Spring Purge ~ Reducing Our Worldly Possessions To Fit On A Bus

Our Future Home

Spring is starting, as is the 30 day count down for our move date back to Montana and into our temporary home, while we work on restoring Norma, our 1955 school bus conversion. Currently as I write this, there are 27 days until our estimated departure date. Only 27 days to get all of our worldly possessions, our beloved stuff and things packed, sold, donated, trashed or whatever we ultimately end up doing with them. Only 27 days to clean the house out. Only 27 days to say good bye to family and friends. Only 27 days to transfer my son into and online school. Only 27 more days to make enough money for our trip. Only 27 more days until we go traveling for another 14 days. Actually, I only have one more day until I start my epic moving sale, which really puts the pressure on whole getting rid of stuff part; and really I should be preparing for the sale rather than blogging about it. But people have been asking for updates, and well...I am quite stressed about the whole moving thing and need to vent a little. Its my blog, I will do what I want.

I am actually quite pleased with my progress in the house mostly. Matt and I had a strategy for packing which has made it easy on my son and I. We allocated Rubbermaid tubs to the amount of space we will have available on the bus. My son gets three tubs, plus a traveling duffel. I get the same. Previously about three years ago, my son and I packed up everything we own into a small SUV and moved from Phoenix to Tucson. We just have not accumulated very much stuff since that point and lucky for us, we can fit everything we want to keep into the allocated tubs.

Im gonna miss my tortoise! 

Poor Matt though, he has had a hard time condensing. As a carpenter by trade, he has accumulated an egregious amount of tools that he mostly never uses. There are also the skis, the golf clubs, the bikes, the camping gear, the car parts and stuff and things. For me, its whatever~I got rid of that kind of stuff years ago. I have felt the feeling of liberation once I packed up my life. Matt is having the nostalgia complex with the stuff he has accumulated. Its okay. Honestly, there is enough room for all of his stuff, if he so chose to keep it, but I think he feels like since my son and I have gotten rid of so much that he should too. One way or another, the moving sale starts tomorrow. When we are finally packed up, I know Matt will finally feel that moment of true freedom and liberation. Like a tortoise, carrying everything he owns on his back. Along with two dogs and a puppy, a kid and myself.  Yea. Its gonna be a fun trip!

Wiggles is a Road Warrior -
This time she will be pulling a small trailer

Its gonna be even more fun on the road. I have quite a bit to look forward to this season. Our exit from Arizona begins with an epic 5 day regional gathering in the Northern part of our state. After the gathering, we will travel North towards Montana via national parks and Hot springs. While we considered going to the four corners, because none of us have seen that yet, we wanted to avoid more "boring desert" as well as the Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks because of the terrain. We are likely going to head west, and hit more of the Grand Canyon as well Zion National Park. After that we will head to Mystic Hot Springs, continuing North via Utah and Idaho while camping at more Hot Springs along the way. There is no way to avoid the Rocky Mountains, but the route we chose is good and direct. Ideally we will make it in three days. Realistically, one of the hot springs we stop at will be just too amazing to leave, and we will wind up camping an extra day somewhere. Five days max. I really want to get back to work at Eckstrom's Stage Stage by May 10th. Setting all kinds of future plans in action. Details of which will be released when my brain has time to process further forward progress...probably once we get to Montana. 

For now, I really need to think about setting up this moving sale. Cleaning my house would be ideal, but everything is such a cluttered mess at the moment I cant make any forward progress until everything is out of the way. So with my next step determined, and sufficient venting, I feel still strangely terrified and excited. Maybe its the coffee... But at least I know what I have to do. 

Thanks for reading and following...I would love it if you could leave a comment. Any type of support if meaningful and helpful. 

If it was easy, it wouldn't be worth it.

Disappointment comes in so many forms. I knew when we purchased our old school bus Norma, that things were not going to be easy. She is old and rusty, mostly dilapidated, and needs a rather epic amount of love. I had high hopes thinking we would be anywhere near done last summer, or anytime in 2013 for that matter. Then, when the snow came and we still were not finished working on Norma, I let disappointment get the best of me. I hated the thought of packing up to go back to the desert without her. I dreaded the idea of leaving her in the snow for yet another cold winter. Turns out it was quite the doozy of a winter too. Right now, Norma is frozen in almost 4 feet of snow.


So back here in the warm desert, Matt and I have been mentally and literally preparing for our return to Montana to rebuild Norma. Its true, we are going to rebuild her. After a couple thousand more miles of traveling in an old Ford truck with even more animals than before, we decided on a lot more conventional type of design for the bus. When we return, we are going to strip the bus down to the frame, from the doors back and the roof down. Don't worry, we are going to salvage as much as possible. After that we are going to build a wood framed tiny home on top of the frame of the bus. Doing it this way allows us to build a safer, more functional home for our needs. Plus, we don't really want to look like a spectacle rolling down the road. We would like to feel at home everywhere we go, rather than somewhat out of place.

I originally came back to the desert rather distraught this year. I was able to kick that pretty quick with the refreshed ideas about the bus. One thing I have learned since that point, is that even if we did not reach the highest goals that I set for us, we did make progress, and paved the way for this year to be much smoother. We learned a lot last year. We really needed time to absorb and think about this bus in depth, without the convolution of working on her at the same time. This year, I will still set my goals high, I will just break them up into smaller more obtainable tasks. I have faith that this will all work out. I know it wont be easy. If it were easy, it wouldn't be worth it.

In the meantime, I think I'm going to make Norma her very own Facebook page. I might even publicly share the page and see if I can get anyone to read this silly blog. I mean whats the point of writing if I don't let anyone read it?

Related articles

• Restoration Dreams