Back in August of 2021, my fiance and I bought a 1996 Chevy G30 School Bus for $5,000. The purchase came after a few months of research into the ideal vehicles for long term travel. One year later, the burdbus was a focal point at our wedding and a few weeks later, we set off on our honeymoon.

As I mentioned in my first post, I plan to talk about this thing an awful lot. Over the next few months, you will read a variety of posts about the foods we cook, the places we travel to, and the hobbies we are able to do while living on the road. So, I figured now was a great time for a little introduction to the Burdbus!

If you’re interested, we also have an instagram where we document our travels.

The Burdbus, Where does the Name Come From?

The name Burdbus came to us after months of discussions and brainstorming. We knew that we wanted the name to represent us in some way and to probably include the word “bus”. During one rabbit hole of research into swords associated with the countries of our families origins, we came across the word “burd”, which is an old english word for a young woman. Following the same lore of naming boats (referring to them with feminine pronouns), we thought the word was relevant and really liked how it sounded.

Additionally, it was a word that we determined to be pretty unique, we didn’t find any major companies named “burd” or any other bus or van conversions with the name, so Burdbus it was!

Why a School Bus?

We chose a school bus after many months of contemplation and determined that it would be best because:

• School buses are made to be extremely sturdy due to their steel frames. They are known to hold up MUCH better than a traditional RV in a worst-case-scenario rollover crash.
• They have enough headspace for the average person to stand without crouching.
• School Buses have a large towing capacity and are able to hold a lot of weight. This was definitely necessary for all of the wood we knew we wanted to add!
• They are typically maintained regularly by school districts and tend to stay in good shape.
• They are relatively inexpensive compared to other vehicles (ie. most sprinter vans).

The bus before our conversion

The burdbus came to us via a posting on facebook marketplace. Prior to us, the bus was owned by a school district in Kansas, a construction company that used it to transport workers to and from a jobsite, and then was used by a classic car vendor to transport engines and other large car parts. As a 26 year old diesel, we were excited to find that it had 174k miles on it and appeared to be in GREAT shape. This was later confirmed when we had an oil cooler line failure and had to rebuild the engine, which was in devastatingly amazing condition. Check the burdbus Instagram for more details on the engine rebuild process.

The Exterior of the bus

When we first bought the bus, it was your standard black and school bus yellow with working lights, and a stop sign! As it turns out, driving a yellow school bus around is very illegal in most states, so we set to painting it. My husband is absolutely amazing and was able to paint the bus with proper automotive paint and after a 3 day sanding process. For that reason, it looks totally professional and we are really proud of it.

The exterior is a two toned green and cream with a gold pinstripe between the two. Don’t worry, we aren’t that amazing with our paint lines, the gold pinstripe is a pinstriping sticker tape that we got from a marine supply store. We also painted the grill gold with spray paint, I take all of the credit for that amazing idea, and I really think it pulls the whole look together.

The outside of our bus also has: an awning, 375W of solar panels on the roof, and our motorcycle.

The living space in the Burdbus

The bus’s interior has been said to remind people of the inside of a boat. It has rich walnut and cherry cabinet faces, warm floral cushions on the built-in couch, a fixed bed that’s just under the size of a queen, and, our favorite, a cedar shingle shower. It also has a modestly sized kitchen counter which is a live-edge mystery wood that my dad gifted to us.

Thankfully, my husband is a woodworker by trade and was able to build some gorgeous cabinets. These cabinets hold all of our clothes, cooking supplies, toiletries, fridge, 16 gallon water tank, and drinking water filter. We also carry around a nice book collection, camping supplies, and a decent variety of spices and herbs.

We also didn’t skimp on bringing things necessary for our hobbies. Jacob brought his guitar, bow for hunting, fly fishing supplies, and nearly all of his tools. I was able to bring my herbalism supplies, sourdough starter (and an oven attachment for our stove!), recurve bow and arrows, and a flute.

The Cost of Converting the Bus

We saved all of the receipts from the bus, but have yet to catalog everything we purchased. However, we know that the build cost us about $12k total, including the cost of the bus. That’s about $7k for the entire build. We were so lucky because we were able to borrow a lot of tools from family and friends, got all of our lumber for the walnut cabinets from my husband’s grandparents (shout out to them, that walnut truly made the bus special), and were able to go to a discount RV store to purchase a lot of our electrical components, sink, and other miscellaneous needs.

Let me know if any of you are interested in a more in-depth discussion of any of the topics mentioned above!