Photo-of-the-Week #168 – You Meet The Nicest People, Albion, New York, July 2014

Meet Steven and Lindsey from Portland, Oregon. This cute, young couple shared the Walmart parking lot with me in the small, upstate town of Albion, New York one evening. I'd guess they might be in their mid 20's, but they seemed to have the “living free” idea figured out already. Good for them.

Steven and Lindsey are standing in front of their converted, 40', 1984, Bluebird former church bus. They were living in Florida for a year and decided they needed a home on wheels to take them on an adventure through a major portion of the U.S. and a small portion of Canada. So, they found this church bus with less than 70,000 miles on it for sale in Georgia for just a couple thousand dollars. They brought it back to Florida and went to work on it this past April. They stripped out all the bus seating, redid the walls and ceiling, put a new floor in it and then built in their small, approximately 300 square foot “condo-on-wheels.”

To be sure, they didn't have a lot of time to invest (nor a lot of money) in the interior conversion before they planned to leave on their cross country adventure to their home territory in the Portland, Oregon area. It is not luxurious like the million dollar plus commercially built Bluebird Wander Lodge motor coaches and similar. But, they built their own home, the way they wanted it. It wasn't plush, but it was comfortable appearing and just what they wanted and needed for their lifestyle.

This is one of the absolutely best parts of being a living free, wandering, location independent traveler, meeting really nice people. If you'd like to know more about Steven and Lindsay, their converted “schoolie” (the term used for a school bus conversion) and their cross country adventures (including a not so pleasant time with the Canadian Customs Officers) check out their blog at www.theneworegontrail.com.