After buying an official DART bus off Craigslist for $7,000, three Woodrow Wilson grads are now on a mission to find the coolest stuff in Texas.
Brothers Evan and Hayden Faram, along with friend Ben Thevenet, launched the website The Coolest Stuff in Texas (CSTX) in November, where they share stories, photos and videos that highlight the best things to see and do in the state.
At first they spent months traveling across the Lone Star State by car, but that got really old (and really cramped) quickly, so they did what anyone would do and bought a DART bus.
And it must have been fate because they later learned — through a guy they met on the social media site Reddit, of all places — the bus once ran the streets in East Dallas.
“It’s come full circle,” Evan says.
They purchased the snazzy new ride in February from a man in Cedar Hill, who taught them everything he knew about the bus’ mechanical underbelly. The trio immediately began the process of refurbishing the beast, and they didn’t mind soliciting financial help from strangers to make it happen.
They did as much work as they could, putting in a new engine and completely rebuilding the inside. They built two closet-like rooms with beds that spring up to reveal storage underneath, a water closet and a shower, a kitchenette and a lounge area where the trio can hangout and work while on the road.
Although the guys had some previous handyman experience, that didn’t help them much with this project.
“When it comes to building out a bus, everything you know goes out the window,” Evan explains. “There are no right angles on a bus.”
Partway through the process they ran out of money, so they launched a campaign on Kickstarter, an online funding platform. After they successfully raised $10,000, they finished the work they started.
And now they’ve got people to see and things to do, so it’s time to get the show on the road, starting this month.
Neighbors can track their progress or make suggestions for CSTX on the website: thecooleststuffintexas.com.
