Portland isn’t close to Sacramento
So we thought we could fly to Portland, OR – Buy a school bus and drive said school bus to the woods in Nevada County, CA in a single day. That was an inaccurate assumption.
It turns out that busses are quite slow to drive. We met hills that brought our speed from 70 miles per hour to 45 miles per hour. That kind of a slow down really is sort of a big deal and it’s especially intense if you experience driving 600 miles through southern Oregon and Northern California.
One thing I’d like to note, it’s not hard to drive a school bus.
Just because the thing weighs 30,000 pounds and has these strange air brakes, it doesn’t mean it’s all that different from driving a regular car. You just go slower and stay more alert to people slowing down in front of you.
The most important part is to pay attention when making tight corners. These flat nose busses have the wheels far behind the driver. That means that when you’re driving, you want to initiate the turns far later. It feels like you are making a terrible mistake for the first 10 turns. Once the driver gets the hang of it, it becomes second nature.
Driving the bus back was an adventure. At the same time, it’s a giant project and it makes me feel really fearful for some reason. All my past carpentry and demolition skills will come into play over the next few moths. I hope they are good enough to make the bus livable, and desirable.
The last thing I want is a giant school bus that no one wants.