The Crab’s Homestead blog is a collaboration of all of our family’s how-to’s that we have learned over the last 10 years of homesteading and then becoming minimalists. It began with our passion to live more self sufficiently, being aware of what we eat, what we feed our children, the chemicals around us everyday, and how we can teach our children to be more self reliant. We have tried Aquaponics, Raising Rabbits, Incubating and raising Chickens & Tukeys, Building Fences, Building things in general, Canning, Processing Our Own Food, Homeschooling, Making Money through side hustles and other creative methods we are happy to share with everyone, Gardening, Podcasting, Reselling, Workamping while traveling, Roadschooling, Content Creation, Social Media Management, and so much more. Through set backs and many “re-do’s” we are inventing, discovering, learning, and researching our way through websites, books, and our own personal experience in the small homesteaders way of life. We are here to share our experiences and journey with you to show you there is another way to live that doesn’t include checking the normal society’s boxes. You CAN do it a different way! Sometimes you just need to see that it CAN be done. Well…welcome:)
We finally decided to buy a 1999 Flat Nose International School Bus and convert it into a Tiny House/ Skoolie in 2015-2016.
1999 Genesis International
DT466/Allison Transmission
250,000 Miles/Great Shape
Price $4,700
We hit the road November 2016 and traveled from West TX, to Central TX, to East. TX, Back to West TX, Up to 4 Corners, Up through Utah, over to Oregon, up to Seattle, Washington, Down through Oregon Coast, to the Redwoods of California, down to Arizona, and back to Central Texas May 2020.
Once COVID hit, things got weird. People got weird, and we had to rely on ourselves for a permanent spot to park. After a family meeting, the kids decided they were ready for a house again for their own space! By now they are 15 and 12. We learned a lot in Bus Life. We paid off debts, managed businesses, played the stocks, traveled, lived, fought, cried, and loved in this 297 sqft of space. We decided to buy a home and use Chitty Bang for weekend camping…which we never did. So we listed her for sale and she Sold to a great couple from Oregon June 2022 to start some new adventures. They are keeping the name ChittyBang for anyone wanting to follow!
For now, we are sharing all of our adventures living outside the city limits in Central Texas, homesteading again, gardening, and doing what we do best…LIVING DIFFERENT!
I want the caution area patrolled by crazy chicken lady how do I get it???
I found it online somewhere! Email me at thecrabshomestead@yahoo.com and I can email you the jpg I found.:)
I love what you’re doing with your bus, your family, and your children’s schooling. I live in Germany, where I’ve work with the military for 5 years. In April I flew to England, bought a double-decker bus, drove it onto a ship bound for Rotterdam, then drove it across to Germany. My wife helped me remove all the seats and now I’m fixing little things here and there getting it ready for the stricter German vehicle inspection standards. Insurance was easy here – about $280/year as a motorhome, even though it’s still a double-decker bus. As soon as it has all the basic requirments (plumbing, kitchen, etc.) we’ll move into it full time and continue the conversion. I eventually plan to take it back to Central Texas and put it on some acreage. Driving in the right seat is fun. Driving a double-decker bus is a lot more fun. Working on this huge project together is priceless!
That is amazing! I think a lot of people are moving to a more minimalistic lifestyle. I loved my big house but not the debt we had to go into to get it, and we wanted more land. Typical American, always wanting more:) but I see the benefits of skoolie living for a bit until we figure out where we want to stay and until we can build a house debt free, even if it is done step by step as we get the money. It’ll be ours! Good luck with your conversion! Skoolie Converters on Facebook has been amazingly helpful! You should check it out if you haven’t already! Cheers:)