Welcome to my blog. My name is Adam, I’m 51, a British Canadian living in BC, Canada and I’m just starting out on the journey of buying an old school bus to convert into a mobile home. I only arrived at the decision a couple of days ago, having spent some considerable time thinking about options, trying to find one that suits my current existence.
3 months later I was back in BC and talking to an ex-colleague again about the possibility of buying land together with a group he’d assembled to form a co-creating community on the Island. I loved the idea of creating a version of the ashram at home but a problem was that I had enough money to buy in but not to build anything, let alone buy something temporary to live in in the interim. If one word describes me it’s ‘perfectionist’ and perfectionists have real difficulty with starting anything if we can’t see how it will work out and work out well, so I struggled with the details and practicality of that. In the meantime I had found that I was invited to attend two family functions in Europe in the Summer, followed by a couple of months work in the mountains for another ex-colleague. Without a job, I was reluctant to try to find a place to live if I was then going to leave it empty for months in a couple of months time. So I moved all my stuff back to a friends newly-bought piece of land in Golden, BC, parked up my trailer there, stayed and worked with him for a few months then set off. Since then I’ve been regularly moving, going from job to job, travelling a little, generally not spending time in any one place for very long and really enjoying the freedom and variety.
I was a regular home-owner/occupier until a couple of years ago when a series of unfortunate incidents found me with what was left of my belongings in a 6x10’ storage locker, my same-sized cargo trailer and what was left from my house sale in the bank and me with no home.
I was in Victoria, BC Canada, wasn’t feeling very positive about finding a place on my own - I had no full-time job, vacancy rates were 0.5%, prices were exorbitant and I just didn’t want to be alone. So I disappeared to an ashram in the Bahamas for the winter and had a great time meeting and living with many amazing people, enjoying the warm weather and doing a lot of yoga and picking up trash on the beach.
3 months later I was back in BC and talking to an ex-colleague again about the possibility of buying land together with a group he’d assembled to form a co-creating community on the Island. I loved the idea of creating a version of the ashram at home but a problem was that I had enough money to buy in but not to build anything, let alone buy something temporary to live in in the interim. If one word describes me it’s ‘perfectionist’ and perfectionists have real difficulty with starting anything if we can’t see how it will work out and work out well, so I struggled with the details and practicality of that. In the meantime I had found that I was invited to attend two family functions in Europe in the Summer, followed by a couple of months work in the mountains for another ex-colleague. Without a job, I was reluctant to try to find a place to live if I was then going to leave it empty for months in a couple of months time. So I moved all my stuff back to a friends newly-bought piece of land in Golden, BC, parked up my trailer there, stayed and worked with him for a few months then set off. Since then I’ve been regularly moving, going from job to job, travelling a little, generally not spending time in any one place for very long and really enjoying the freedom and variety.
That said, I also miss having my own place. I get frustrated when I find I don’t have something I own because it’s somewhere else - most often in my trailer, 750kms away. In addition, I’ve been very fortunate to have been staying with friends, family and employers the entire time I’ve been back, which has been very friendly and very economical, but sometimes you just need your own space.
Why have I chosen a bus? I need a place to live but I don’t feel located anywhere. Part of the reason for that is that I now don’t have a full-time job so I don’t have to be in any one place. I have friends and family all over BC in particular but also the rest of Canada and the US. I’ve worked in a number of places since moving out of my last ‘bricks & mortar’ home but have had to rely on the hospitality of friends and family for accommodation and also accommodate living with them.
I’ve enjoyed not spending the last few winters in the Great White North so the ability to move south and live economically when it starts getting cold and grey is very appealing.
I have a long-term plan to build a cabin/small house on a piece of land somewhere and will need somewhere to live when I find a place, and the money, to do that.
I can design/build it out exactly as I want it. I could buy a ready-made RV or mobile home but then I have to live with someone else's taste and layout, etc, etc and I don’t get the fun of designing and building such a project.
Lastly, I can tow my cargo trailer with it meaning I can take all my toys and tools wherever I go.
Why not one of the other options? I looked at and considered most of the alternatives: a ready-made RV, a camping trailer, tiny home and a container conversion and these were my reasons for rejection:
RV - the main reason is their cheap, plastic interiors in varying degrees of bland tackiness.
Camping trailer - As above but also that I couldn’t tow a home and my tool trailer.
Tiny House - 120 square feet is too small for me and even larger ones wouldn’t provide enough space to be comfortable. I’d require a larger truck to tow it and even then, as above, I’d be unable to haul my tool trailer too.
Container - Transportable but not easily particularly of a size that would provide enough space.
I’ll be posting about the trials, tribulations and tributaries I paddle up and down trying to find out stuff about buses, find a bus, find stuff to do to my bus and stuff to put in & on it, and maybe even finding myself, as often as I can.
I hope you enjoy the ride with me :)
N'om'ad(am)
N'om'ad(am)
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