The Bus is a 1971 Gillig Coach/transporter with a
743 cu in (12.2 L) Cummins NHH inline-6 mid engine.
It's named Tiny Beluga, as Anayana is from Alaska and she loves beluga whales. Also its not so Tiny as it's 30 feet long. We purchased the bus from Rivers Edge Kayak Company in Healdsburg. They were using it to transport kayakers for about 10 years and took relatively good care of it, not traveling very far to the drop off location. Before that, the bus had sat for a while after being used as a school bus in the 70's.
We chose Gillig because they have a reputation for being very well built Coachs. And, it had a Cummings engine which seem to be the best name in the diesel engine world.
About Anayana
& Jonah
The couple met in Chicago nearly six years ago in 2009 at a Classical Singing Competition,
Anayana is from Alaska, hence her love of Beluga wales, and Jonah was raised in Mill Valley, California (we think it's fitting for Jonah to live inside the whale).
Jonah and Anayana lived for 9 months in South and North India, Thailand, and Nepal. They love to travel.
Their love of adventure brought them to San Francisco, where for two years they lived in a 25 person transformational collective called The Center SF, where Anayana was also the Director of the events space and business until May 2015.
They currently reside in Marin making music, singing in choirs, making soaps for Anayana's etsy store Anthemis Apothic, and working with non-profits in photography, marketing, and communications.
We are both professional musicians and artists, so the idea of living in a tiny home appeals to us. However the traditional tiny home trailer was going to be too expensive for us since we would need a very expensive truck to haul the home. So we chose to convert a bus instead.
Our plan is first to get the bus "road ready". Next we will be converting the bus into a beautiful tiny home. We have been looking at different tiny homes and bus projects and we are looking for businesses to help sponsor the project by trading marketing of their products which are applicable to the Tiny Home movement.
We would like to raise the roof of the bus, and replace the windows with some larger ones. Add some sky lights, a bathroom w/ tub shower and composting toilet, kitchen, bedroom and wood burning fire place. Insulate the bus well, put in wood floors and maybe a tung and groove blue beetle kill pine ceiling. Install a solar unit, possible water catchment system and water storage system.
Jonah has most of the skills for the building of the interior as he grew up building a victorian house his whole life but still we have a lot to learn as building in a bus is quite different. Also installing the water tanks ect in a bus will be something new, as well as the roof raise.
We found a place to park it and work on it on a 5 acre vineyard in penn grove/petaluma. We have taken out the seats, and it is waiting for us to move forward. Feel free to share your thoughts We are on the search of a good mechanic and then getting it set up for waste veggie oil!
Its going to be our future off the grid tiny home!