First Year on the Bus

Ever since the pandemic, I had been wanting a life on the road. before that really, if you read back through my series of Comparing Richmond blogs in 2013. So when the lockdowns forced everyone inside for the unforeseeable future, I started looking at RVs, then I started looking into Skoolies. For those of you that don’t know, a Skoolie is essentially a school bus converted into a mobile home. In January 2021, I started doing my research on what it would take to make it happen. When I had enough information to make an informed purchase, I got on Facebook Marketplace.

So in April 2021, I drove to Delaware to purchase a 1999 International Bus.

The gentleman I bought it from had already partially converted it. The seats had already been removed, the interior already had the skeleton for the bathroom, cabinets for a kitchenette with a sink, a wooden couch, and a retractable bed in the back. Some of the things I didn’t like, I made a plan to get rid of and replace, like the walls and floors.

And where were we going to do our conversion? Well, I made a Facebook post about needing a place to park it and work on it. An old friend from middle school, Gibby, reached out and said we could park it at his farm. He has a construction business and can connect me to people to help with the build, so win win.

After three months of working on the bus, we finally took it for it’s first road trip.

In conjunction with My annual tour for food banks, we took the #BowTiedBus to 16 cities in 6 weeks, which was just about 5,000 miles. The first couple cities we actually did without the bus, they were Charleston, West Virginia, and Charlottesville, Virginia. And after a successful hometown event in Richmond, we finally hit the road.

First stop, Virginia Beach. This was where we had our first time boondocking overnight with the bus. Of course, we parked in a grocery store parking lot and were promptly asked to move by the police in the morning.

Then we head to Raleigh, which on the way, our door fell off it’s hinges. But our trusty mobile mechanic came to the rescue and fixed it for us.

After that we headed to Columbia, then Charlotte, where we had our first experience playing music from the emergency exit side door of the bus. We liked it so much that we decided to take it for a spin all through downtown Charlotte, sharing music with everyone. For the most part, it was well received and we found a new meaning to Mobile DJ.

From Charlotte we hit up Wilmington, Charleston SC, Savannah, and Tampa. All but Wilmington we played music from the bus, really testing out the idea of it being perfect for outdoor gatherings.

Then we hit up Jacksonville, Tallahassee, and Atlanta. Again, all of these were outdoor environments. Basically, we traveled with the DJ system strapped in and the speakers living in the doorway of the emergency exit. All we had to do was open the door and turn everything on. Made the whole concept super easy.

From Atlanta we traversed through Alabama to New Orleans where we spent the weekend at a hotel, because we needed a little break. Shout out to the Windsor Court hotel for their hospitality and complimentary wedding industry stay!

After New Orleans, we closed out the tour with our final stop in Nashville, both of which, we again rocked some courtyards. It was all for a good cause, each brewery we partnered with donated $1 per beer to their local food bank.

After Nashville, we stopped in Chattanooga to visit a friend, then had a wedding in Atlanta.

The following week, Matthew celebrated his 37th birthday back home in Richmond.

Fall 2021 was spent in Virginia.

because Virginia is cold in the Winter, I decided to head south for the start of 2022.

Chris, my brother, lives in Key West, so we took the bus to the Florida Keys. Little did I know, that was a bad idea. We got there on a Thursday, started getting Parking tickets on a Saturday, and on Monday, I was arrested for, get this, “Lodging in a Vehicle”. Yeah, apparently it’s a local ordinance that it is illegal to park an RV and sleep in it on public streets in Key West. Never had that problem before. Learned that the hard way.

So, since I now had a court date to stick around for, I hid out on neighboring keys, mostly Geiger Key where we actually met some fellow Skoolie owners. When we wanted to head into Key West, we parked at the Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, which had legal RV parking.

After a little volunteering at a local food bank, the court threw out my charge and I was on my way.

Other than that little mishap, Key West was a lot of fun. Definitely check out the Smokin’ Tuna Saloon and Hank’s Hair of the Dog Saloon for great live music. And for those of you that like to stay up a little later, check out General Horseplay and Shots N’ Giggles.

So after Key West I visited my favorite cities of Tampa, New Orleans, Nashville, Atlanta, and Charlotte, on the way back to Richmond.

First stop, Tampa. For the most part, I camped out at Armature Works, which is a food hall just north of Downtown. Stayed in the same exact spot for 4 nights and didn’t have any issues. Did have a security guard ask questions, but after I told him what it was, he thought it was cool and gave me the thumbs up. Stark difference from Key West.

After Tampa, I actually traveled to North Central Florida for the annual Skoolie Swarm. While I was only there for a day and a night, it was such a cool experience. Met so many folks, played some tunes for the evening camp fire (from the side of the bus again), and saw about 160 Skoolies. Really cool.

From Tampa, I made my way to New Orleans. And it just so happed to be Mardi Gras week. I parked just outside the Quarter and had a blast. Again, didn’t have any issues, even when I realized that there was a parade going right by the bus.

After Mardi Gras, I headed to Nashville for some Broadway fun. Parking there was a little more difficult, but I made it work.

From Nashville, I stopped in Chattanooga again and then made it to Atlanta for the St. Patrick’s Parade festivities (the weekend before St. Patrick’s Day in Atlanta). Had a lot of fun making new friends and seeing old ones.

Then after a short week stop in Charlotte, I was back home in Richmond.

Spring and Summer 2022 was spent with short trips across Virginia, from the Shenandoah Valley to the Virginia Peninsula. After several months of being idle in Richmond, some decisions had to be made about the future of the bus.

The next adventure is coming soon.

Thank you to everyone that followed the journey of #bowtiedbus!