Two Months back in the US - Skoolie Build Update!
The result of removing all 24 bus windows! Removing old caulk, scrapping and sanding the window frames, painting the frames, and reinstallation with new caulk were soon to follow.
Hey all, Ben here. It has been a minute since we last checked in! Brandi and I have just passed the two month mark since our return to the US from Morocco, and we want to document our experiences to date in a comprehensive way.
The first couple weeks back Stateside could not have been more surreal. After living for 6 years in Morocco, with only occasional two week stints in the US every year, it would be accurate to say that I felt (and still feel?) simultaneously comforted by familiar faces and alienated by my now altered head spaces. Attempting to reconcile who I was in America before I left, who I am now, and how all the pieces fit together has been quite the process!
Let’s get to some quick hitters -
Some things that have overwhelmed me at times since being back:
How orderly the roads and traffic patterns are?!
The paradox of choice when grocery shopping.
The concept that people pay for cable TV yet are subjected to interminable commercials.
The idea that there are more guns than people. (horrifyingly true!)
Going out after dark (early evening curfew for the entirety of the pandemic in Morocco vs. #freedom #USA)
Some things that have brought unbridled joy to my daily existence:
Pork
Barbeque
Mexican food
My old collection of vinyl records
Watching live sports at an hour that isn’t the witching hour!
Learning new skills and working with my hands every day
Building a bus to live in!
Now, about that bus! We got off to a quick start in May and up through early June with the demolition phase of the bus interior. All the seats were removed in our first week back, the rubber floor and plywood were removed by the second week, and we had a grand old time filling up a gigantic commercial dumpster with a melange of rubbish from the floor, walls, and ceiling of the bus. By the end of the month, we had ground off the copious rust that had affixed itself to the metal subfloor of the bus, treated it for rust, and painted the floor to prevent it (fingers crossed!) from ever returning to sully our floor’s being.
The floor rust removed and 2 coats of fresh Rustoleum paint applied! The side walls were ready for foam board insulation.
Halfway home! One side of the bus windows was freshly painted and re-installed, with the other side soon to follow.
Side note: if you ever decide to go through the demolition process of stripping down a bus to the studs, be prepared to be the dirtiest you have ever been!
Our progress slowed down substantially in June, coinciding with the onslaught of rain that hammered our area for a couple of weeks. Right before Mother Nature’s tempests were beset upon us from all sides, we had the inauspicious fortune of choosing to remove all 24 of our bus windows for some zhushing. With the time-intensive nature of refurbishing and weatherproofing our windows, in combination with a couple of weeks of rain, most of June was consumed by our own personal odyssey of daily window projects. But now the windows are done and with nary a leak in sight, al-Hamdulilah!
As we gaze upon the future from July’s first week, our plan for this month is as follows:
Install our subfloor
Cover the subfloor and install our final finished floor
Finish insulation of the bus sidewalls
Prep and sand the exterior of the bus for paint
Paint the bus with the aid of Brandi’s parents
As always, thanks for following along on our journey! Please follow us @remote_ramblers on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/TikTok/Pinterest (or just click on the icons below) to stay abreast with our daily doings, and drop a comment or send us a message! If you have any questions, advice, or encouragement, we want to hear it. Your support means a lot to us and we love to hear from you all.
-Ben and Brandi
FYI! We receive a commission if you decide to purchase through any of the links below, however, we have not received money or perks for listing them. We list them because we LOVE them, and we hope you do too!
Below are products we have used on the build so far, you can click on the items if you would like to purchase them.
Sticker / Decal Removal
Hole Patching / Rust Conversion / noise deadener
Window Restoration
Electrical goodies / every bus needs party lights & a camera system
Exterior Modifications
Bits & Bobs
