REVELSTOKE, British Columbia — A couple converted a retired ambulance into a traveling home and are planning to break it in with a long road trip.
Bill Smyth and Logan Miller purchased a 1994 Ford E350 ambulance and converted it into a living space. Their goal is to travel in the ambulance to Mexico, and then visit all of the national parks along the way on their journey back to Canada.
“I’ve always known I want to do a long trip, it was just where and how,” Miller said. “Spending money on hostels, rentals, or whatever else felt like a waste of our income that we worked so hard to get so it made more sense to put that into our own home.”
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The couple chose the ambulance because of its potential for personalized space, as well as the $6,000 price tag. Upon purchasing, they named it Beartooth after the Montana city it was originally from, and they also discovered it was in New York during 9/11.
They added laminate floors, wooden countertops, appliances, solar panels and wallpaper, and there are even hanging plants to make it cozy, as well as an added chimney and wood stove.
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“It hasn’t been easy working with a space that’s so small. There are so many things to consider,” Miller, who owns an interior design company, said. “You don’t want tiles too big that break when you go over a bump, you have to use a special grout with the flooring, you can’t use anything that’s too thick because then your head space is wrong.”
The couple said the purchase has garnered a bit of attention.
“A lot of people when we’re driving will pull aside and kind of question if we’re an ambulance or not. We get a lot of people noticing from behind that we’re not an official ambulance anymore,” Smyth said. “Then they try to pass us to see what’s going on and who is driving.”
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