Bob Waldmire's School Bus Land Yacht

One of Route 66's most beloved characters is Bob Waldmire. Bob was from Illinois, and we are fortunate to have his VW van and also his converted school bus home in Pontiac at the Illinois Route 66 Association Hall of Fame and Museum. It's a truly unique home, and tells us much about the traveling artist of Route 66. Bob was a self proclaimed hippie, and he pared his lifestyle down to fit in his van and his school bus home. He truly lived his life on the mother road.

Here is Bob's bus as it sits behind our Old City Hall Museum Complex. Bob and friends added a second story, a sun deck, a bathroom and sauna, a working kitchen, an office, bed, guest room, and more. They converted the bus on the family farm in Illinois, then he drove it to Hackberry, Arizona, where it became his winter home.

You can tour the bus when you come to Pontiac, Illinois. I can't show you everything in one blog post, but I can give you a hint of what it's like. Then come visit and see this amazing home for yourself.  Take a peek inside:

The driver's seat

 Bob's desk

 A stove for heat on chilly desert nights.

 The seventies live on in Bob's bus.

This is just a portion of the things to see on this bus, not to mention all the things to see at the Route 66 Association of Illinois Museum! The museum and my shop, Home Again on Route 66, and the War Museum, and the Bob Waldmire Exhibit are all in the historic old city hall building with several other interesting exhibits about the 1940s and the Civil War.

Bob's VW van was the inspiration for the hippie van in the movie "Cars." In a future post I'll give you a peek at his van.