After 3 women learned they were dating the same man, they moved into a converted school bus together and now travel the country
Frank Olito
- Morgan Tabor, Abi Roberts, and Bekah King learned they were dating the same man at the end of 2020.
- As a way to heal, they bought a school bus, renovated it, and now travel the country full-time.
- After their unusual meeting, the women developed a deep friendship and want to continue traveling.
At the end of 2020, Morgan Tabor said she couldn't imagine the year getting any worse after the pandemic, but she couldn't have been more wrong.
At the time, Tabor, 21, said she had a weird feeling about her boyfriend, whom she'd been dating for a year, and called it "a sign from the universe."
After looking closer at his Instagram account, she found one woman he was always engaging with. When Tabor reached out to her, she learned something shocking: Her boyfriend was dating another woman at Utah State University, the same school Tabor goes to.
That wasn't all. She learned he was also dating two other women in Boise, Idaho. Turns out, Abi Roberts, 19, was dating the guy for over a month, and Bekah King, 18, was dating him for five months.
"That was just surreal," Tabor said. "It was so weird and awful to hear."
The women FaceTimed in their attempt to make sense of their experiences.
When the four women learned about each other, they commiserated together on a FaceTime call.
"From there it was just a lot of us comparing timelines, deconstructing this person that we thought we knew and trusted, and that was insane," Roberts told Insider. "At this point, we've been texting each other nonstop, just really trying to heal from this and understand what had happened to us."
They decided to meet up for the first time in person, and they instantly bonded. They even took a trip to Hawaii together as friends.
They learned their boyfriend had promised each of them he would take them on a road trip in a van. "We were talking and joking that we should just do it together," Tabor said.
"After we all met up, I kind of realized, 'These are actually people that I could see myself living with,' and I think we all kind of realized the same thing," she added.
In April 2021, Tabor, Roberts, and King decided to live out their dreams and buy a school bus together instead of a van.
They purchased the school bus, which was a former firefighter bus.
The women agreed to put $1,500 each into the bus, bringing their total to $5,000.
For the next two months, they worked on renovating the school bus, which brought them even closer.
"It was really, really challenging, but so, so much fun," Roberts said. "I think we all learned a lot about construction and about our capabilities. It took a lot of research and planning and budgeting, but it was so worth it. It was exhausting, but in the best of ways, it paid off."
King added that they were working full-time jobs and finishing up school while renovating the bus.
"It was insane," King said. "There were many, many 4 a.m. working sessions in the bus. I don't think I've ever been more sleep-deprived in my life. We lived off of caffeine."
While the renovation process was hard on each of them, they found it to be very healing.
Tabor said she also went to therapy to talk through the breakup, but the build-out also helped.
"It was definitely healing to just spend some time putting our energy into something really productive and creative rather than something destructive," Tabor said. "I think that was really important."
After the renovation, the women started their journey on the road this summer.
They moved into the "BAM Bus" — an acronym based on their names — and started traveling as soon as they finished renovating. Taking their work with them, the crew explored their favorite places, Jackson Hole and Yellowstone.
They said they acclimated to their new home, which has a pull-out couch and a simple kitchen area upfront.
The kitchen has a large Yeti cooler that acts as a fridge.
"It's really, really simply built, but basically, it has our cooler and all of our dishes and utensils underneath as well as the sink on the end that we made out of a mixing bowl," Roberts said.
In the middle of the bus, there are two bunk beds.
Tabor and Roberts sleep on these beds.
At the back of the bus, there is a single bed for King to sleep in.
The back of the bus also has an area for their clothing hidden behind a tapestry and a small toilet they use only in emergencies.
Although the school bus is simply designed and tiny, they said they love living together.
"It was actually a lot easier than I think we originally thought it would be," Tabor said. "I think we're all very comfortable with each other, and we don't bug each other that much. We're just cracking jokes and having fun."
Their biggest complaint about their new lifestyle is that the schoolie doesn't have an AC.
"Luckily, we're in the mountains usually, so it's a little bit cooler, but being on a school bus in the summer, it gets really hot all the time," Roberts said. "We sweat a lot, but it's definitely worth it."
Although the women met through unusual circumstances, they said they're thankful for how everything went down.
In fact, King said they "hardly ever" talk about that former boyfriend anymore.
"In our healing process, we prioritized our own friendships outside of what happened," she said. "Of course, this is what brought us together, but we've found a lot of peace and joy in knowing that our friendship isn't based around him."
They said their ex knows they are traveling together but has refused to comment.
Now that they're bonded for life and have gotten a taste of being nomads, the three agree they "don't want to live stationary."
Initially, they wanted to travel in the schoolie until November, but now, they have plans to travel indefinitely.
"We love the community out here," Tabor said. "I think we'd like to keep doing this as long as we can. This has been a dream for all of us, and it's been really awesome to be out here, and I really wouldn't want to go back."
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