Our New Bus; Chapter One
You know how some things are talked about and discussed and talked about some more? Then when those things become a reality, it feels like you just can’t wake up from a dream? Yeah, that’s how it has felt from the minute we started actively shopping around for a bus until this very minute that you’re reading this post. And I’m pretty sure we’ll feel this way tomorrow, next month and next year. I hope that our grandchildren will look back on our photos and journaling’s and be so intrigued and so proud of the life that we’ve lived. I think believing that is one of the most beautiful things about this experience.
night one.
![Joe in bus](https://makphototravels.com/mphototravels/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/me-Oregon-Coast-Photo-Joe-Makarski--576x1024.jpg)
We purchased the bus at Wolf Creek Motors in Wolf Creek, Oregon. From there, we headed to the Oregon Coast to meet up with some of our Chosen Family in Florence, Oregon. We got there late, well after dark, hugged our hellos, ate food and went to bed. We slept on a twin sized mattress, BOTH of us, with our 2 dogs, in the very back of the bus. where the open space for a wheelchair was. All the seats were still in and it was still a legitimate fully functioning school bus. We didn’t have anything but us, the mattress, the dogs and some clothing. And it was awesome. Waking up to our backyard being the Oregon Coast was as amazing as we remembered it, but a million times more beautiful looking out the back window of our brand new bus. From the floor on a twin mattress, of course.
![twin mattress in back of bus](https://makphototravels.com/mphototravels/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-07-03-Vega-with-Bus-Seats-Oregon-Coast-Photo-Joe-Makarski-576x1024.jpg)
night two.
It was at the coast with our family, night #2 that we decided to get to work. Joe drove to Walmart, grabbed some tools and we officially started the demo. We took out over half the seats. Our goal that second night was to make enough room for our family and friends, old and new, to hangout, eat food and thoroughly enjoy every single moment of this journey that we’ve just begun.
Mission accomplished, as you can see.
![Chosen Family in bus](https://makphototravels.com/mphototravels/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-07-03-Our-Coastal-Family-3-Oregon-Coast-Photo-Joe-Makarski-1024x684.jpg)
![CF in bus](https://makphototravels.com/mphototravels/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-07-03-Our-Coastal-Family-2-Oregon-Coast-Photo-Joe-Makarski-1024x684.jpg)
![Smurf](https://makphototravels.com/mphototravels/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-07-03-Smurf-playing-the-Ukelin-Oregon-Coast-Photo-Joe-Makarski-684x1024.jpg)
day three.
Waking up that first night in our new bus was a wonderful feeling. It was funny to watch each other just looking around, knowing that plans were flying across our minds. We had coffee while watching the waves, then headed back to Portland, all the while talking and making plans for our next few months. Talks of her name, where to build, Lou-Lou and what her fate may soon be, ideas for the bus, and how fucking HOT it was outside.
So, all in all, the first 3 days of being bus owners was not at all what we expected it would be, but it was uniquely ours. It was our path and as we walked along it in awe and surrounded by friends, I couldn’t imagine a better maiden voyage.
![Nikki and Vega on bus](https://makphototravels.com/mphototravels/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2020-07-03-Bus-Oregon-Coast-Photo-Joe-Makarski-5-1024x684.jpg)