Mon Espace Famille
Hi,
We are Alexandre Lessard & Vicky Ringuette and our four boys.
How did you get into bus life?
Vicky traveled to Florida with the kids over the holidays in 2018 to join her dad who was wintering at Pompano Beach.
Alex was unable to get time off to participate in the trip. After 2 weeks spent in a 6-person RV, the first thing the children said when entering the house was that it was way too big!!!
This is how our lives began to change!
Where did you find your bus:
We bought our school bus at a Thomas dealership in Drumondville, Québec, Canada in 2019 for $3000 (Canadian dollars). ($2,335 USD)
The bus is a 2009 C2 Saf-t-liner. It held 72 passengers and has 409,000 km (254,000 miles).
It boasts a 7.2L MBE 900 engine with a 2500 PTS Allison automatic transmission (5 speed).
We do around 9 mpg at 55-58 mph based on 25,000 miles.
Why did you choose this bus?
We chose it because underbelly storage was already installed!!
How was the conversion process?
The conversion happened fairly quickly. We took possession of the bus in July 2019. We started by tearing everything down (bench, floor, ceiling, excess electrical wire, heaters, removing rust, painting).
Then we removed all of the windows to reseal them, insulate them with polyurethane spray, do the floor, ceiling, build the kitchen cabinets, the beds, and the bathroom (but just on the plywood).
This stage ended in early October 2019 since winter was upon us. The site quietly came back to life in May 2020.
On July 7, 2020, the house was officially sold and we had to leave before August 1!!
We went to stay in Alex's parent's basement to finish the bus. A hellish sprint of almost a month, 18 hours a day to complete the many remaining stages.
We managed to move into the bus on September 3, 2020.
We had the chance to move in with a friend to be able to test our systems and our autonomy (water, toilet, electricity, solar) before starting our trip to Vancouver Island on November 3, 2020.
What is it like to live/travel in the bus?
We have our little routine, we have lunch, we go to school for the children, prepare a dinner either to eat on the bus or to go and do small activities.
Then return for supper, reading period for the children before bedtime. All of a sudden the kids are in bed, we take care of the different web platforms we have.
What do you like most about living in a bus?
What we love most about bus life is that our backyard changes every day!!
The house is where we park it! If you like it, you stay and if not, you move!
What do you like least about living in a bus?
What we like less is that some places we would like to visit are not RV friendly.
Many people don't understand that it's not just a vacation but a way of life for us and that we will not be the ones who will put trash everywhere.
What is something you would like to tell people looking to get into this life?
If you want to live this way of life, I wish you 100% but you must know that it is not always rosy!!
You will possibly (certainly) go through big lows (mechanical breakdown, arguments with relatives/friends, being woken up at 2 a.m.).
Sometimes you have to be patient before the highs (meeting new people, meeting animals, a spot with a view of the sea and the sunset) arrives.
Every day we are still learning even though we have been on the road for 478 days (February 23, 2022)
Where can we follow you? Please include your website, social media channels for us to share your story and link back to you!
Is there anything else you'd like to share that will inspire others?
It’s not always easy but we wouldn't change our lives for anything in the world!!
