These Headliners Are Transforming a 1988 Bus Into a Home on Wheels

“Blue Sky Action” means many things to Nick Cahill, 27, and Jessica Perez, 29. It’s the name of a song by one of their favorite artists, Above & Beyond. It’s what they named the bus they bought and transformed into a sustainable home on wheels (and festival transportation mode of choice). It’s also what they hope to be getting more of as they learn to shed society’s constructs of what they should do and instead chase what they want.

The two might have grown up only a few miles apart in the Bay Area, but it wasn’t until EDC Las Vegas 2011 that they first met. “She’s a city girl; I’m an outdoor adventure guy. I don’t need to shower for a week, and she’s like, ‘ew, I’m dirty,’” says Nick. “We come from the furthest of opposites, and what Insomniac did is it brought us together.”

When they met, Jessica was a consultant traveling around the world, and Nick was a self-professed “broke college student.” Since then, she quit the corporate gig, ditched the city life, and now lives with Nick in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. “My friends think I’ve gone total hippie, but there’s still me there,” she says.

Four years after meeting, the two are now spreading their message of sustainable living, valuing experiences over possessions, and following your heart through their project, Blue Bus Adventure.

In January, the two bought the 1988 Thomas Built 33-passenger school bus off of Craigslist for $1,000. Since then, any free energy, time and money has been fully committed to the Blue Bus Adventure (which now has its own Instagram page). Jessica completely redesigned the interior, maximizing space while working with minimal area. Nick and his friends were tasked with the reconstruction portion, putting in 200 hours (and still counting) of physical labor. “I’d never constructed a box prior to building this bus, so it was the full learning experience—all the way down to the hardwood floors,” says Nick. The end product is now a home on wheels with a kitchenette, couch, queen-size bed, rooftop party deck, and solar panel that provides all the needed energy.

“We get beeps from people all the time,” says Jessica. “We’ll take it to the grocery store, and it’s great to see kids’ reactions.” In addition to the grocery store and gym, the Blue Bus Adventure has burned rubber on the way to numerous parties and camping trips across California, and to Burning Man.

“I’d never constructed a box prior to building this bus, so it was the full learning experience—all the way down to the hardwood floors.”

It was Blue Bus Adventure that got Nick and Jessica to the transformational gathering, which also happened to be the place where Jessica fulfilled her dream of pushing the button at Above & Beyond’s set. A homemade sign constructed with nail polish the morning of the show (insert Push The Button Sign photo), coupled with Jessica’s LED hoop, got her and her friend called onstage during one of the group’s most memorable performances of the year.

Nick got the all-important moment on camera, and it’s not the only rarity he’s caught behind the lens. This fall, Nick’s shot of Lake Tahoe under the Milky Way was chosen as the cover image for National Geographic’s Fall 2015 issue, “Guide to the Night Sky, a Stargazer’s Companion.”

“I like to create images that people don’t get to experience,” says Nick, who captured the image during a rare moment of no winds, clouds or moon in Lake Tahoe.

While the future of the Blue Bus Adventure isn’t fully mapped out, what’s more important is that Nick and Jessica are still driving the project forward. Wherever the bus takes them, their message to the world remains the same: Do what makes you happy. “I know for some people, going outside and going hiking and suffering the whole way up isn’t fun,” says Nick. “Even going to a music festival isn’t fun for everybody. My message would be to be happy and follow your passions.”

What that entails for Nick and Jessica—whether it’s throwing their own renegade pop-up parties in the desert, finding sponsors to create content for while they live in the bus, and even making it their permanent home—remains to be seen. But whatever they chose to do, they’ll definitely be getting a lot of Blue Sky Action along the way.

Anum may not have a bus, but she does have Twitter.

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