus and whatnot)

 

[Deleted member 20]

The BUS DEAL FELL THOUGH. Sorry.

Matt, maybe now you will get to be on a Pirate ship. lol. Hell I am still down, & luv pirates. I replied to the post & will help out in any way I can. I would prob be able to get up soem money in a few weeks or so to pitch in. I still have bookmarks,links emails about the orig post so let me know what you need.

PS. Sorry I just reread the posts more carefully & see you are trying for later on next year. I am still ready to do something now/soon if anyone wants to chip in Money to buy a bus still. I just knew @ the time when I thought of the whole idea & posted all I could give was my labor or maybe my dirtbike for trade since I didnt have any cash then or even now(sorry no job) & didnt have any other people who were down to travel/help aquire the bus. Now things may be different & there may be more people to collectively pitch in for a bus. I still cant drive nor can I register it in my name but am still down to help/go on this bus and any other orojects in the future.

Post edited by: highwayman, at: 2006/11/26 16:52

 

[trangus]

The BUS DEAL FELL THOUGH. Sorry.

i caught a ride on a bus right there in eugene last year, and buddy had gotten a business lisence which i believe u can just make up a name of a company, a what u do(food distribution) and pay like 60 bucks. then u can register the bus to the company, then there is no ownership.and we got our bus jacked because all the stuff(cabinets shelves beds)gotta be secure to the floor AND the big one was we had too many passengers and not enough seat belts. buses dont have seat belts but its not a bus anymore. rvs need as many seat belts and seats as there r potential passengers. i know it sux ass, but our bus got crushed for that among other things.

 

[Matt Derrick]

The BUS DEAL FELL THOUGH. Sorry.

crushed? as in taken away and destroyed? they can do that?