5 Beauties of Bus Life >>
Hi friends! We just spent some days back in civilization, living like normal people again - in a house with running water (unlimited supply), a full kitchen, even CHOCOLATE covered almonds, and the works - luxury living at its finest! We stayed with Jake’s brother and sister-in-law in the Seattle area & on Jake’s off days, we tried out some different things - like camping out of an Explorer, pitching a tent, and day trips. They graciously offered us one of their vehicles while there, and if you know the Seattle area, there are LOADS of things to do within 2 hours of the city. I mean, you can hit THREE National Parks in that distance - it’s incredible (Mount Rainier NP, the San Juans, Olympic NP, N.Cascades, etc, the list goes on, etc).
BUT all of this business in a car versus a bus made us really appreciate some things about Ruby. It’s easy to live in Ruby and feel the limits of living in a bus (max 58mph, overheating on steep climbs, navigating skinny roads, etc), but there are some really great things about #buslife; it was a great reminder of all of the things we love about living in a bus. <3
Err’thing handy - you have everything you need with you!! Sure you might have to army crawl under the bed and between batteries to reach the bin that it’s in, but it’s WITH YOU. For these day trips and overnight camping excursions, we packed bags and bins from the bus and moved them into a car. Naturally, we forgot things like pillows and matches. It wasn’t a big deal, no show stopper, but it was definitely something that’s great about a larger vehicle. You have space, in limited space, but more space than a regular road vehicle! #houseonwheels
PRO TIP: be organized. :P
Set up time - you don’t need time to “set-it-up” for the evening. Of course, one of the kickers with tent camping is you have to set-up the tent. Don’t get me wrong, we love tent camping and we can get camp whipped up within 30 mins, but if we had to do that routine every night for 99 nights in a row, I think we’d get pretty over it. With Ruby, we can pull off, park, and jump in the already set-up bed (usually made thanks to Jakers!) :)
PRO TIP: if you are tent camping, have designated roles that you both are aware of when you get to camp. Ex. Jen is the ten set-upper and Jake is typically the fire starter.
Head room - I suppose this goes back to the fact that you just have more space in a bus than in a vehicle. When car camping, I don’t choose to drink my coffee in the vehicle; when in the bus, sometimes I do. it’s a cozy space. We have lots of windows and can stand up (even Jakers) and get to look at my chicken wall hanging as a reminder of my girls <3
PRO TIP: if you are tall, be conscious of the amount of insulation you plan for both the ceiling and floor during the build aka EARLY on.
Fueling your body - we have found in the bus, it’s been pretty easy to bypass the things in the grocery store that don’t serve you. As much as you have space, you also have limited space. Costco brownie packs don’t make the cut. With a limited volume for cold food and a single pantry. We can fit what we can fit - and the goal is to pick the most essential. Sure, we still get treats sometimes and typically have S’more stuff on us at all times obvi, BUT it’s just more natural to fuel our bodies for our next day hike than punish our bodies with Oreos and Cheetos. Definitely an unintentional “diet plan”.
PRO TIP: don’t shop when you are hungry EVER. You can thank me later.
Cooking sitch - one thing that’s great about the bus, is we can basically cook in it how we did at home. The only appliances we don’t have that we regularly used is a microwave and an oven - both easily by-passable with a stove and a grill. (No banana bread, but I’ll get over it) We have a pocket camp stove which we use all of the time when we camp (find it for $15 from Amazon - it’s life changing!!) and we cook over the fire, but it’s just less convenient. Dehydrated packets are great for a few meals and then we just miss our fresh greens. #divasIknow Coolers are clunky and constantly need ice added - I choose #buslife.
PRO TIP: a dutch oven? I haven’t tried one yet, but I’ve been told these can essentially work like an oven over a fire. We’ll see how badly we crave hotdish in the coming weeks :) Stay tuned!
BONUS: of course it rained on us when we were tent camping as well because it was the Olympics which is actually a rainforest. If you tent camp, you know how annoying rain is. We enjoyed the “pack it up wet” and “take it out to dry” when you get home. In Ruby, we barely even notice a rain except that she’s sparkling clean the next day :D
PRO TIP: if a bus is not in your future, buy a GOOD tent that doesn’t leak :D
So there you go! 5 Reasons (plus a BONUS) we missed #buslife this past week! It sure was fun to take the Explorer down some national forest roads and places like Hurricane Ridge in the Olympics and not have to worry about overheating though and the constant question - “Hey Ruby, you got this right??!” :) PROs and CONs to all methods, but for now, we choose #buslife. <3
Peace & love,
yo’ girl Jen, #freshly showered (& my new mini friend :D)
