All Aboard the Short Bus!

[Xaqaria]

Check out my wheels! I'm taking a cross country road trip in this beauty this summer. My girlfriend, a friend of ours and I built it up from a lowly yellow short bus into the magnificent camper you see before you. It sleeps 3, has a working refridgerator, a sink with running water, a fold out bed, and a booth table that becomes a second bed. We also have a solar panel to help charge the cabin battery (it also charges off the alternator), a portable toilet (only for emergencies). The best part is, the bus runs on vegetable oil and I built an onboard oil filtration system in the back of the bus. Some more pictures: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ria/Bus001.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ria/Bus006.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ria/Bus028.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ria/Bus029.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ria/Bus042.jpg P.S. I had nothing to do with the curtains

[Catbus]

That's incredible, dude.

[Xaqaria]

Coming Soon, a rough draft of my route and Itinerary. As of now, the plan is to leave around the beginning of June and head down the east coast. From there we will be cutting back up through tennessee to I-70. We'll head west until Colorado and then head Northwest through Wyoming towards Seattle and then down the west coast. From there the plans get extremely tentative but we might be coming back across the country through the south to see arizona, new mexico, texas and Louisiana.

[Invader]

That... is damn great. Your fuel costs then are essentially zero. Heading down the East coast means a possibility of meeting up with everyone else who makes it to the big DV deel, also.

[Xaqaria]

That... is damn great. Your fuel costs then are essentially zero. Heading down the East coast means a possibility of meeting up with everyone else who makes it to the big DV deel, also. Yeah, I'm working on getting the dv meetup into the plans. As far as fuel goes, it is a two tank system that starts on diesel to warm up the engine. The engine coolant line is run through the veggie tank and then once the vegetable oil is up to temp/down to the right viscosity, I just flip a switch. I've heard of others with a similar system going for 3 months of steady travel on 50 dollars worth of diesel fuel.

[MementoMori]

I'm effing jealous,... this was a plan of mine that fell through about a year ago. Very nice to see it actually being done Edit: I-70 runs right next to my house, here in Tennessee, so swing by if you want some Tennessee style food for the trip lol

[Taosaur]

Badass, man. If your trip takes you by Cleveland, you're all welcome to borrow my shower

[quicksilver girl.]

jealous! that sounds like wicked fun. be safe.

[Odd_Nonposter]

My question is: where do you plan on getting your vegetable oil? Are you just going to find little fast food joints along the way and ask to take their used fryer oil? Otherwise, more power to ya. When my brother worked for Case New Holland, he got to do some R&D work with a tractor that ran off of SVO. I think that vegetable biodiesel is going to be the best way to wean heavy road/farm machines off of petroleum until we develop better batteries. P.S. If you're running I-71 up to Cleveland, you're sure to pass near my place.

[Marvo]

Shortbus was a great movie.

[Seeker]

Edit: I-70 runs right next to my house, here in Tennessee, so swing by if you want some Tennessee style food for the trip lol WTF? I live in TN and I-70 doesn't enter the state at all, checking you IP MM, did you mean I-75 instead? If you plan on passing anywhere near the I-81/I-26 intersection, give me a hollar.

[Xaqaria]

WTF? I live in TN and I-70 doesn't enter the state at all, checking you IP MM, did you mean I-75 instead? If you plan on passing anywhere near the I-81/I-26 intersection, give me a hollar. Once I have the overall route laid out, I'm going to be looking for anyone that might want us to stop in and say hello. That way I can tweak the specific route around people we want to see. I'll let you know as soon as things are more set in stone.

[Seeker]

One thing to keep in mind. Right now I-40 is blocked by a landslide at the NC/TN border. If you are going to travel west on I-40, you will be detoured up I-26 to I-81, and then to I-40. They are supposed to have it cleaned up sometime in March, but then again, they were saying Feb late last year.

[lildonaka]

Shortbus was a great movie. I thought of that movie too lookng at thread title, i would call it fucked up though... On the bus, I'd have left it the original yellow, what turns head like shortbus and its passengers in http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ria/Bus042.jpg which one is your girlfriend... looks like your gonna have alot of fun i'm gonna wink

[Leviatahon]

Cool man I've done what ur gonna do a few times before but I was in a moter home and remember to stop anywhere that looks cool

[Banana]

thats sick dude i want that shit

[Xaqaria]

I thought of that movie too lookng at thread title, i would call it fucked up though... On the bus, I'd have left it the original yellow, what turns head like shortbus and its passengers in http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ria/Bus042.jpg which one is your girlfriend... looks like your gonna have alot of fun i'm gonna wink Girlfriend is on the left. Don't get any kinky ideas; its not like that. thats sick dude i want that shit All it took was dedication and perseverance. There is nothing special about my situation that made things easy for me. Trust me, there were definitely a bunch of moments when it was an honest struggle to keep working and not give up on the whole thing.

[Xaqaria]

Here is a look at a tentative route. GoogleMap

[Xaqaria]

My question is: where do you plan on getting your vegetable oil? Are you just going to find little fast food joints along the way and ask to take their used fryer oil? That is essentially what we are doing, yes. What I hope to do is have several places set up ahead of time that I have called a few days in advance to make sure I can take their oil. I think I said this in the OP, but I designed and built an onboard filtration system to get the oil clean and ready to go into the tank.

[MementoMori]

WTF? I live in TN and I-70 doesn't enter the state at all, checking you IP MM, did you mean I-75 instead? If you plan on passing anywhere near the I-81/I-26 intersection, give me a hollar. lol yeah that's what i meant haha, oops. Also, Xaq, man you're going to Asheville , NC and passing right by Pigeon Forge? You're going to miss a lot, tons of stuff there, wonderful things to see and do, especially at Cades Cove, i suggest a look into that, you would absolutely love it... just a suggestion though,

[youssarian]

Rochester NY, eh? Quite a few of my friends go to the college there. I almost went there before I heard about moving to Kaaaannnsas.

[nerve]

that's rad. I wish I could do that...I want so much to travel :( I think I will be going to the dvmeet though, looks like you're going? maybe see you there! :) oh and I would have painted it black :p

[Xaqaria]

lol yeah that's what i meant haha, oops. Also, Xaq, man you're going to Asheville , NC and passing right by Pigeon Forge? You're going to miss a lot, tons of stuff there, wonderful things to see and do, especially at Cades Cove, i suggest a look into that, you would absolutely love it... just a suggestion though, Its a tentative route. Nothing is set in stone. oh and I would have painted it black :p That's because you don't know style, my friend. I could teach you a thing or two. Rochester NY, eh? Quite a few of my friends go to the college there. I almost went there before I heard about moving to Kaaaannnsas. Yeah its just a quick stop over to visit a friend who lives there. I don't know much about Rochester.

[MementoMori]

there's one thing no one here has said that needs mentioning. Take protection!!! No i don't mean condoms lol, i mean physical protection, there's too many fools and evil men and women out there with nothing to lose and your shit to gain.... The second you think "it wont happen to me" BAM it happens. Bring a dog or something, or get a weapon permit, or bring a baseball bat (and a ball and glove because in some states it's illegal to have just the bat), i used to travel with my grandfather when he was alive, and we were robbed 5 times at gunpoint (they never got anything because he had a pistol in his boot, and would pull it on them somehow) but we stayed in a motel once and our vehicle was broke into and everything was taken. Just be careful and be cautious at all times... and do not trust ANYONE

[Taosaur]

there's one thing no one here has said that needs mentioning. Take protection!!! No i don't mean condoms lol, i mean physical protection, there's too many fools and evil men and women out there with nothing to lose and your shit to gain.... The second you think "it wont happen to me" BAM it happens. Bring a dog or something, or get a weapon permit, or bring a baseball bat (and a ball and glove because in some states it's illegal to have just the bat), i used to travel with my grandfather when he was alive, and we were robbed 5 times at gunpoint (they never got anything because he had a pistol in his boot, and would pull it on them somehow) but we stayed in a motel once and our vehicle was broke into and everything was taken. Just be careful and be cautious at all times... and do not trust ANYONE A dog isn't a bad idea, but I met a woman at a war protest who had walked across the country from Seattle with just her dog and the clothes on her back, collecting grievance letters to deliver to Dubya in DC, and never got hassled or spent a single night outdoors (as of Ohio).