A Queen's Regal Pride
Doreen Orion

By now, most of you know from my incessant monthly prattling, that my husband Tim and I took a year-long trip in our converted 1998 Prevost LeMirage XL in 2004-2005 because he wanted to “live his dream.” I hadn’t known I’d married a busnut and promptly dubbed myself the lugnut (ie one who gets lugged along by busnut). Still, my proudest accomplishment is that shortly after our trip started, our Prevost was the Bus Conversions magazine centerfold, thus fulfilling my life-long ambition of being a Miss September.
So, why must you be subjected to our bus as the centerfold yet again? Well, as Prevost is the featured bus manufacturer for this issue your intrepid (some might call him “desperate”) editor, Dennis, wanting a celebrity Prevost coach felt it was perfect fit.

Since I knew he was writing a book review of QUEEN OF THE ROAD (surely, most of you also know by now that’s my travel memoir of our bus year which is being published the very day this magazine arrives in your mailbox) for this issue, after some discussion – OK, bribery – I readily agreed.

Rather than rehash the conversion process, I thought I would highlight what we particularly liked about our bus’ design after our 22,000 mile “test drive”.

Comfort First

Since Tim and I were going to full time for a year, we really wanted our mobile home to be as comfortable and livable as possible. And although we were neophytes to bus design, we had remodeled many houses over the years, so knew what worked for us.

We settled on a floor plan Tim dubbed “the reverse side-aisle.” Usually, when there is a side-aisle, it’s in the bathroom, leading to the back of the bus and the bedroom. In our bus, the side-aisle is in front. We thought it would be more comfortable to have the (recliner) couch face starboard (and the windshield) in case one of us (OK, me) was sitting on it while in motion, thus also allowing for better TV viewing (our 42 incher folds down from the ceiling in between the captain and buddy seats) when stationary. If we have company, my buddy seat is double-wide (to accommodate the bus butt I planned to cultivate on the road, thus proving to Tim that living one’s dream can have its nightmarish aspects) with a back that swings over, so that the front-facing buddy seat becomes a rear (and couch) facing loveseat all its own. Thus, we can have another couple over for dinner quite easily. The coffee table lifts up and folds out to become a dining table, as well (this was specially designed by our bus converters, Vanture Coach in Denver.

Closets a Priority

Because closet space is always an issue for me, we put a coat closet behind the driver’s seat on the short side of the side-aisle. This is also something we’d never seen before and because it’s on the short side, does not significantly obstruct the view from the living room or kitchen.

A kitchen closet houses the Comb-o-matic 6200, an unholy joining together of a washer and dryer into one space-saving unit. Tim didn’t dare tackle it after our various disasters (me nearly getting sucked out the faulty front door at 60 mph – three times, Tim nearly backing up on me, a horrendous hail storm that caused even veteran truckers to pull over, Tim not knowing how to operate the Jakes so that we nearly plummeted down a mountain pass as our brakes smoked – and this was all in the first 24 hours) until well into our trip. Up until then, this mutant machine had slumbered in our closet, awaiting animation from its first jolt of 110 current. I still remember how I cringed as he got out the instructions for the Frankensudser. Fortunately, we were not dismembered - yet.

Wine Storage Also a Priority

Also in our kitchen, a rather essential piece of engineering: a wine rack with leashes for the wine bottles so they stayed put on turns. Under the wine rack, we had a glass rack with a bar on the end so the glasses also didn’t slide out. We found that if we put enough glasses in it, they were safe from hitting each other too hard. Still, the clinking noises didn’t do much for the bus phobia I developed almost as soon as we headed out, so I ended up putting socks over them every time we pulled up stakes. We also had a few pull-out cutting boards to increase counter space and those came in quite handy, as did our pullout pantry doors.

Human Conveniences

One thing I really liked about the shower was the built in cubbyhole, so that shampoo, etc. never had to be stored. We also got a soap dispenser and “cups” that could be mounted to the wall (to hold toothbrushes, etc.) over the vanity for the same reason. The vanity itself has no dummy drawer, but instead pulls out with a space to accommodate the sink.

With two cats sleeping with us, a Queen bed was a must, but we made sure we had storage drawers underneath that ran its length. We also have a clothes closet with shoe racks on the inside of the doors, as well as a bookcase (with lips on the shelves to prevent slippage). Since the bed is in the corner, there is also a cubbyhole for me in the wall and for Tim, who sleeps on the outside, a small shelf with storage. Finally, we hid a clothes line under a back cupboard that could be pulled out to a hook over the bookcase, just in case there were washables we didn’t want to dry in the Comb-o-matic.

Back into the Future

So, how did all this work out? By the end of the trip, Tim not only had a converted bus, but a converted wife, as well – into a fellow (or lady) busnut. We always assumed we’d sell our bus upon our return. Instead, we’ve made our own home our next project so that we can sell it. It had been our dream house, but the dream has changed: Bus life taught us a lot about what our priorities were and what they should be. We no longer want to work to support an abode and plan to be full-timing indefinitely in the near future.