
In 2000, Both Tim Jennings and Dimitri Constantine went to the same high school. During one of the lunch breaks, while talking with friends about what they should do for the upcoming spring break, Tim came up with the idea of buying a school bus and taking it for a week-long trip through the country. At the time, they all laughed because it was a great idea, but none of them could fathom being able to afford anything like that on such short notice. Also, with their limited knowledge, the conversion process was unrealistic.

That was in tenth grade. It's now the summer of 2005; Tim and Dimitri are living in the same apartment and are enrolled at the University of Central Florida. They are eating dinner when Tim brings up a crazy idea that was thought to have been buried many years ago.
Tim: "Hey Dimitri, you remember that bus trip we were planning in high school? Well I've been looking around and doing some research. It's going to happen. The only question is: Are You In?"
Dimitri: "You know it. How are we going to get the bus, though?"
Tim: "Ever heard of E-Bay?" |

The next 4 weeks were spent diligently looking through RV trader magazines and scouring the internet with a fine-toothed comb for any sign of the perfect steal. One day on E-Bay, Tim found a beat-up yellow school bus that had been decommissioned by the school district after delivering children home safely for 20 years in northern Ohio. Road salt had clearly taken its toll, but the price made it irresistible. To put the cherry on top, it would be driven by the seller right to our doorstep.

We sealed the deal and within a week, she arrived at our doorstep straight from Northern Ohio.


There was lots of work to be done, and during the last two weeks of summer before UCF started up, we ripped out the seats as well as bought and installed 2 A/C units into the roof. We left the bus alone for about a month. Just before the college football season started, we recruited some help from our closest friends and spent a week grinding, sanding, priming, and painting the bus bright white. We also bought vinyl stickers and big "GO UCF" banners for the side of the bus. The bus was getting a touch of UCF school spirit.
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The football season began, and when we ended our 17-game losing streak against Marshall, everyone rushed the field. People tore down the goalposts and took the pieces to parade them outside. It just so happened that the bus was the only vehicle large enough to carry the goalpost to the school, se we loaded it up and took it to the reflection pond for the big celebration that night. Later that week, we delivered a piece of the goalpost to Coach O'Leary's office. The bus became UCF legend. |

We began the full conversion process in January. During this month, we spent days planning, designing, and engineering furniture so that we could live comfortably with the limited space that we had. Throughout the four month period that we worked on the bus, we installed the 7500 Watt Generator, wired up the bus, installed a heated water system, shower, toilet, sink, bunk beds, desks, etc. We carpeted the floor, tinted the windows and built our furniture from scratch. We kept in mind that the bus would be used for tailgating in the future, so we engineered the bunks to convert into couches so that we can carry up to 18 passengers. During this time, we were looking for friends to join us during the trip. One of our friends, Jonathan Miller, thought it was a great idea so he signed up.

By May 13th, everything was ready to go. We had both freshwater tanks filled up, electricity running, enough bunks to sleep six, and all the amenities of a normal RV. Tim Jennings, Dimitri Constantine, Jon Miller, and Brandon Ralph were packed and ready to go. On May 14th at 4:30AM, the bus set sail to conquer the United States! |