Midway Through our Skoolie Conversion

Here is our 360 tour of the Art We There Yet bus, while it was still in the conversion process.  Often called skoolies, watching converted school bus tours can be quite a rabbit hole to go down!  We didn’t realize converting buses was so popular until we were in this process!

This tour is a bit unique, as you can see the bus while it’s still in process.  You can follow along as we explain the vision, seeing the bus looking pretty much like…well, an empty school bus!  Here you can see the floor-plan that we are about to start building.

More about this particular school bus:

• 2001 International, Thomas built
• DT466E engine with an Allison transmission (automatic)
• 66 passengers
• Came with a lift at the front end
• Came from St. John’s School District near Jacksonville, Florida.

We chose a Florida bus for a few key reasons.  First, no rust.  Not a lot of winter and salt on the roads in Florida!  Second, not a lot of hills in Florida.  This means less stress on the engine.

Third, we knew we were going to convert the bus in Florida and we didn’t want to spend oogles of money driving it cross country with all the legal headache involved.  (Before conversion, a school bus is still registered…well.. as a school bus! Which means you’ve gotta have that CDL!

PS – after the bus is converted and registered as a motorhome, a CDL is no longer required.  Some states require a special non-commercial CDL for motorhomes over 26,000 lbs, but the Art We There Yet bus sits comfortably at 23,000 lbs fully converted.