Living in a Schoolie Teaches ‘Life Lessons; and Hacking Followup

  Early in my journalistic career, before RVs were as omnipresent as they are now, I met a couple whose home on wheels was a stunner.

  It was sleek and beautiful and had all the comforts of home. Curious about it, I struck up a conversation with them and was surprised to learn that it was their full-time home. They’d sold their traditional home to buy it and had been on the road ever since.

  Truth be told, I was a bit jealous. There’s something about the freedom of being able to go wherever you want without actually leaving home that appeals in varying degrees to many of us. 

  Fast forward a few decades – to a very different sort of motor home.

  Regular readers may recall a column about my granddaughter and her husband converting an old Air Force bus into a motor home. It’s become a thing to do that. Most of the buses being converted are former school buses; thus their nickname:  schoolies.

  Kelsie and Christian have been on the road in their schoolie for nearly a year and a half now. They’ve been to 25 states, the farthest east being Ohio. They’ve seen a lot of sights, had some great times, met a lot of interesting people.

  The adventure hasn’t been without challenges, though. The schoolie broke down once and took a week to fix. To pay expenses – the schoolie gets about 8 mpg – they’ve had to work a variety of jobs. Kelsie has a teaching degree and has taught online. They’ve worked a beet harvest and as campground hosts. Christian has done electrical and plumbing work, cut trees, operated heavy equipment ….

 As you might expect, it isn’t always easy to find a place to park a vehicle as big as a school bus.

  “When we’ve been somewhere for just one or two nights we’ve had to stay in some sketchy places, like truck stops or Walmart parking lots,” Kelsie said. “All Walmarts used to be RV friendly, but now some are saying no overnight parking.”

  In Arizona,  a long-term BLM parking fee that used to cost $180 for six months now costs $800.

   “Another negative,” Christian added, “is that you’re rarely in familiar routine. When you go shopping, you don’t know the store. You don’t know whether it will be open, whether you can park there and whether they’ll have what you need.”

  Their favorite city so far is Austin, Tex. Their least favorite: Memphis.

  “There was trash everywhere, and it felt dangerous,” Kelsie  said. 

  That surprised me. My wife and I had a good impression of Memphis being clean, safe and friendly when we were there. But that was a long time ago.

  They say the trip has changed them.

  Kelsie says their time in the schoolie has taught them “a lot of life lessons. I feel like I understand different types of people better. I don’t necessarily agree with them on everything, but now when I don’t agree I have a better understanding of why they’re the way they are and why they believe what they do.”

  “You realize your problems are just you,” Christian said. “It’s not where you are.”

  They may live in a conventional home again one day, but for now they’re happy with life in the schoolie and plan to keep it for trips even if they do buy a house. 

  “The best thing about it is the freedom,” Kelsie said. “You take your house with you wherever you want to go. If you’re somewhere you don’t like or working somewhere you don’t like, you just get up and go.”

  As good as that may sound, I’m a bit too settled for it now.

  But I’m still jealous.

                                                ***

  Two readers emailed about my recent column on my wife’s being hacked. They thought it embarrassed her for me to write about her for falling for a phone scam. One went so far as to say that I deserved a good beating for writing it.

  For the record, she read the column before it was published and was okay with it. Her reasoning was that it was worth a bit of embarrassment if it helped others avoid what happened to her – a scam evolving into a seemingly endless nightmare. 

  Several readers wrote to say that pretty much the same thing happened to them. All, like my wife, are smart, savvy  people who didn’t think that was possible. 

  Several readers suggested not answering the phone if the number of the caller isn’t recognized (now the practice at our house). One said she only provides personal information if she’s the one making the call.

  Greg Feeler wrote to recommend www.identifytheft.gov and a government publication, “Taking Charge: What to do if Your Identity is Stolen.” Find the PDF version at: https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/taking-charge-what-do-if-your-identity-stolen. 

Tim Woodward’s column appears every other Sunday in The Idaho Press and is posted on woodwardblog.com the following Mondays. Contact him at woodwardcolumn@gmail.com.