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College grads eschew 9-to-5 life to hit the road

$800 bus acts as home and office for unique venture

By Mary Stevens Decker

Staff writer

A British rock start – Pete Townshend of The Who – wrote the song “Goin’ Mobile” more than 30 years ago, but its tale of wandering ways still rings true for many.

Who wouldn’t love to escape the rat race, just jump into a car or bus and go? No schedules, no hassles, just you and the open road.

Carson Roen, a 2002 graduate of Redmond High School and spring ’06 grad of Pepperdine University, turned down a lucrative job offer at Ameriprise Financial to do just that. Foolish? Maybe, but don’t write him off until you’ve heard him out.

Armed with degrees in business administration and advertising respectively, Roen and a fellow Pepperdine alumnus, Luke Dunivan, are roaming the West Coast and beyond in a gas powered, 1982 GMC school bus they purchased for $800 on eBay.

They removed the seats and filled the interior with the comforts of home – weathered sofas, coffee tables, a mini-fridge and TV. It’s their residence on wheels, as well as their workplace, the heart of a business venture called “eBUS live!”

So far, just a modest banner identifies the vehicle’s purpose, “but we have a business plan written up, we’ve opened a bank account and filed for an LLC (limited liability corporations)” said Roen. “We’re taking the business side seriously, but still having a good time.”

The business, more specifically will sell advertising space on the side of the bus and encourage passing motorists or pedestrians to check out the clients’ links on the partners’ Web site, www.ebuslive.com.

Roen and Dunivan earlier had two more business partners, but parental disapproval got the better of one, and the other decided to get married.

“It’s a big risk. Pretty much no one said I wasn’t crazy, at least when they first heard about it,” Roen admitted. “But after 10 minutes, they asked, ‘Can I go with you?’”

It helps, he acknowledged, that he’d been saving money his whole life, invested it at age 18 and came up with a nest egg that’s giving him the freedom to pursue this unorthodox scheme.

He’s lucky, too, that his family and longtime girlfriend Ashley Olson are behind it. He and Olson have been a couple since she was in eighth grade and he was in ninth at Redmond Junior High.

“Nothing about this surprises me,” said Olson. “Carson’s always come up with big ideas and acted upon them. Did he tell you he bought a boat for spring break when he didn’t know how to sail?”

Nope, he didn’t mention that.

Long story short: Through sheer determination, and with help from Olson, who’d taken a sailing class at the University of San Diego, Roen sailed the boat to Catalina Island during the break but has since sold it because of expensive mooring fees.

“He’s also been one to engineer potato guns, hovercraft on water and motorized scooters,” Olson said.

She added, “I’m a math major. I don’t fully understand the advertising aspect. But I talked to my dad about it and he thinks it’s neat if Carson can get paid to live his life the way he likes. As long as he can make some money, it’s pretty sweet. And he’s young. When else can you do this sort of thing?”

Amen to that, but shouldn’t there be a time frame?

“I’d like to try it a year, even two. I have ideas to expand to bigger projects,” Roen said.

For now, it’s strictly going with the flow.

“There’s no daily routine at all,” he said. “Sometimes we seize a fun opportunity, depending on where we are. Other times we’re updating the Web site, renovating the bus or planning which sponsors to approach.”

They sleep at rest stops and in Wal-Mart parking lots, shower at friends’ homes, feast on fast food and pasta cooked on a camp stove. Donald Trump probably wouldn’t dig it.

That said, “The Donald” isn’t known as a people person. Roen, on the other hand, is.

“Nearly every time we park, someone walks up and asks, ‘What are you guys doin’?” Just stopping for gas, strangers come by to talk. The people who stop are excited about what we’re doing,” he said.

Drivers stuck behind the eBUS – it only goes 55-60 mph tops – might not be as thrilled, he owned up.

The goal, Roen said, is to promote the bus and its journey as “a fun, human interest thing.”

“We hope people will visit and revisit the Web site, just see what we’re up to,” he said.

Mary Stevens Decker can be reached at mary.deckeratreporternewspapers.com or (425) 453-4262