From School Bus to Showstopper: ‘Yeti' Skoolie Rolls Into Mecum's Summer Auction
'Labor of love' is a phrase that doesn't really do this auction-bound build justice. It was somehow bigger than that—driven by a force arguably even more powerful than love. This was an act of survival—a defiant stand against death itself, or at least against the death of one man's heart and soul, and what could be more powerful than that?
This custom-built 2006 Thomas Freightliner FS65 Skoolie Mobile Home, now headed for the Mecum auction this July in Kissimmee, Florida, was born of the tumultuous time when the COVID pandemic was at its peak, an event that forever altered the course of human history in ways both big and small. They were difficult years for many, and transformational ones for many others. But for each and every person alive on this earth, something shifted; few emerged unchanged, and for better or worse, things have never been the same.
Eddie Kreder was living in Florida with his wife, Sherrie, and son, Nicholas, when the pandemic hit. He'd made a career remodeling homes, owning and operating his own very successful remodeling company, called Veterans Home Improvements LLC. It was a skill that he'd picked up after high school, when he was hired by a local Tour de France cyclist named Joe, who'd been paralyzed after being struck by a car while biking.
Joe purchased an old sprawling colonial home that he wanted to renovate from the ground up. He had the skills, but not the physical ability, so he brought in Eddie right out of high school to serve as something of a surrogate and protege, and he taught him many of the skills he still uses today.
Eddie didn't set up shop as a home remodeler right away. He first served in the United States Army as a paratrooper, and he served most of his tour in Panama, Central America. After being Honorably Discharged from the military, he earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education and then taught for a handful of years. However, the creativity that was required by the remodeling industry was something that continued to call his name. Eventually, Eddie got back into remodeling homes and quickly earned a solid reputation as a project manager at Grayhawk Remodeling in Bradenton, Florida.
As most creatively driven individuals can attest, there is a lot of inspiration to be found in the art and accomplishments of others with like minds, and Eddie soon found a pivotal source in the work of one now very popular YouTube channel, 'The Nomadic Movement.'
'I started following 'The Nomadic Movement' on YouTube just before COVID,' Eddie explained, 'and I also started following a bunch of other nomads who were transforming buses and vans and traveling across the United States. I was checking it out to see how they were doing it and the lifestyles they were living.
'Jordan and Kaylee started 'The Nomadic Movement.' They traveled all over the United States, and then they traveled down to Panama, Central America, and ended up in a small mountain town called Boquete, which I'm very familiar with because I was stationed in Panama in the military. It's a small mountain town; it's like 3,000 feet above sea level, and it's like 70 degrees all year long. Jordan and Kaylee ended up creating a homestead down there, and they're thriving. So that's what got me the bug, and I hope to meet them both someday as well.'
Just before COVID hit, Eddie said he went out in search of a bus to begin converting. He contacted a company called BGA School Buses in nearby Hudson, Florida, as the company is solely dedicated to purchasing decommissioned school buses from around the country and claims to seek out the absolute best available examples anywhere. With a mission to specifically serve both churches and the 'Skoolie' bus-RV conversion community, the company even offers titling services that allow purchasers to title their new-to-them bus as an RV right from the point of sale, saving them the trouble down the road.
'So, I bought this bus,' Eddie said with a smile, 'and I named it Yeti. It's a 24-foot school bus. It was yellow. It had all kinds of seats—it looked like a school bus!'
Eddie said there are a couple of key things that attract devotees of the so-called 'Skoolie' community to school buses instead of RVs, aside from the obvious creative customization opportunities.
'You can roll a school bus, and it won't disintegrate like an RV would, because they're made to protect kids,' he said. He also noted that they tend to decommission school buses long before their engines are spent as a further safety measure. 'And diesel engines can go for like 500,000 miles,' he said, 'so 100,000 is nothing.'
Eddie had one special request for BGA before he took delivery of the bus: he wanted it painted in the ultra-cool all-black finish that it currently wears today. The company obliged, and Eddie took on the rest of the work himself.
'The only thing I didn't do,' he noted, 'was the electrical, the plumbing, and the gas. I wanted a licensed electrician and a licensed plumber to do all that, so that it's all certified.'
To create his dream skoolie, Eddie first had to strip the bus down, including the seats, insulate the heavy-duty steel walls, and then build something of a framed-out interior using 2x4s and plywood, as he said he didn't want to use prefab materials that often lack in quality construction.
As a result, the entire interior of the bus is custom-built, from the custom cabinetry with soft-close hinges and the cedar tongue-and-groove ceilings, to the diamond-plated shift column and driver-side floor. And it's not just pretty finishings either; the functionality is just as well thought-out, with stunning custom modern appearances.
The back of the skoolie bus houses a full-size bed with storage and water tanks underneath, along with one of the bus's two air-conditioning units mounted to the ceiling above. Next comes a functional water closet with a custom cedar barn door on one side of the bus and a full stand-up shower directly across, which includes a convenient instant water heater.
Beyond that are large sections of drawers and cabinets for an abundance of storage needs, and then comes the most welcoming part of all: the skoolie's custom kitchen and adjacent sitting area. A full-size sink, two-burner stovetop, brand-new mini fridge, and tons of additional storage make the space exceptionally practical, while a black granite countertop, rustic multicolored barnwood backsplash, white cabinetry, and wide-plank wood floors give it a stunning modern appearance that is hard not to swoon over.
Eddie said that although the build took considerable time to finish (on and off for a year), there weren't too many hiccups along the way, at least not with the bus itself. The world around him, however, was undergoing dramatic changes, and none of it was going as smoothly as the building of his skoolie.
COVID struck first, and as the global landscape seemed to crumble before his eyes, Eddie found that his job and family were far from immune to its effects. Throughout the earthly upheaval, his job shut down temporarily, and his family's dynamics would also suffer. While Eddie and his wife, Sherrie, managed these difficult times, they weren't destined to make it through the changing landscape as a married couple. Eddie was able to help his son, Nick, establish his own remodeling business called Shooting Star Home Improvement LLC, which is doing very well.
'Nick and I had a couple of difficult years; however, we worked through it. He even helped me out with the build, which helped strengthen our relationship again,' Eddie said. 'Now, he has his own business doing renovations, and he's doing amazing.'
Eddie said his ultimate goal for the bus was to serve as a retirement plan, not to make money off it, but to take him around the country to see as many national parks as possible.
'So, then what happened was,' Eddie paused to collect himself before continuing, 'I had it all done, and I was looking forward to retirement and everything, and then my mom, Mary, had a severe stroke.'
Sadly, instead of a joyful ride into retirement, his maiden voyage in the bus became a trip to visit his mother in the hospital in upstate New York, where she was recovering from her stroke.
'They didn't think she was going to make it, but she proved them all wrong,' Eddie said. 'It took like 30 hours to get there from Florida, and that bus ran like a champ.'
Equipped with a Mercedes-Benz MBE-900 4.8L inline 6-cylinder diesel engine and a new alternator and starter, Eddie pointed out that he didn't 'cut any corners on anything, because it was going to be my personal RV. I never had any intentions of selling it!'
But sometimes, life has other plans. Eddie's mother soon asked if she could move down to Florida to stay with him, as she was now struggling to live on her own. A man of honor and duty with great respect and gratitude for his mother, Eddie agreed without hesitation.
As something of a last hurrah with the bus, Eddie took his mom on one trip in the skoolie. The two drove up to Memphis, Tennessee, together to visit Elvis Presley's Graceland. He said his mom was a massive Elvis fan in her youthful years, and while she did have tickets to one of his shows, Elvis passed away shortly before the concert was to take place.
'So, I took her up there, and it was an amazing experience,' Eddie said. He added that at one point, his mom exclaimed, 'If I die tomorrow, it would be okay!'
While the trip was a success, Eddie said his mother's limited mobility makes the bus a difficult accommodation for her to enjoy, and so traveling with her more regularly isn't really an option. It's just one more reason that selling the bus now is the right move for Eddie. Once the skoolie sells, Eddie and his mom plan to go on a few more adventures, sans skoolie, while she still can.
At the end of the day, Eddie said building the bus was nothing short of a deeply therapeutic exercise for him and a truly life-changing experience. In some ways, it has served to help save his life and some of those around him, carrying them through possibly the most difficult periods they'd ever experienced. While he may not get to enjoy it in all the ways he'd imagined, it's already made a world of difference in his life, and he hopes that now, it can show someone else a bit more of the world.
'I just hope that whoever buys it will just appreciate it and enjoy it and use it for what it's for,' he said, holding back tears.
A labor of love, an act of survival: whatever you decide to call it, this skoolie is a bus with a whole lot of heart, and some new nomad is soon going to inherit a rolling work of art when it crosses the block this summer in Kissimmee. It may even have a few lives yet to save or at least a handful of hearts to inspire. In any case, it's a bus that's bound to go far.
This one-of-a-kind Skoolie hits the Mecum Harrisburg Auction July 23–26, alongside hundreds of other head-turning rides. We hope to see you there!
Special thanks to Mecum Auctions for allowing us to share this feature. All photography by Matt Mahan, courtesy of Mecum Auctions, Inc. This article has been syndicated with permission. All rights reserved by Mecum Auctions, Inc.
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