Mike and I have been full-time living in the bus for a little over a month and there’s been a serious learning curve as we’ve adjusted to living in such a small space. So, I thought I’d address some of the things we’ve learned along the way.
1) I REALLY care about the weather. If it’s hot out, we’ll be hot in the bus. We have an air conditioning unit but it just can’t combat the heat. I think the hottest it’s gotten in the bus, AC running full blast is 98. Recently, the weather has finally started turning cooler and thank god. Today it’s a balmy 73, windows are down, and life is good. We’ll see how it goes when it starts to get really cold.
2) Shade is paramount in the summer. It is miserable in full sun in the summer.
3) It’s a good thing spiders don’t bother me because we have a lot of spider busmates. I really didn’t anticipate how many of them would crawl into the bus and decide it was a good place to call home. My mom loves spiders. She feels that they are maligned by popular culture. We always had more spiders living in the house than was common, some of the big ones had names, and I still think we have a lot of spiders in the bus.
4) It feels impossible to keep a clean house. And not because of the spiders. With such a small space it is very apparent when things are not in their place and it can spiral out of control very quickly. A pair of pants, a shirt, and socks and underwear are on the floor? That’s taking up, like, all of the floor space in the bathroom. Also, having a dog means that he brings in a lot of dirt and Finn sheds at a rate that makes you amazed he’s not bald.
5) Having a full bathroom in the bus is not as important as I thought it was. We aren’t boondocking with any regularity yet so it’s not really a necessity. The campgrounds have bathrooms and truck stops have surprisingly nice showers. We haven’t even used our new toilet yet and while I take showers regularly in the bus Mike, for the most part, uses the shower here at our current campground. Plus, with the weather cooling down our lack of a hot water heater means more showers at the campground until we bite the bullet and get one.
6) People are way friendlier than I thought they would be. We’re in Texas now and the last time we lived here a couple of years ago I felt so socially isolated. I moved from Florida to be with Mike a grand total of a month into our relationship. I left behind a very social job that I loved and all of my family and friends. Once I got to Texas I got an internship in the basement of the library a few hours a week, Mike’s friends slowly became my friends, but otherwise I felt very socially isolated. This time around though we are making friends with all of the people (and their dogs) at the campground and there are so many nice people. We make friends on every trip we take. It’s awesome.
7) Finn loves the bus. He is such a calm and happy dog here. His people are always with him and there’s a dog park 50 feet away.
8) We thought the layout we designed was great. It’s not. Now that we’ve been in here for a bit there are a few big things that need to change to make the space more usable and efficient. We really wish we had some kind of dinette or place for both of us to sit together and work/eat. But it’s fun to plan out what we want to change and how to do it.
9) Grocery shopping is surprisingly difficult. Why do they make so many containers so tall? We really have to keep our small fridge and pantry in mind when buying stuff. That’s not something I’ve had to consider before so occasionally we have gotten home with something that was just too big. And there’s no buying the bigger size or in bulk to get a cheaper price. We just don’t have space for that.
10) This bus thing- it’s pretty awesome. There is no where I’d rather be than with my little family on our bus. That’s pretty cool.
