The Owners' Manual | Issue 24 | Spring 2022

Barbara Joslin AIA, LEED AP Senior Project Manager, Principal I feel I have to reply to this one as buying a bus is the most ridiculous “splurge” I have ever done! The weekend after Carolyn’s Friday call in the fall of 2020 when she said we were going to be working from home for at least another 4 – 6 months I was reading about skoolies* and thought that sounded super fun and an interesting way to work, well there was one for sale down in Atlanta and I called the guy and literally bought it over the phone that same day. (I’d say this goes under the definition of an impulse purchase). I then had to figure out how to get the bus up to CT, so I flew my son and his girlfriend to Atlanta to pick up the bus that week, and they were to drive it back to CT. Neither of them had ever driven a bus of course, but they are young and adventurous and were not in the least bit intimidated with the idea, and in fact turned it into a bit of a eastern sea board road trip to see a handful of their friends (I was unaware of these plans of course, just kept seeing more snapchats of different friends “in the bus”). Everyone made it back to CT and the bus, which we have named “Frizzle”, became a great covid project for the entire family to work on between November and May of 2021. My son and I changed out some of the interior to work better for us, and my talented nephew painted the outside – transformed from the original “prison bus” vibe into our mountain vibe. In May of 2021, my son and I took Frizzle on her inaugural road trip from CT to TX (go big or go home theory). We have found most private campgrounds are snooty about our bus and don’t allow us to camp, so we tend to Hipcamp, use Harvest Hosts and have spent a few nights at Cracker Barrels! There are a ton of lessons we’ve learned about diesel engines, plumbing, electrical and all sorts of fun gray water/black water things, but for a crazy impulse purchase this bus has definitely been worth it! For those of you that have seen me on video lately, I am currently living in the bus outside Nashville TN to help grow our BL team here! *skoolie is a converted school bus into a camper/RV.

issue 24 // 27