.jpg "Gaelyn washing bus windows Eagles Cliff Gifford Pinchot NF WA")
Gaelyn washing windows, 1974 International bus, Eagles Cliff, Washington
After almost two years of being in one place at Eagles Cliff, Dale and I had itchy feet and wanted to be back on the road pursuing our gypsy life. So we bought a school bus from a church to turn into a home on wheels.
.jpg "Dale painting school bus at Carson flea market WA")
Dale painting, Carson, Washington flea market
We painted away the school bus yellow with “oops” paint—that’s whatever the hardware store had mixed wrong for someone—Navajo white and Ever green. Dale started building inside and continued working as we journeyed.
.jpg "Bus home Scomocaway WA")
Along the Columbia River, Scomocaway, Washington
We headed to the coast in September then went south. We got to Yucca Valley, California and set up to sell. We needed to get rid of the bus as we couldn’t get insurance so we traded it for what I called the morphodite.
.jpg "Morphadite camper on trailer Yuma AZ")
The morphodite
A closed-in cab-over camper on a trailer with a flat house window over the bed. A little small for two adults and their stuff, Carson, and numerous banana boxes of merchandise. (Flea marketers measure by banana box.)
I knew that camper wouldn’t work in rainy Washington where I planned to return for summer. Plus I really needed my own space so I bought a 27 foot Pace Arrow motorhome. Carson and I moved in to what felt like a palace. And come spring I headed back north.
.jpg "1974 Pace Arrow Yuma AZ")
1974 Pace Arrow near Yuma, Arizona
Selling at flea markets alone proved to be too much work, for very little money, so when I got to Washington I settled my gypsy life for a while and returned to work at Eagles Cliff.