Let`s answer the most asked question that we get... How many miles per gallon do you get? #skoolie #mpg #smilespergallon #jeeplife
Replacing axles, tires, and suspension on a trailer 800 miles from home because it wore out brand new tires on the way to Florida! #skoolie #skoolielife
I do not suggest diving out of the back of your van on a big hill.... But if you do, make sure you get it on camera!!!
#oops #scorpion #ouch
Not what you want to see during a travel day. Luckily I had a spare line and tools with me so it didn`t take long to get back on the road! #skoolie #skoolieswarm
@skoolieswarm fire dancers at the big bonfire with @cj.is.love singing and Shane from @arbourseason on drums #skoolieswarm #skoolie #firedancer
In my best National Geographic voice: As spring approaches the flock of white buses start making their way North for the beginning of mating season. #skoolie
#skoolieswarm Prom 2025
Skoolie Swarm bonfire!! #skoolie #skoolieswarm
A mini goat on a bus seems like a bad idea.... But Tonia loves the idea!!! #skoolieswarm
We made it to Skoolie Swarm!! #skoolieswarm #skoolielife
The control panel for the bathroom in the bus. Having a little fun with this one. "For Race Use Only". Give me some ideas for how I should label the switches! #skoolie #skoolielife #jeeplife
Great night for a campfire in the forest!!!!
#jeeplife and #skoolielife just means working on things in new locations all the time!!!
We stayed a week at American Legion Post 340 in Pensacola. Kind of hard to beat electric and water hookups for $15/night!!! I wish more veterans posts offered an option like this!
Free tickets for Riverdance through @vettix means a last minute night out while we are in Pensacola! #vettix #veteran #skoolielife
A quick daytrip to Gulf Shores Alabama #skoolielife #jeep #beachlife
The wall between the bed and bathroom is coming together. We added a light and light switch to it tonight. 😁#skoolielife #jeeplife #busbuild
Sunset in Destin. #skoolie #sunset #florida
This was the main reason we wanted to convert a Red Cross bus. It has 2 private offices in the back. This is Tonia working on month end invoices in her office last night. I have a similar office to the left of it. #skoolielife #jeeplife #nomadlife #snowbird
Took some time to watch a beautiful sunset!
Taking a walk in the Gulf of America!!! #skoolielife #jeeplife #gulfofamerica
Drone video of St Andrews Marina in Panama City #skoolielife #drone #panamacity
Falling Waters State Park in the snow! #florida #snow #skoolielife #jeeplife
We traveled all the way to Florida to outrun the snow!!!! Karma sucks...
I refuse to accept the fact that it is snowing in Florida! #florida #skoolielife
The design for stickers!!!!
The front driveshaft on the Jeep should not sound like that!!! Taking it out until I can get another one shipped to me. #jeeplife #itsajeepthing #skoolie
We made it to Florida! Pulled into the family`s driveway looking like cousin Eddie complete with Snots (our Rottweiler!)
We had our first stay at a Harvest Host last night at a brewery. It was a great time!!!
Slow day means cutting holes in the side of the bus! Water inlet and diesel heater exhaust "thru hull" done!
We just registered for Skoolie Swarm in Florida at the end of February. Who else is going? #skoolieswarm
Tonia unloading the Jeep. That will probably be okay!!! 😂🤣😂#jeep #skoolielife #oops
Perfect camping morning!! #skoolie #jeeplife #rv
That sign means we are officially in the south!!!! And it also means we should probably take a flashlight if we walk to the restroom at night 😂🤣😂
Ft Mitchell Historic Site Alabama
Some mornings you wake up in a state park and others a Hooters parking lot!!!! 🤣😂🤣
This cold weather reminds me of the time I decided to slide down our icy hill in a chair and crashed at the end!! #oops #funny #fail
4 1/2 parking spots. Good thing I didn`t have to parallel park between people! Stopping at an old Dr Pepper bottling factory in Birmingham Alabama that`s been converted to mix use residential and business. Pretty cool place!
I love my new rear view camera. Full color night vision and uses AI to enhance the image. It can be pretty much pitch black out and it still has a good color image!
Someone asked for more detailed pictures of the door. This is how they looked on a Red Cross bus!
Does anyone have any suggestions on where to stay near Birmingham Alabama or cool things to do? I would like to be in Birmingham east of it sometime tomorrow.
The downside of driving a house across multiple states.....
Left Sikeston Mo this morning, went thru Tennessee and now at a campground in Mississippi the next 2 nights to wait out the rain storm coming in tomorrow. At least it shouldn`t be snow and ice like back home!!!!
Made it to Tennessee!
We got a late start but still made it about 2 1/2 hours to Sikeston to eat at Lambert`s. Sleeping in the parking lot out by the big trucks. Firing up the Diesel heater, watching a movie, and running everything off the battery bank for the night.
First time pulling the Jeep on the trailer behind the bus. We need to head South before the ice and 10" of snow hits on Sunday!!! #jeeplife #skoolie
Getting all the toys ready for an adventure!!!
Daisy Duke Kee (pronounced dukee) is ready for an adventure in the bus!!!
First time loading the Jeep on the trailer behind the bus could have went better... I didn`t need that fender!!! 🤣😂🤣😂
I figured out the steering issue with the side-by-side. That bracket should probably be attached to the frame!
The van wouldn`t pull the trailer up the muddy hill so I had to tow with the Jeep that`s sitting on 37`s. It seemed fine as long as I kept my speed under 30mph and didn`t need to hit my brakes. 😂🤣😂🤣
I need to get over being sick and get this bad boy installed!!!!
My son is a traveling welder and helping me convert my trailer to a pintle hook setup for the bus as my Christmas present!!!
Crossing the mighty Mississippi on the way to Christmas!
The office in the bus is coming together!
Tonia and the dogs napping in the bus in the way to family Christmas!
More work on the new bumper brackets
More work and welding on the rear bumper brackets.
Working on new brackets for the rear bumper. The original bumper hung way too low and dragged all the time. It looked nice for the original purpose as a Red Cross bus but not practical for our purposes.
Tonia working on cramming plumbing and the diesel heater duct work under the sink...
Pulling up in the bus at families house for Christmas is going to be epic. Good thing we have a Rottweiler too!!!
Prepping the trailer for our upcoming road trip, I found one wheel that was extremely loose feeling. I bought this trailer recently and after finding this, I also found one wheel that was 5-lug while the 3 others are 6-lug. I went to take this wheel off and multiple lugs spun because they had been welded to the brake drum. It`s time to go through and rebuild or replace all the hubs and wheels before the trip!
Tonia has been working on the water lines
After drilling a couple holes in the frame for my receiver hitch my arms felt like jello. I can`t believe I didn`t think of this sooner!!! 😀
Test fitting the receiver hitch. I lose too much ground clearance if it`s below the frame rails, but it looks like it fits inside of the frame rails and I can actually mount it upside down which will center it in the middle of the bumper!!!
Testing the diesel heater before installing it in the bus. It`s alive!!!
We finally found a window that was a pretty close fit for the missing one and got it installed tonight!!! This has been a headache since we started this project!!!
Tonight`s quick project. Cut in the induction cooktop stove!
We have put 1163 hours on this Harbor Freight 3500 generator with no maintenance needed and it finally quit running the other day while recharging the batteries on the bus. A $25 ignition coil and it started again. Changed the spark plug, oil, and cleaned the spark arrestor while I was at it and it`s back in action. When we first got our property it was used 24/7 until we got electric.
Tonia went looking for the dogs on the four wheeler and laid it on it`s side in a water hole that was deeper than she expected. I was still working on the bus and had to go rescue her. Luckily it didn`t pin her down and she didn`t get hurt too bad. She was a bit shook up after the adrenaline wore off but luckily she`s just going to be a bit sore tomorrow. It could have been allot worse!
Happy Birthday Marines!!!!
Made it thru the flood. Back to work on the bus!
Well crap. That`s not supposed to do that!
Flooding at the house... We are close to the river but normally you can`t even see it from the house. Last night it was carrying logs thru the yard!!!!
Halloween Party Time!
Every bus needs a Knight Rider light!!! 🤣😅🤣😂
Playing with layouts for the shower and toilet. Tonia started building a box to go over the wheel well as a platform for the toilet to sit on. We will be using a macerating marine toilet and that opens up lots of options for placement of the toilet and tank!
For some reason, when they built this bus for the red cross, they not only removed multiple leaf springs to lower it, but also used custom brackets to lower the rear bumper, below the frame rails. I scrape coming in and out of my property and many other places and I plan to haul my Jeep on a trail behind it so this needs resolved. Today I tore into it to see what I have to work with. I removed the bumper and started cutting back some of the fiberglass to see what I`m working with. I need to rethink the bumper and also add a receiver hitch for the trailer at the same time. I`ll also trim the skirt at an angle to give more clearance.
Has anyone ever seen this happen on a solar panel before? I went up to add my second panel and this is what I found on the one that I put on about 6 months ago
Testing some blue gear for the bus!!! Beginning of our solar install
More work on the square body "dump truck" (so I can haul gravel from the river and make nice parking spots and roads for buses)!
Adding sides to the Chevy Square Body dump bed. How is this bus related? I need to be able to haul gravel to start making camping spots for the bus, my buddies bus, and a few campers on our property. I also need to be able to smooth out the roads to make it easier to get the bus in and out of our long, rough road!
Fun side by side trip with a bunch of friends. Watch the video of the brother in law putting his on the side!!!
The work van also has a nice size comfy bed in it for when I need to travel a bit for work (or in this case to go to the VA hospital). It doesn`t suck waking up next to the Katy Trail and Missouri River! The van has it`s place compared to the bus at certain times and can be a bit more stealth if needed.
My wife is making fun of my welding and grinding gear!!! 😂
When you score a MT643 transmission for your bus for only $250 you go and get it, even if you happen to be in one of the company mini vans!!! 😀
Frustrating coolant temp issue. After driving for a while the temp gauge goes to zero and I start getting an alert. Replaced one sensor today and it didn`t solve the issue. More chasing wires and sensors tomorrow after it`s cool down enough to work on it again.
New tires and it passed inspection!!!! Time to head to the DMV and get plates!!!!
Jeep trip with friends to Disney, OK. The bus will become our Jeep hauler!
Falling out of my chair blooper caught on camera!!! ouch!!!
This post should catch us up to current day. We used the bus as a cabin at a campground over the summer as we continued to work on it. It`s far from being done, but at least we got to enjoy it a bit! Next we need to get it ready to hit the road this winter!!!
Tonia stripping and painting cabinets! We are lucky enough to have a ton of good cabinets that we can re-use from the original Red Cross bus
Daisy Duke Kee and ZJ both approve of the new bus!!! Daisy claimed her "bed" on the ride home!
Paint on the walls!!!
Tonia`s first time driving the bus!
My wife told me to deadbolt the door and I told her "it will be fine"... it wasn`t fine!!!! Doing 65 and the door flew open!!!
The fun things you find when tearing down a Red Cross vampire bus!!!
Murder scene? Red Cross Bus problems
PT2: Bus tear down and deep cleaning! #skooliebuild #skoolie #jeeplife
The tear down of the Red Cross "Blood Bus" and some of the surprises we found during the teardown!!! Yuck!!! #skoolie #skoolielife #jeeplife #busbuild