Over the past 7 months, Dakota of Coral Kota has been converting her 2001 Chevy Corbeil mini bus C.O.R.A.L (clean.oceans.reefs.air.land) to travel in! This part of her journey has been very fun, but also challenging at times. Her family has been helping her with the build from her driveway in New York and she says she definitely wouldn’t be where she is today, if it wasn’t for them. A few things she has learned, while converting C.O.R.A.L, is patience and trusting that things will fall into place. Throughout the build everything has been falling (almost) perfectly into place.

The day she bought the bus was such a unique and special day and makes a great story. It was late March of this year (2020) and there was a random snow storm. She still decided to go look at the bus. Later that night, after checking it out, she went back and bought it. She and her family drove it home with one of the rear tires flat, as they drove on slippery, narrow & winding back roads, while the wind whipped around, until they finally made it to her neighborhood. The bus wouldn’t make it up the hill, so they all shoveled a tire path to follow and finally, the bus made it up. From that moment on, she knew that it was going to be an adventure with more and more funky stories to tell.

Dakota said that one of her surprising favorite parts about skoolie life, is learning that you can’t expect anything to happen without planning and you just have to “Take it Easy” (Eagles reference) and things will work out and eventually fall into place and create amazing stories. She already has so many stories and it’s only the beginning of her journey.

She’s just about done with the build, so she hasn’t taken her skoolie too far, but she does go down to her favorite local spot, which is right along the Hudson River. She has always wanted to travel and see the world, while bringing the feeling of being at home with her and she felt skoolie life seemed like the perfect opportunity. A few of her goals are to take adventures and experience new things, as well as clean our beaches and our planet. It has been from a young age that she had always wanted to work in the ocean and with sharks. Her hope in traveling is to find opportunities that may present her with an opportunity to work in an ocean and shark conservation, while spreading awareness about these beautiful creatures. She hope to hit the road soon!

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A post shared by Dakota Joleen⚓️ (@coral.kota)

What your Skoolie’s Year, Make & Model?: 2001 Chevy Corbeil 3500 Duel Mini Bus
What’s your Skoolie’s name?: C.O.R.A.L (clean oceans reefs air land)
Why did you choose Skoolie Life?: It seemed like a great opportunity to travel but still have the cozy feeling of being at home.
Did you convert your Skoolie?: Yes.
How long have you been experienced Skoolie Life?: Since March 23, 2020
Do you have kids on board?: No.
Do you have Skoolie pets?: I have one puppy, he is a Shih Tzu poodle mix and his name is Chewbacca!
Best part of Skoolie Life?: The amount of memory and story it has given me. I couldn’t choose one favorite part; it has all been such an amazing journey so far and It’s only just begun.
Toughest part of Skoolie Life?: Learning patience, it’s not always an easy project. I definitely grew a lot and learned to take it easy and don’t stress over the little things because it will workout.
What do you hope to gain from Skoolie Life?: I hope to travel, meet new people and create many memories, and to find opportunities to spread awareness for ocean and shark conservation!

We hope you enjoyed this weeks Skoolie Story! To follow Coral Kota’s adventure, click on the direct links below. You’re going to enjoy seeing this girl take her bus on the road and create even more wonderful skoolie memories!

• Click here to follow Coral Kota on Instagram and keep up with her skoolie life!
• Click here to subscribe to Coral Kota on YouTube, where she will be uploading videos from her adventures!
• Click here to follow Coral Kota on Pinterest and see her future adventure pins!