Lights Up!

Today is December 23, 2015
Tiny Bus Deadline: 8 days

Today we made a huge leap forward! WE HAVE LAND POWER! What does this mean? We can successfully live on the grid, plugged into grid power. What has to happen next? We will be working on the solar system tomorrow. The plan for the next few days is to install the brackets for our solar panels, wire the solar system from the roof to the power bank and set up our main power/solar system. We chose to run off both grid and solar power because we really want to live green but we understand that storms happen and sometimes backups are a necessity. Our two battery packs that will be holding our main power for the system are equipped to hold 2 days worth of power. We are extremely excited about this advancement in on the bus.

Till next time
Adventure is out there.



Join us on the adventure.
Blair, Jason & the pups.

Day 3: Floor removal

Day: 3                 Days till move in: 24

Today We removed the rest of the flooring on the bus. The wood around the front and back of the floor were weathered and rotten so severely that I was capable for removing it with my hands. As we moved closer to the center of the bus and farther away from the windows The flooring became harder to remove as it wasn't as exposed to the elements.It took us 2 days but the floor FINALLY came out! There were a couple smashed fingers and even more curse words but at the end everything came out! We were also able to cross off a few more items on our

       MASTER BUS TO DO list:

• Remove Drivers Seat
• Remove Air Conditioning box
• Remove Old Cables and Wires near pedals 
• Remove & Restore Speed and Gage plate
• Remove Poles and People Separators 
• Remove Wasp nest in back speaker box 
• Snip U shaped metal at end of wall 
• Sweep/ Vacuums out ALL DIRT
• Power Wash the Inside & Outside 
• Scrub good windows 
• Prep Damaged windows for removal 
• Prep Back door for paint

(This will grow in time) 

Till next time, Adventure is out there. 

Join us on the adventure at 

www.tinybusbigadventure.com

Blair, Jason, & the pups. 

Trailer Made Custom Trailers

When Jay and I were looking for a way to mount the bus to a movable object we did a ton of research. We found Trailer Made Custom Trailers in Denver, Colorado. They had advertised that they were Denver's leading Tiny House Trailer fabricator. We were so excited to reach out the them and they quickly responded! Yes! How exciting the Tiny Bus crew to have found an answer so quickly to our current problem of how to get mobile and out of that junkyard! Unfortunately for us we had no idea that this would take a very different pace very soon. We had a consultation with the owner and he assured us we could make this old bus a duly axel and a strong hitch and come in under our $2k price range. AWESOME! ....But time would only tell our fate.

We had 2 failed meetings with them at the junkyard. The first one Jay and I waited for 3 hours. We called after 30 mins had passed and figured since it with straight to Voicemail they may be on their way. so We waited an hour. After the first hour passed we called the office again. We were connected with he owners wife who told us that her husband should be on the way but was tired up with another business deal and would be there soon. so we waited longer. After the next hour we called again and this time a young man answered. He said that the boss had been quite busy and was leaving the office very soon to meet us at the junk yard. Finally after the last hour, we threw the towel in and left the junk yard after being told someone was coming who never did. We called the office again to let them know that if someone ever cared to show up we would no longer be there. So they rescheduled for 3 weeks later (Ugh!) When the time finally came the owner once again promised that he would be the one to meet us. This time once again they were an hour late. We called the office about 30 mins in to the wait and were told that someone had JUST LEFT the office and should be arriving soon. (note: we are 45 mins away) So we continued to wait because we needed the bus on a trailer and these were supposed to be the knights in shining amour. When they finally showed up it wasn't the owner at all. It was a 19 year old kid and his girlfriend with a large trailer and no clue what they were getting into. He assured us that he would get the bus to the shop safely but had never transported something so large and weird.

The total time quoted to us was 3 weeks once they received the bus to the shop.

We FINALLY arrive at the 3 weeks point. We haven't heard ANYTHING from the shop. While we were a little worried and ready to get the bus back we were patient and understood that sometimes shops get backed up and these special projects can take longer.
4 WEEKS go by (1 week after the promised date) Jay calls the owner to find out what is taking so long. The Shop informed us that they signed a deal the Tiny House Nation on HGTV for 100 trailers and our project had been bumped. (which would have been fine if we were given notice...which we weren't) We now only have 3 months to finish our build and we are starting to get very nervous that it wont be finished before we have to move out of our loft.

3 more weeks pass and Jay calls again. The owner explained it would be ready at the end of the week- they hadn't started on it just yet but it should come in under our $2k budget and everything is going to be fine! (sigh of relief) and we should expect to pick up the bus on Friday with its new axel and we were pumped! Well, Friday comes around and we never had a call on what time to pick it up so shortly after 11:30 we decided to make the 45 min track down to Thorton, Colorado where the shop is located.

We arrived to find the welders just finishing up the wiring on the brakes. There surprisingly was no second axel and the shop owner was floored that we asked why. He explained that he wasn't able to do any of the things he had promised and since this was such a unique RUSH order (note: they had access to the bus for over 7 weeks) they had done the best they could. Upon handing us the bill for the bus updates we became stunned. The bill was $1.5k over the estimated total. The shop owner explained that since it was custom and they had to learn how to execute it on the fly they had put in extra man hours. Unfortunately when we explained to him that they had been out of contact for 7 weeks and we had tried to reach them multiple times with no response.

After quiet a few more exchanged words we gave in. We paid the now $3,500 bill and took our little Wayne home. It sucks that we weren't able to change the business owners mind about our experience with their company on lowering their price but now we know that you should not shop at Trailer Made Custom Trailers.

Meanwhile Onward and upward ahead.
We weren't going to let this stand in our way!

Trailer pickup fail #1

Deadline: 13 weeks and 1 day
Weather : Really Hot inside the bus, 80 degrees outside the bus.














Today we were supposed to have the bus picked up by Trailer Made Custom Trailers. A tiny house and trailer company in Denver. After 5 Hours of waiting we finally received a response back with news that they would not be coming today. This pushes our time frame back but always look on the bright side of life right? We made huge improvements on it today and its not even out of the Salvage yard yet.
We were able to remove all the spare seats along with the tumble weeds and mountains of dirt inside the bus. We also learned that the bus was been sitting in the same spot for the last 55 years! Our tiny home is going to give this old bus a beautiful new life! Heres to the new trailer that should be welded on next week! We still have tons to do but are so excited to get the bus in our own hands!

Let the adventure begin!


Join our Journey at
www.tinybusbigadventure.com











Till next time, Adventure is out there.
Blair, Jay & the pups.

The Day We Bought a Bus!

Today we start our epic! I am calling it an epic because epic can be defined as a "Grand Journey" . Today Jason and I bought a School #Bus! We are crazy people at this point with no clue what we are about to face. Thank God we have youtube, the internet and an army of friends who know what they are doing because we are going to need all the help we can get! Im personally lucky because I'm Starting this amazing journey with my best friend who is also a skilled craftsmen. (Even if he won't admit it) Ill be posting on and off from here on out as we try to get the bus move in ready in only a few weeks. Our lease ends on the 1st of the year and there is so much to be done! I want to gush on one minor detail for just one moment.

You see the about picture. The one with My hands to the sky and the biggest smile on my face? Jason is very receptive of energy as am I, but when making a huge life decision to up the family and our entire lives and move into this little pieces of #junkyard heaven, I need a moment. I had asked Jason to stand outside the bus for just a moment before we went to talk price with the owner. I walked in and squeezed around some old seats and #tumbleweeds and put my hands on the floor in the middle of this beautiful piece of junk. I listened and knew this was it! When I finally walked into the door way to look at Jason to tell me I loved it, He already knew and caught my excitement perfectly. This will always be my #favorite picture of our bus. Before it was our home. Before we named it. When It was our number one choice in the 3rd junk yard, lost in 20 acres of metal and mess. When we were just two hopeful #hippies with wild dreams. This will always be my favorite picture of the bus.

much love from the adventure

Blair & Jason