Erik and Lindsay got married and soon realized their school debt was bigger than they thought. They loved adventures and spending time outdoors but felt they weren’t doing enough of it.
The idea of converting a school bus came to them, and they couldn’t stop thinking about it. They spent two months fixing up their bus. Then, they hit the road with their three kids.
They first met while working as camp counselors in North Carolina. They both loved the outdoors and adventure, and they started dating at the camp. When camp ended, Lindsay went back to Florida, and Erik returned to Maryland.
They dated long-distance, which was tough. Eventually, Erik decided to move to Florida, got a job there, and the rest is history.
I work as a physician assistant in neurosurgery. After I graduated, we had a lot of debt. We thought it would be easy to become debt-free, but it was harder than expected. We were only making minimum payments and didn’t have much money left for the things we wanted to do, like travel.
The desire to travel was strong, and it wasn’t going away. We wanted more control over our lives and to create something unique for ourselves.
We felt that buses offered a more authentic option compared to RVs, which seemed too standard. We liked the idea of being able to design and build it ourselves.
We spent about a month living with her parents, working on the bus in their backyard. Then, we took it to Maryland to work on it at my parents’ place for another month. In total, it took us two months to finish the bus. We had to get rid of a lot of our stuff to fit into our new tiny home.
It was hard to do, but it felt good to simplify our lives. We even had a yard sale and gave things away. Once it was all gone, we didn’t miss it. Living in the bus helped us save a lot on our monthly living expenses. The kids really liked it, especially climbing into their little bunks.
My older daughter thought it was very cool. She would tell everyone, “We live in a bus!” I think the kids handled it really well. We lived in the bus for nine months. It was great for us.
Every night, after putting the kids to bed, we’d open a beer or some wine, sit facing each other, and just talk. It really worked out for us, and I don’t have any regrets. It was a good experience and definitely worth it.
