10,000 Miles: Living Nomadically In A School Bus Tiny House (50 Pics)

The Grand Tetons seen from Jackson Hole, Wyoming after a light dusting of snow, one of the most beautiful places we have ever been - but how did we get here? And what is that wicked thing we're driving?

This is Voyager1, the Land Yacht we handbuilt ourselves over the course of 8 months while juggling graduating from Architecture school and 80hr work weeks at a construction company over the summer to afford it.

We wanted to show that we learned something in college, and what better way to do so than to build our own tiny house on wheels using nothing but our own two hands and occasional help from a couple friends along the way?

This was the sorry state that we bought Voyager1 (originally "The Man Van") in. There was thick carpet caked in dirt from the ground all the way up the walls, dirty camo blinds, and everything was moldy.

The road to completion was equally messy and we ran into many things that took far longer than they should have, basketball sized rust holes, leaks, custom everything...we chronicled the whole experience in a 20 video long series on youtube https://www.youtube.com/TheVoyagerProject

And so after becoming friends as freshman in college , dreaming for years, and then many months of hard work, it felt so good to be done and off on our adventure!

Our first stop on our trip was the beautiful Custer State Park, South Dakota

The majority of the places we've been on this trip ateast one, or sometimes both, of us have never been before.

We wanted to stay out on the road for 3ish months and curently we are just over halfway done.

We've invested 100% of our money into this adventure and plan on returning home broke to figure out the next step in our lives.

This might not have been the most financially wise thing to do, but in the end, what is happiness worth?

The upside is we now own a home that is better designed than anything we have ever lived in and cost about the same as living in a large city for a year in a space as large (~200sqft / 18.6 sqm).

So as long as we use it longer than a year, it's already paid for itself.

Here's Sam utilizing the kitchen space to cook up some steaks after a long day of hiking

The second major stop on our trip was Jackson Hole, Wyoming but of course we had to make a quick stop in Yellowstone for a sunset like this one

This one cloud said screw it to the others and was just doin its own thing really low over the water

The Great Teton Mountains are something that can only be experienced in person, but hopefully my photos do them atleast half justice.

If you ever get the chance to visit Jackson Hole definitely attempt to stay at the Elk Refuge Camp Grounds, they're up in the hills overlooking the Tetons with probably the best unobstructed view

Here's a shot of us in that very campground. We got stranded for a couple days up in the mountains when it dumped 8in (20cm) on us overnight and then dropped to 11F (-12C)

But with a view like this who wouldn't eat stale crackers and their last few cans of beans for a couple days to see this?

Once the snow cleared enough to drive down off the mountain we made our way to the base of the Tetons to hike around the massive lake there

We continue our push west to Idaho next for our first major alpine hike of the trip.

I had never heard of Idaho being such a dynamic landscape but it instantly won over our hearts.
(On a side note they have the most accurate caution speed signs for turns we've ever seen, which is important for a vehicle prone to rolling over)

We begin our trek into the snowy slopes to reach our destination...

...The Sawtooth National Forest's Alpine Lakes!

By the way, if you were wondering "just who are these rambunctious young adults??" this photo sums it up pretty accurately.)

We FINALLY make it to the west coast and it is glorious! No more subfreezing temperatures for awhile!

Plus when it warms up we can do stuff like this!

Cruisin down highway one we ran into a guy at a coffee shop who recommended we go check out "Kong Rock" in Pacific City

Not a bad suggestion random guy from coffee shop

It turned out to be the best sunset we have had since Yellowstone, it just kept going and going

This was close to 15 minutes after the sun set, unbelievable gradient

Random photo of a girl who we ran into on the beach that wanted to take photos with the bus, we didn't have a problem with that

Headed south for the first time on the trip, down highway 101

It's a straight shot, but it never hurts to pretend to be lost to take a cool photo

We swing through Lake Tahoe, and in all honesty this might be the most beautiful place we've been all trip.

The crystal clear water, lake ringed by mountains, ski slopes straight into the valley, it's 4 seasons of fun here

And the sunsets aren't too bad either...

We left Tahoe in a hurry though because we didn't want to get stuck in the snow storm and snuck into Yosemite through Tioga Pass half an hour before they shut it down for the same storm

The storm clouds made for some moody shots though

We also take our first multi day hike here in Yosemite on the 30 mile (48km) trail to Merced Lake in the High Sierras

It's always an eerie feeling walking in a place after a recent forest fire, both haunting and yet serene at the same time

Here a wild Sam can be seen lugging around a 35lb (16kg) pack

We make it to camp at Lake Merced on the second day and find a man who had been there for a week already and was planning on staying another 6 days. He said it was good to see other humans and know that the world hasn't ended....yet.