There’s something inherently American about the open road. Sure, you can probably thank the ancient Romans for coming up with the concept, but it was Americans, from Kerouac’s beat generation to Farley and Spade’s Tommy Boy, who turned the road trip into an art form.
Today, that spirit finds its ultimate manifestation in a niche culture that calls itself the “Bus Life” community. These are the rubber tramps who traverse the country like vagabonds, carrying everything they need on four wheels. Don’t confuse them with RVers. At its essence, an RV is a commodity. You walk into the dealership, you sign some papers, and you walk out an RVer.
For those who live the Bus Life (sometimes called “Skoolies”), initiation into the culture is an act of creation. It’s a point of pride to show other members your own unique ride and share the stories of the work that went into building it with your bare hands.
When local couple Lexy Shaw and Craig Ryan got their hands on an old 32-foot Freightliner school bus, they knew they were going to have a few stories to share by the time their new ride was road-ready.
“The floor wasn’t sealed,” Shaw said. “The guy we got it from had used it as a camper when he would go to dirt track races. We gutted it completely, starting with the insulation and flooring, then framed everything out once we figured out the layout.”
Fortunately, Shaw said, both she and her boyfriend were well versed in construction—Shaw because her dad was a contractor and Ryan because this was not his first remodel. His first was a 25-foot school bus he purchased just after his high school graduation, renovating the entire thing at his parents’ Ashton Cove home. “He says he pretty much went to every college on the East Coast on that bus,” Shaw said.
Lexy enjoys a cup of coffee in the kitchen of their adventure bus.
The build
Feeling like they needed more room, the couple secured their new ride in a trade for an old shuttle bus they had converted. As mentioned, there was a little bit of work that needed doing just to get the 20-year-old school bus operational, much less Instagram-worthy.
“All the caulking is getting old, so every time it would rain we would have a new leak,” Shaw said. “We’d just get everything figured out, and then the next time it would rain we’d find a new puddle.”
Once that was under control, however, the time came to turn this bus into a home on the road. Locating the right tanks for hot water, black water and gray water proved the most challenging, but Ryan was able to find everything he needed between Amazon, Lowe’s and Home Depot. Then came the simple matter of securing a fully functional home against the rigors of the road.
“The furniture all has pads on the bottom so it doesn’t slide around … the cabinets all have baby locks. We have a lot of bungee cords to keep stuff secure,” Shaw said. “One thing we have to fix is the fridge. It doesn’t tip, but it will slide around. We took one corner a little hard, and I’m just yelling, ‘Fridge! Fridge! Fridge!”
It’s one thing to build an apartment on wheels from the ground up. Making it look as fabulous as this one is something else entire.
“I was the Pinterest board person. It’s kind of crazy,” Shaw said. “I had stuff saved up, but all the little details you see are adhesive peel and stick.
People think I actually tiled in here. I’m like, ‘That’s just a sticker.’”
Sticker or not, the results are gorgeous, especially compared to the bus’s state when the couple first laid hands on it. Spanish tile accents on the stairs, serve as the first hint of what awaits inside, from reclaimed hardwood flooring and riverstone accents in the shower. It’s all stickers, of course, but the effect is one of luxurious comfort.
Once everything was complete, all that remained was the last and highest hurdle. “The most difficult part was getting insurance for it, and the whole DMV process. It’s becoming more common, but it’s still uncommon,” Shaw said. The bureaucratic difference between a bus and an RV might seem pedantic, but for the red-tape-ready denizens of the DMV, it makes all the difference in the world. “People at DMV had never done anything like this. We spent a month going back and forth with one person or another. There were a few temper tantrums at the DMV.”
Ultimately, the decision was made that as long as the bus had air conditioning, running water, sleeping space and separate tanks for grey and black water, the government would give its blessing. One afternoon in the Smokehouse parking lot, an inspector determined all had been met, and the bus was an RV in the eyes of the State of South Carolina.
The living area is a cute, comfortable place for humans and animals to enjoy a little down time.
The road
Each step in construction was documented on the couple’s Instagram account, @touchof_grey, which has also made stars of their two pets, Koda the dog and Hendrix the cat.
“The cat is way better on the road than the dog. Not that Koda is uncomfortable, but Hendrix loves it,” Shaw said. “The dog likes being able to stop every few miles and go on a cool new hike.”
Having already put a few miles on the bus, the animals are seasoned veterans. “We went on our first trip in June down to Florida Springs and camped out there for a few days,” Shaw said. As they drove, they connected with Bus Lifers across the nation. “There’s a huge community and you get connected with people. The community is really cool. It’s all about sharing ideas and trial and errors.”
An even longer trip planned for later this year will see the couple immerse themselves more in the community. Running for up to three months, their route will see them travel to New Orleans before heading west to Austin to visit some of Shaw’s family and then making their way to California, ground zero for the movement.
“It’s called Skooliepalooza, where all these school bus people and even people in Sprinter vans just meet up and camp together,” Shaw said. “The whole point is not just to see the west, because Craig has not been. We love Hilton Head Island, but we’re looking for something different for a little while.”
Wherever they wind up, the point was never the destination, but the journey. “I’ve always dreamed about it. I couldn’t believe people get to live in a bus and travel in bus,” Shaw said. “I’ll still be riding around and think, ‘I can’t believe this is real.’”
You can follow the couple’s journey on the great American road trip on Instagram @touchof_grey.
