The Hightail Bus

My 99 year old grandma climbed the steps into today to see what it was all about. A lot of the wood we’ve used to trim it out came the homestead her husband (my grandpa), grew up on in Charlo, Montana.

It’s been 6 weeks now living in The Hightail Bus! We’ve been busy, building shelves, trimming windows, hanging blinds…in short, transforming the place into our home❤️

The kids love bus life, everyday it’s a new chance to climb up, crawl under, show off and push buttons!

It’s kinda sad we are already letting go of summer; but there nothing cozier than a hot fire place on a chilly morning!

September is coming soon and with it the changing season! More trips are planned and we can’t wait!

Living in our school bus while we convert it into a home is interesting. It’s fun! So fun. But it’s interesting. Everything is always changing. Parts of the bus are nearly finished and “gettin’ cute,” while others are still a total construction zone. Since we moved into the bus three months ago, we have done our best to make it as homey as possible in areas that are still under construction. The front of the bus is a great example of this. We have decorated it with plants, Marsha’s cat bed, a few of Lo’s crystals, some books, our own little Rachel Pohl art print, and wedding cards/gifts, while it awaits it’s final transformation into the TV and speaker set up that it is destined to be. These little touches have really kept it feeling like home in here through the transformation, and it just makes us happy.

Our couch transforms!

Known as a “slat bed,” the long section of the couch lifts up to reveal our electrical panels and solar equipment, then pulls out into a guest bed! The batteries are hidden under the seat in the short portion as well!

He says this project wouldn’t have happened without me. I say this project wouldn’t have happened without HIM. It was his idea in the first place, I was just down for the adventure. He taught me how to use power tools!! He educated himself on everything we have needed to know. Sometimes I’m just like “how do you know how to do all of this stuff?!?” This guy’s brain amazes me every single day. He can look at a step along the way and think it over, figure out how to execute the processes needed to complete it, and go forward without fear. He is incredible and I am so lucky to have his sheer brilliance, courageous spirit, creative mind, and passionate heart in my life. Someone make me a crop top that says I LOVE JOE and I will wear it every day, I swear. 😂❤️ END MUSHY APPRECIATION RANT. ps the “living room” is really coming along! Love, Lo

Joe’s mom made us Carhartt masks out of an old pair of work pants to go with our Carhartt bus work “uniforms!” These masks are perfect for trips to Home Depot and other such bus-related errands. 😂 We’re working on the living room today! We put the last wall on and now we’re going to install hardwood flooring and then keep working on the couch! I’ve been adding homey touches wherever I can on the bus to make our living situation a bit more cozy and a bit less construction zone. But it’s still a construction zone!! So we’re pushing to get it to a nice, more finished place. - Lo 💪

The next time you see this living room, there will be an L-couch in it that conceals our electrical and solar gear (boxes, batteries, inverter, and charge controller). It will also pull out into a small bed as well as lift up when it’s time for electrical or solar maintenance. We are so excited to have a designated place to sit in the bus, although we don’t want to do tooo much sitting! Gotta keep the momentum going! 💪

It was a whirlwind past month that lead us from Montana to Washington, with a week’s notice. Joe drove the bus over six mountain passes (at 25 mph, topped out) and for seventeen hours broke up into a two day trip. We made it here and stepped outside to a fresh breeze and the smell of earth and trees. What an inspiring place to build our home, within a forested area that is so full of life. The sounds within the depths of the trees are spirited, the animal life is abundant, and the feeling in the air here is healing. We can rest here and we can rejuvenate ourselves after an intense year. But we also have the capability to work hard here, with all the tools for the job and knowledgable forces at our aid. We will finish the bus, with helping hands from loved ones. We couldn’t be happier and we feel so lucky to be able to connect to nature while we finish our school bus conversion in it’s embrace. Here’s to the next chapter in Hightail’s history. If the beginning is any indication, it will be a beautiful phase of progress.

We made it to our new home and the place where we will finish Hightail! The bus is surrounded by tall, lush, beautiful trees. We couldn’t be happier to have completed the maiden voyage from Montana to Washington successfully and with no problems at all. Hightail drove like a dream! We are so excited for everything to come! Special thanks to Lauren and Steve Sheehan (Joe’s parents) for making two roundtrips in a couple weeks, helping us load all of our belongings and building supplies, caravan-ing with us, encouraging and supporting us, and giving us an amazing new home and shop for Hightail. 😭❤️💪

We have big news! Hightail is in a new home for the next five days while we prepare for our maiden voyage! 🎉 We leave for Issaquah, Washington NEXT WEEK to park the bus and live in it on Joe’s parent’s property. They built a shop there with their own hands, complete with a Hightail Bus-sized garage door! 😍 We will finish the bus there before we embark on our next adventure around the United States!! We were planning on staying in Bozeman until October, but due to unforeseen circumstances, our timeline has been accelerated! We’re so excited for the new scenery to come and a new cast of characters helping us with the bus. We love Bozeman and will always consider Montana home. We will return! And when we do, we will celebrate a finished house and all the folks that helped build it along the way. We can never thank everyone enough for their support and love throughout this process. Onward and upward! Here we go!!! 💖😭