Humble Pie

I reviewed my last post and thought it might have an unintended 'holier than thou' flavor to it. I want to be clear that these are my opinions that I feel are right for me. And they aren't even all altruistic. Going to the gym, for example, isn't purely to keep me healthy and living longer. I go there also to shower and truth be told because of a touch of vanity in how I appear. I am a single guy after all and I must maintain the merchandise if I ever want to get married to someone I find attractive. Besides if good health and longevity were my goals I would spend less time with the free weights and more time doing some sort of cardio regime. Hopefully I get to destinations that provide cardio exercise disguised as fun, like hiking and exploring.
I would probably still be in front of a TV if I hadn't taken on this endeavor.

I have finally posted on the web site that gave me the inspiration and know how to convert a bus to my home on wheels. www.Skoolie.net During my early research days before buying the bus I spent hours reading posts on this site. There is quite an inventive counter-culture that I had no idea existed. Take some time and check it out. Go to the Forums area and see what other people have done. I run the risk of losing all the 'Wow Brian. You are so cool and unique' aura that I know many readers must have about me. But alas, I am but a humble student of others. Go ahead, Cry if you must, I am no longer a one of a kind revolutionary thinker. I do think that I do stand out because I have not found anyone else who has done what I have done under the circumstances I have done it. 1) I built a pretty good bus home while living fulltime on it. 2) Except for the clutch and the fuel line repairs, I did ALL design and construction by myself. That is pretty amazing, considering most have a spouse or friend who lent a hand. I called on nobody for construction. I did however call on many for a place to park, a place to work, to help me when I was stranded, and many other things. But design and construction was all me.
Also credit needs to be given to some particularly helpful blogs that inspired me and sometimes helped me keep my motivation.
http://www.vonslatt.com/bus-main.shtml
This site was one of the first I found on the subject of bus conversion. Probably the one I most patterned my bus after since it was also a rear engine bus. This guy did a 1st class job on this bus and makes my interior look pitiful in comparison. I liked his use of recycled items, taking little and making much. His bus is longer than mine so to my credit he had more space to work with.
www.goodnewsbus.com This site features a bus that construction was started about the same time as mine. It too is an excellent example of what can be done. I followed his construction on a continuous basis for the first couple of months. Then I realized I didn't have the resources, manpower or the money to compete. But it is a mighty fine bus. And you might see that I borrowed his blog background and style. A very good, point by point account of how to build a bus properly, with style. The author also has a keen eye for spotting deals at home improvement shops.
There are several others but I have to run for now.

Parked Philosophy

Last night was a cold one. Weather.com says it was 31 degrees. It felt colder. Maybe because I had to endure it longer before I could fire up the trusty heater. I don't run the heater when I am underway, multiple safety reasons...fire and condensation being the top two. So when I left the library last night at 9pm after blogging I got in my icebox and drove to the gym for a workout and the first shower since Christmas. Of course, I had to combat the windshield fogging up from my breath, which seems to be powerfully moist and voluminous because my windshield quickly fogged up. My best tactic so far is to squeegee and then drive with my driver side window open. The freezing air negates my warm breath and slowly clears the windshield and keeps it clear. I'd rather be able to see than be warm. Then I drive the same way to Walmart to get contact lens solution and then stop by gas station for more kerosene. Finally I make it to my parking spot behind GNC. Both cat and dog bolt off the bus as if to say 'It's warmer out here than in that metal freezer'. I let them mock me for awhile.
 Lighting the heater is not as easy as pushing a button because the ignitor is broken, so I use a lighter. But before I hit the wick with some flame I have to allow the wick to absorb the kerosene.  I remove the portable tank that allows me to refill it outside while leaving the heater burning inside. It leaves enough kerosene to burn for about a half hour in a reservoir under the wick. I usually burn this excess off before driving because I have sloshed kerosene onto my floors while driving and while I am not certain how this happens, I take all precautions I can think of. Then I set the refillable tank beside the heater during my commutes. So, before I can relight the heater I have to re-insert the tank, let it fill up reservoir, let wick absorb kerosene (which takes 30 minutes to an hour) then I can light it up. But when I light it up I must lug it off the bus so that the initial few minutes of burning doesn't stink up the bus with black smoke. After that I carefully carry it back up the bus steps, careful not to bump or tilt the heater so I don't spill fuel, but just as importantly, so I don't trip the safety pendelum inside that retracts the wick like a scared turtle in case of a tip over, which extinquishes the heater flame. When I successfully set the heater down I can then bask in its warm glow. This is the down side of kerosene heat for me. Lucky for me, I haven't experienced anything easier or warmer on the bus yet so anything else I get that makes life easier will be much appreciated. This is symbolic of pretty much everything I do on the bus, lots of extra steps for things I use to take for granted...cooking, electricity, heat, doing dishes, in fact, anything to do with plumbing. I am resourceful enough to make do with what I have but everything is much more labor intensive. And I actually like the rituals, but I can see a day where I will want to upgrade. And when that desire gets strong enough, I do what I have to do to make that happen. I wired electricity because of that need. I insulated walls because the suffocating July heat was highly motivating. I know there are people who think it is crazy, but I think I had way too much comfort and was continuing to look for comfort way beyond my basic needs. I wasn't getting any happier in this process. Now, I am happier and more satisfied than I can ever remember. I believe too much comfort made me lazy and soft. Its like when I watch kids running around playing tag, they can run zig zag through the yard all day but as an adult I lost that simple spirit of fun because the work was too much. Trust me, Tag is no longer my game of choice, but I don't mind putting myself outside my comfort zone in order to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. I think of the terms happiness and joy, and what they mean to me. I don't think it is just making life easier or nicer, although there is nothing wrong with that as long as it is directly tied to something truly important. Struggling is highly under-rated. I go to the gym to work out, most times I'd rather pop Macadamia and White Chocolate chip cookies into my mouth, but there is a greater good to the struggle. The struggle to get to the gym, the struggle to go through a difficult workout.  You don't get any gain without the struggle. The same could be said for the discipline of proper eating. You almost always have to deny yourself comfort in order to improve. Same thing with learning...
I don't buy into this whole retirement facade where you do a job you don't like so you can coast in your golden years. Taking a vacation every couple of months doesn't constitute a life to me. What do I want my day to day life to be about? I believe a person should do what they love the majority of the time and work towards it. For me, I want to learn about people different from what I have grown up around and see places I haven't seen before. Do things like, skydiving, climbing a 14,000 foot mountain, live free to go from place to place as I want. I want to learn as much as possible about everything, how to survive on an old school bus in moderate comfort, building things, fixing things, how different people think and why. And sitting in a Laz-Y-Boy watching TV is not my idea of a goal. TV is like alcohol, not necessarily evil, but potential for becoming the mindless 'go to' choice of many. I never want to say I don't have time to do something because directly or indirectly I would rather watch TV. Don't get me wrong, I love watching a good movie and I am a former TV junkie. I watched because I was bored mostly. And I knew it was bad for me, like eating a box of krispy kreme donuts is bad for me but I became a great justifier and rationalizer to excuse myself. I had to do something drastic to change. I knew I wanted to live life but I always had a good excuse not to or I tried to satiate it with a vacation here and there or a boat for the lake. I am not even to the cool sounding part of my adventure yet and I am having such a better time than before.
You know the only way my situation could be improved would be to have that someone special to share it with. I have spoken to many couples and they talk of times early in the marriage when things were tough but great. Then over time they improved their social status but they grew apart. I would say that although by all appearances they improved their lot in life they actually hurt it. The priority is genuine closeness with another. Some of my best relationship memories were with girlfriends working together on a problem...laying hardwoods, conspiring together to take a quick 4 day budget trip to Alaska, or even just washing our cars together. The intimate connection that comes when two people share in solving a problem together, setting a goal and achieving it with equal input, is what I believe to be a significant part of happiness. I am not currently dating nor am I particularly interested in trying to. First, if I had met a girl at the beginning of the bus odyssey I probably would have run her off with my display of inpatience at trivial issues. A person must understand me deeply before thrown into such a chaotic scene. I am lucky Nala hasn't checked out yet. But I am sure that I will find a kindred spirit when I get to the point where the majority of my decisions are where to go instead of how do I keep this blasted drill bit from breaking. Inevitably, the little stuff will crop up in a relationship and the person that hasn't been weeded out by the process will at least tolerate my shortcomings, perhaps even lift me up when I stumble. Another thing, I will not be interviewing/dating princesses or divas...they are too lazy and I just don't want a person that hasn't cut loose their 'entitlement' issues.
Although I shared relationship ideas, and they do have a future importance to me, I am very content being by myself right now. More so than ever in the past where I don't think I went a month or two without a girlfriend. Its like I have broken an addiction and the cravings have vanished. I still notice girls out and about but casual dating would be too complicated now. And I am about to leave town. I don't even indulge the idea of relationship.
I guess the reason it comes to mind now is that I met a young couple that are engaged. I met them behind the GNC where I am parked and where they work. Great people, they each brought Nala out a dog treat and they both checked out the bus. The guy was really into what I have done with the bus and told me how he had traveled for a month in an RV. He talked about his Uncle in Wyoming and suggested I go visit him and stay there for a little while. They are engaged and since I talked to them about an hour ago, the idea of relationship is still on my mind. I look forward to seeing them more this week.
I think I found the leak in my clutch line. I filled it up this morning drove here to the library, looked under the bus to see if there were any leaks. I noticed a slow drip coming from the slave cylinder (where I connected the spring a month ago). My best guess based on what I saw is that the spring is putting pressure downwards on the rod going into the slave cylinder. Which is causing the rod to not drive straight into the cylinder. The best analogy would be putting a pencil into a pencil sharpener at a slight angle instead of straight in. One preliminary solution could be to find a less tightly wound spring. But I may have permanently bent the rod, not that I see any evidence of that. For the next few days my solution will be to add fluid to the master cylinder every morning and monitor the level during the day.

The Holidays

I have finally made it through the bulk of the holidays. It has been awhile since I have had time to blog. I am tempted to give the normal holiday procrastination excuses but the truth is I just didn't have it in me to write. I was busy for a week and a half with some projects for a friend. A fellow still needs to eat and get heat. Although my friend has lightning fast internet at his house, I rarely had time to stop and get online. When I finished up for the day I would go back to my bus and fire up my now properly working heater. I got the heat situation down pat. I did my dry burn with the kerosene heater and got the wick as soft as bunny fur. Goodbye eye watering fumes. I also went nuts on my new found insulation friend, Mr Cellophane. I covered every single window except the windshield. The very back window has cellophane AND white painted 1/2inch foam board. The windshield is covered with two fold up sun reflector type windshield visors for mild insulation and privacy.

Over that, I drape a curtain, to block what the sun reflectors don't, held in place by Sun Visor and storage door. Kind of a pain but I don't need people peeking in as they drive by checking out what boxers I wore that day.
But I still have a serious windshield condensation issue. I can not drive safely when the bus is all warmed up and it is still very cold outside. The windshield starts weeping water on the inside like a glass of ice water on a hot summer day. Even when I squeege it dry, foggy condensation comes back and blurs the view.
I have tried windex, rain-x and other products to no avail. Because I removed the hose leading from the radiator to the front of the bus that provided heat and therefore defrosting capabilities, I am stuck finding a work around fix. I purchased a cheapo defroster type device that plugs into the cigarette lighter but either it is too poorly made or my windows are too big but it doesn't help at all. I am sure I will come up with an easier solution than firing up the generator and running the hairdryer for 10 minutes over the windshield. That just seems too time consuming, plus what happens when I am on the road for a half hour and the windows fog up again??

On the bright side: I keep it so warm that I only wear shorts, wool socks and a Tshirt on the bus, even when it is below freezing outside. I have been letting the heater run all night and waking up not afraid of crawling out from under the covers. I don't want to spoil myself (and I want to save fuel) so I will return to turning it off before I go to sleep. I have to rough it a little bit. Side note: my insulation job is so good that the ice in my cooler is melting at the normal speed of 3-4 days instead of the 5-7 I was getting when the bus was perpetually cold.
My cellophane covered side windows have a small leak. Although it doesn't dramatically affect insulation it does allow moisture between cellophane and window and that causes condensation. I don't really use side windows to see when driving so they don't pose the safety issue as condensation on the windshield does. Put the perfectionist in me doesn't like it. It seems that the metal, that the double sided tape is stuck to and which hold cellophane around window, gets its fair share of condensation. Which in turn compromises the adhesive properties of the tape and because the cellophane in so taunt it pulls the weakened tape off the metal in certain places. My fix for this particular problem is such a cliche and equally as tacky that I dare not mention it. There is humor to be mined here. I went to duct tape. Not visually appealing but effective. When I have more time I will remove the existing cellophane dry the windows off thoroughly reapply new cellophane and re-inforce it with white duct tape, which will look better. But for now I do what I must.
In this picture I am shrinking the cellophane on the upper glass of the front door. Notice my cellophane fix on side windows next to me.
Over the holidays I also took the time to actually start decorating. All that means really is that I neatened up my window treatments. Instead of one long mono-curtain, I divided them and made two curtains that meet in the middle. I also upgraded the curtain rods from speaker wire to thin braided rope. Speaker wire had a tendency to droop in the middle after a little usage. I think that was due to the rubber insulation covering it being stretchy. The braided rope, more of a glorified braided string, is a little thinner than a shoe lace but stronger and is coarse enough to keep the curtains from sliding at unwanted times...like when I am braking. I used a black one from an old dog leash for the front windshield curtains and a thinner brown one for side window curtains.

It isn't perfect, the curtains need hemming where I cut them so right now stray, frayed thread sticks out every few inches. But I plan on buying all new color coordinating curtains one day soon so hemming takes the back burner for now. It is amazing the difference it makes. It's like I went from Billy Jo's hunting shack to a freshman college student's dorm room. Plus it is easier to just slide the front windshield curtains closed than to hang them over the visor and storage door. When I am ready to drive I just pull them open and tie them back on each side of the front windshield.
This is what they look like when it is time to ride. Notice that I have to hit the side window cellophane again with the hair dryer because of the tape loosening. But the overall look is much nicer for the bus interior.
Close up of Windshield curtain pulled back.

I also installed another door to my upper shelves. Man, that is a drag. I found enough good parts to just do the one door. New problems cropping up are the doors I had cut and painted months ago are warping, so they don't fit flush with the cabinet facing. And I have misplaced the remaining hinges. They are in a tote somewhere under the bus. Or maybe in a tote in Spartanburg. Lesson learned: Procrastination especially for menial projects with many small parts does not pay.
I have to get a larger Kerosene container, the one gallon gas can I use is a joke. I need to get a proper blue 5 gallon kerosene container. I have to hit the gas station every other day just to get a gallon of kerosene. That is alot of hassle to navigate a bus in a potentially congested gas station for $3.50 of fuel. Luckily I am currently parked about a half a mile from the gas station that sells kerosene (not all do, one has to make notes of the ones that do) so I walked to it instead of cranking up the bus, letting it warm up, air brakes pressurized and burning a gallon of diesel to get a gallon of kerosene. I am a regular at this gas station and the young cashier said she would love to see inside the bus one day but was afraid to ask because she didn't want to seem creepy. Too funny. I told her next time I would drive the bus over and let her take a gander.
Just last week a woman about 4 years older than me stopped me at the pump and told me she had seen my bus at Wal-Mart and had taken a picture of it with her cell phone to send to her father. She told me that when she was younger that her dad had fixed up an old school bus into an RV and they had taken many trips in it. It was obvious from her tone that these were very fond memories and that she looked forward to some day living a nomadic type lifestyle. She was one of the few people I have met that actually get it, what I am doing and why I am doing it. She got it because she was exposed to it, along with 6 siblings, at an early age. Most people have never experienced the freedom of extended RV travel, much less home made RV travel. She told me it took him 4 years to fix that bus up and he had a large garage to work on it in all types of weather. I think I nearly drooled on her hiking shoes when she told me that last part. She told me how he had carpeted the ceiling for insulation. She remembered stories of a going to a campground that was already full and her dad asking the check in people if he could just drive through. He would then stop at the bath house, tell all the kids they had 5 minutes (the time it would take for him to circle the campground) to take a shower and being waiting for him (he was an ex-marine). This is an eternal, fond memory for her. An adventure that was to be had. Improvising when you had to. We talked for 30 minutes on my bus in the gas station.
I cooked sausage on the bus yesterday. I will not be doing that again soon. I now remember how sausage could smell up a normal size home. At least my bus will smell like smoked pork instead of kerosene for a few days. And since the heater works properly now, even the kerosene smell is remote.
My clutch leak seems to have gotten worse, this could be a problem. I have to fill it every day now. I wonder if the cold weather has shrunk some hoses or fittings. I hope it is something me and a wrench can fix. I will do a thorough check when the ground is good and dry. Although I really need a second person to pump the clutch while I am under there.
My generator has been working like a champ. It seems to run forever now that I don't use the air conditioning. I use it to charge my house batteries, power my oven to feed my sweet tooth with brownies and cookies, run my microwave to have popcorn during a movie, and to power my hair dryer to help insulate windows. I love my generator.
I need to take some gallon/time measurements but I would guess about and hour and a half per gallon with moderate loads. The house batteries can easily run my computer and an eco-friendly light bulb for close to 20 hours straight. The solar panels are virtually non-existent in these uber short days of winter. I don't even have them hooked to the battery right now.
Pics of Battery Charger- This thing rocks!
Here it is at night working-It shows how much amperage it is pumping into my batteries at any given time.


Two benefits of having a generator
Night view of bus-Looking from bed
Night view- Looking from front of bus towards rear. Notice computer on the bed. Time to watch a movie...
Speaking of which, I saw a great movie last night. It is called 'The Blind Side'. I had gotten a DVD copy from a friend (this movie is still at the theaters), and I didn't know anything about it. I received it knowing nothing about it except the title, no case, no mood setting jacket cover. So my expectations weren't artificially raised. I don't ruin it for anyone else I will only mention two things, the opening sequence is a female 'voice over' while showing the infamous gruesome football play that shattered Joe Theisman's leg and ended his career. I note this only because it was a brilliant way to start this movie. The other thing is make sure you check out the pictures during the credits. It's a true story.

Winter Storm Warning

Checking the weather channel I saw there was a Winter Storm Warning for my area. First gut instinct was slight panic, then I saw that this would be a one day event and I have diesel in the tanks, kerosene for the heater, and lots of food in the pantry. I can brave one whole day of winter weather. Had it been forecasted to last a week I might start to really worry. Oh well, better get to Walmart to pick up milk and bread with every other resident in Greenville who scrambles to the grocery stores at the mention of potential winter weather.
I had a real tear-jerker of a night last night. My kerosene heater is severely polluting my bus at night. It must be putting off some type of invisible fumes because my eyes started burning as if some old lady just pepper sprayed me. I moved the heater towards the front of the bus and returned to bed. It didn't help. Seriously, this was bad. I couldn't open my eyes and had to feel my way off the floor cluttered bus to get some fresh air. Tears were streaming down my face, my nasal passages dripped watery snot. I took this subtle hint as a sign something was wrong with the quality of the air on the bus. It has happened a couple of times before with the kerosene heater but I tinkered with it and the offensive fumes went away. This time the only remedy was to turn the heater off. I would rather suffer the cold under blankets.
I am very motivated today to solve this problem of my only source of heat.Since my second hand heater didn't come with an owners manual, I researched kerosene heaters online and found that the wick needs to be 'maintained'. Accumulations of carbon buildup can cause odors and smoke I found out. In order to combat this, according to the online owners manual, I have to periodically 'dry burn' the wick. That is burn all the fuel out of the tank until the flame goes out. Then light the dry wick again and let it burn again. Then scrub the blackened, gummed up burnt fringe of the wick until I break off these carbon deposits, using pliers to break up stubborn pieces. Add a little kerosene back in the tank and repeat. This all should be done outdoors because of the massive amounts of smoke that is produced. Tricky part in urban camping is finding a suitable place to do this dry burn. I am not into the hobo look nor am I a fan of drawing the attention of a fire marshal. I will find a way, winter weather is coming.
This is a good time to mention that the writing on this blog is not spell checked, proofed or reviewed before I publish it. I am usually chaotically trying to get something up between other projects. My online time is precious and posting here, especially with pictures, takes an hour or more. I make the post the last thing I do before I log off, when I have time. But it invariably takes longer than I anticipated and it gets rushed. I concentrate on a basic overview with things that were important to me. Subjects are accidentally omitted, incomplete and/or too brief. One of my biggest problems is cohesiveness because I type this as a stream of consciousness instead of working from a well thought out outline. In the future, my writing should take on a more coherent format.
One item that made an incredible difference for me is insulating the windows. I used a product that in the past I dismissed because I thought it would be too flimsy for my application. It is a Saran Wrap-like cellophane that I stretch over the windows and held in place by double sided clear tape. Then I take out a hairdryer, which I ironically have never used for my hair, and shrink the cellophane tight. This makes a 1/4 inch wrinkle free air barrier between the cellophane and window glass. It is the same principle as double paned residential windows. The air is the insulator. As a bonus I also no longer have to be concerned about condensation on the treated windows. If only I could figure a way to do the windshield. Hopefully I can maintain this insulation on the windows. The fragile cellophane is highly susceptible to puncture and things always falling against the window...broom handle, cat paw, me...to mention a few.
Now I must rush off to dry burn my wick.

Work and Fun

Well after making a little money I bought some more stuff and drove back to Spartanburg last week to continue making the bus travel worthy. I had driven to Asheville to purchase a used RV ladder. I really want to have access to the roof so I can maintain (read: Clean) Solar panels and Air Conditioning units without having to awkwardly carry a ladder inside the bus. I bought the ladder using very flexible measurements to allow for rear or side mounting. I was chomping at the bit to add this functional cosmetic piece. I would look like a real, honest to goodness RV instead of a pimped out band bus. As another testament to my engineering acumen, I have not yet been able to figure out how to make the ladder work. The biggest obstacle is the rear of the bus, where it would look most aesthetic, versus the side which would be another scrap of metal to snag unwary motorist that I pass. The rear of the bus has 'barn doors' meaning that they are two doors that close and meet in the middle. I need to be able to open those doors to get to the engine. Right now I need to get to the engine about every 4 days to add power steering fluid. On top of the doors, literally and figuratively, is my rear window that opens out on hinges. I won't be using that again until spring but it is something to consider. I thought about how to make the ladder 'quick connect' where I could take it down if I needed to get to the engine or open the rear window. That is my sticking point right now on that issue.

I did however have a productive and fun visit this time. And it is getting really cold out. I didn't realize how difficult the cold makes working with small metal items like screws. First, metal conducts the cold like I only read about in books; second my hands are numbed to worthlessness. Cold can make certain jobs miserable, so I found jobs that were more agreeable for me. One was I built a shelter. I had all these 8ft pieces of plank from the deck I disassembled so my thinking was I could make a place to work outside when it rained. I spent all day building it. See pics below.
I took the time one evening to do some 'Mythbuster' like experimenting. I wanted to see if oil soaked torches worked in real life like they do in the movies.

Here are my supplies. Oil from bus oil change, 1inch thick dowel rod, two layer tshirt, and some cord.
Making the torch. Using gloves to keep from making a total mess of myself. Notice peanut butter jar of diesel fuel next to smoker. I am a believer in saving flammable fluids.
Torch assembly completed. Time to test.

It was as slow to light as expected. About 15 seconds of continuous flame got it started and then it slowly grew.
Once it got going it really burned. Problems to be noted: 1) Don't oversoak the rags, they drip burning oil which can be dangerous in a multitude of ways. 2) Don't sling the torch in front of you in an attempt to ward off imaginary creatures of the forest, the slick rag flew off the end of the dowel and a burning wad of oil cloth is difficult to pick up with two sticks. 3)Because of previous mistake I was unable to determine how long the torch would last...but I still have more oil. Maybe next time.

Did I mention it got cold. Miss Priss couldn't have been happier if she was sitting in front of the fire at Cracker Barrel


My shelter ProjectI built it upside down to start. I couldn't think of another way to screw in cross boards 8ft high.

Did I mention my engineering skills?

I little reinforcement

Some tarps laid over scrap pieces of wood I used as cross beams for a roof.
Walls made of part tarp, part thick plastic, part smoke thin plastic drop clothI also added some small cabinet space next to my stove. This gave me about 9 more inches of valuable counter space and a place to store more stuff. The top is hinged to access stuff stored on top shelf. I will be adding a front door next time.

My best improvement was putting on a new clutch spring. I had lost the old one a couple of months ago and in order to shift gears I pushed clutch pedal down and then catch it with the toe of my boot and pull it back up. Shifting took about 5 seconds per gear. Now I can shift like a race car driver. Less than a second. It was a messy, hard to get to, colorful language filled episode installing that spring. It said on the label it was an 18lb spring. That was the tightest spring ever, but now I drive like Andretti.
In the photo below you can also see the RV ladder leaning on a floor rug draped A frame ladder.
Notice the nice shiney new spring. It is hooked to an arm next to the slave cylinder that pulls my clutch pedal at the front of the bus back to its original position.

The Ice Box

I went to Indigo Joe's where I met up with Eli, Britt and Pat. Britt was over an hour late which I promptly penalized him for by liberating two beers from his bucket of beers. It was cold in the bar. I figured this was the first serious cold of the season, the low was 28, and the restaurant had failed to take this into account when setting the thermostat. By the time the error was realized the heating unit tried to play catch up for the rest of the night. #2 Alabama thumped #1 Florida 32-13 and I left before seeing the end of the Clemson/Georgia Tech game.
When I went outside to go to the bus the frigid cold pierced the sweatshirt and two longsleeve shirts I was wearing. This was the kind of cold where water can break. I was interested in how being on the bus in this kind of cold would be. Eli generously offered that I could stay at hers or Britt's place if it was too cold for me which I heard as 'If it gets too cold for you, you can always dust the frost off your lacy pink panties and come over and get warm.' I know she didn't say it in that questioning my manhood kind of way but she might as well have. Besides I need to be tested to see what supplies I may need to add to my must buy list.
Once I got parked in Walmart parking lot, first thing I did was fire up the kerosene heater. My breath was very visible the entire time I knelt over the heater fidgeting with the controls to stabilize the flame. Then I took Nala for her nightly potty walk. I quickly noticed that as cold as it was on the bus, the fact that it blocked the gentle night breeze was a huge benefit. I rushed Nala through her business and returned to the bus. I made some sandwiches, saving the last of my eggs to have a nice warm breakfast in the morning. The heater was not heating much on the bus. I moved it to within 5 ft of the bed. After an hour I still wasn't feeling much difference from the heater, it may have cut the brittleness out of the air but it was still cold. I pulled out one of my sleeping bags and put it over my comforter. I put on long underwear and wore two long sleeve shirts to bed, along with my wool socks. My bed now had 5 layers on it...bedsheet, quilt, down comforter, throw blanket, and my mummy bag (unzipped). Once under the covers I was actually comfortable. I put Nala under the sleeping bag and she preferred to keep her whole body, head and all covered. Miss Priss preferred to sleep on top of me for warmth. I could feel the cold coming from under the bed and through the walls. All that insulation board I had laid was pitifully inadequate now. I could even feel slight drafts of cold coming from not so well sealed wheel wells. I will be stuffing some junk pillows in that area in the immediate future. I imagined that this was very similar to what sleeping in a restaurant freezer would be like. I also noticed some simple laws of science in play. As the heat rose to the top of the bus I could see (through my breath) and feel (throughout my body) the colder air floating in an area about 2 ft off the floor. The heater never truly warmed the place up and I decided to cut it off when I found myself unusually drowsy (not sure if carbon monoxide was to blame or the three beers I had watching football or lying in bed watching a video about string theory but I wasn't taking any chances). I had an excellent night of sleep. My only issue was whatever hand I had extended out from under my pillow was extremely cold and numb as I fell asleep and when I woke up. All in all I now know that I will survive the cold. I just need to figure out how to do so more comfortably. More heaters, strategic new insulation (especially around rear windows in bedroom area), or walling or draping off the back half of the bus??? I do know I prefer combating the cold to combating noon heat on a 100 degree summer day. There are no cheap alternatives like piling up blankets to keep me and the pets from the suffocating heat. Opening windows is an option when I am remotely located but I run the risk of pet escape, even with screens up. So I relish taking on this cold weather versus high heat and humidity.

Here is a small clip of me playing "Catch the laser dot" with Nala this morning. Notice the clouds coming out her mouth making her look like some cartoon bull.

God Willing and the Creek don't rise

The creek rose.

I have been doing some work at a friend's house who lives downtown and close to the zoo. I made the zoo parking lot my temporary home while I used my friend's car to commute from the bus to her house. I had never stayed the night before but this time I took a chance and decided to camp there for the night. Just as I expected, Greenville City police came knocking after I had been there less than an hour. I answered the door as I pulled my belt through the loops of my jeans. Clearly I was not just there to grab a bite to eat, I had been ready for bed. The officer had a restrained grin and shook his head as he told me that this was not a campground. I think he quickly sized me up in the matter of seconds and figured I wasn't some hoodlum or a terrorist, so he added that he would let me stay here just this night. Wow, I didn't even ask. I assured him I would only stay this one night.
The next day the rain I was expecting came and I used the time to run errands and spent some money I had recently earned. The weather was cold and the rain was unrelenting. But I was in a good mood because I had a nimble jeep cherokee to drive around for the day and I had things to get for the bus. My most exciting purchase was a nice small microwave from Goodwill for $10! I was out and about taking my sweet time, enjoying picking up stuff for my home. I decided to return home (bus at the zoo parking lot) around 4pm so I could load up, return the lent vehicle and move the bus before the officer friendly came back. When I pulled onto the road leading to the zoo I noticed the creek had risen substantially, interesting. A little further down the road, the police had barricaded the road and I saw why, the river past that point had flooded over its banks and was now a flash flood. And my bus was just 300 yds beyond the road block. My thinking became real intense, what to do... I approached the officers and told them, while pointing, that my bus was over in the zoo parking lot. They said nobody could go past them and with a little too big of a smile asked what kind of ground clearance did it have. I then explained that I had my cat on it and I was concerned. (I had taken Nala in the jeep since she loves riding in the car). They said I could park across the street and walk/wade to my bus and see if I could drive it out. So that's what I decided to do. I had a camera phone on me so I snapped some shots as I made my way.

From where I parked the jeep, across the from roadblock.


Here is the view of the picnic area in front of the zoo.

The area I had to cross to get to the bus.
It is unnerving to walk in muddy, moving water and try to remember where the curbs of the islands are. Not to mention I had to take off my boots and socks, roll my jeans to mid thigh and plow through cold water.

Self Portrait wading in the water
View of back of boots, legs and leafy water

Making my way to my home.
To get some perspective, remember my tires are huge, 18 wheeler sized and the water has risen halfway up them. Crotch high, in people language. The water has filled the lower half of the basement area and I am seriously wondering about the integrity of my fuel line fix a month ago. It would now me in the river. Not to mention the air brake lines and brake pads, lower transmission.

I was very, very pleased when my bus cranked right up and stayed running. I took a quick photo of the water overlapping my second step onto my bus. 8 inches of my door is under water.

After about 4 long minutes of letting the air brakes fill up, I disengage the parking brake and test the bus mobility. It moved. Now I was trying to remember again where the curbs were, luckily I did something right because I didn't find any. The sound of the bus pushing through water was surreal. Like I thought this was part amphibous craft. Although I couldn't see behind me, I am sure I was leaving a respectable wake, like a boat near a marina.
I made it to the road and the police opened the barricade to let me out.
What a day!

First Oil Change and Front Benches

I returned to Spartanburg last weekend to finish up a few more projects. Below are the two bench seats at the front of the bus. Currently I had no place for visitors to sit when they visited me, besides my bed, so I completed these seats. I plan to put decorative pillows over them for comfort. There is storage underneath.

This one is 3/4in Plywood, stained and polyurethaned.

This one was made with tongue in groove heart of pine. Also given the stain/polyurethane treatment.I decided to go ahead and change the oil in the bus since I don't know when the last time it was done. The engine holds 12 qts of 15w-40 oil and uses two oil filters. The previous owners had written the type oil they used on the firewall behind the engine. I changed the brand to Rotella.
Here is the old oil and empty containers of the new oil. I disposed of the oil by using it as bonfire fuel. I saved one pan of used oil so I could play with it later. I want to try different experiments like wrapping a cloth around a stick then dipping it in the oil to create a torch. I want to see how long it will burn.

Morning brew

Rummaging through my pantry looking for some coffee I found some irony. A left over from my old house. Even a head band wearing, man of the outdoors needs some refinement from time to time.

Videos-Bus driving and living

These are some videos from the first couple of weeks of this bus project. I broke down a week into living on it fulltime. Here are some of my ideas from that time. I will post more soon. I still have to hone my editing skills.

Driving the bus home for the first time


Broke Clutch in the first week


Day 3-Broke down- Hitting the bar


Night before Flea Mkt- Romance of being stuck has worn off

Flashback-Earlier Bus days-Beginning of June 2009

Today a tropical storm is rolling up the eastern states and has caused cold rainy conditions for me. This is an excellent time for me to catch up on documenting some of my earlier days on the bus. I wasn't motivated at the time to do a blog because it wasn't the sexy part that I originally envisioned. Traveling was what my blog was originally suppose to be about but I have found that the process of building my bus surprisingly enjoyable. I have found my nerdy side, a personal rendition of the mad scientist as I fabricate a functioning home from scratch. I have worn many hats on this project: Carpenter, mechanic, engineer, electrician, designer, decorator (this area could stand some significant improvement), inventor, student, entrepreneur, metal working, navigator and others.

It is satisfying to look back and see how far I've have come in a few, not so short, months. I was working with a blank canvass and there were so many things that needed to get done. Things seemed to happen quickly.

This is an abbreviated photo tour of those days. These all occurred in June 2009.

Here I am staying at a friend's house (note my liberal use of electricity). I am working on taking up the black rubber flooring to get to bare metal. Then I will lay 1/2in foam board and on top of that will be 1/2in subflooring. I didn't take many pictures of this phase because I was so busy I forgot to keep my camera handy. Handling 1/2in x 4ft x 8ft pieces of plywood by myself was especially challenging. And screwing the subflooring down to the metal floor with about 500 screws was interesting. I finally found a good self tapping screw that made the work a little easier. Self tapping metal screws are not created equally.


Here I am cutting the rivets off the inside metal skin. There was an empty pocket of air that I would fill with insulation and wall off. I wanted to go into the skin so I didn't take away valuable inches inside the bus by adding layers of insulation.


What to notice here is that I have completed my foam sheet and subfloor installation. Keep in mind that this is only a fraction of my belongings. More than half of my stuff is sitting in the driveway under tarps.
In this picture I have placed styrofoam board on the top window (it was recessed from the bottom one by 1/2in). You can see that I painted the windows black that will be covered with walls. I placed fiberglass pink insulation in the space along the lower walls. The days were getting hot around this time and I firmly believed that there was no such thing as too much insulation. You can even see some spots I sprayed 'Great Stuff' behind the steel ribs to insulate those places.
I added a final layer of 2mm plastic vapor barrier covered with 1/4in foam board. I am concerned now that I may have sealed my bus too tightly and didn't leave enough space for it to breathe. Especially important in winter months when I am burning a kerosene heater. Plus I may be keeping moisture in the bus instead of out. So far I haven't seen any ill effects of my super insulation job.

Insulation on this side of the bus is completed. I have begun to hang furring strips which will allow me to screw my beaded board securely to the bus. I broke a good number of drill bits when I was making pilot holes in the steel beams to screw furring strips. In the vein of best insulation ever, I placed half inch foam board in space between furring strips (not shown here).
The beaded board is going up nicely. In photo below you can see additional insulation directly behind beaded board. At the bottom the bus has about 5 inches of fiberglass and foam board insulation, the top half has an inch and a half of foam insulation. Not counting beaded board wall.
This is the raw beaded board, no stain and no polyurethane. In hindsight I wish I would have stained (or at least primed) the back of these boards first to keep the wood from absorbing moisture trapped in by the multiple ultra tight vapor barriers. I ended up taking them off later and priming the back and reinstalling them. Beaded board has a tendency to warp easily in moisture prone environments and I didn't want to have to worry about that.
After the right side of the bus is done, I move tools, mattress, and stuff to right side of the bus and begin working on the left side.
Wall installation complete

I removed the huge heater at the front of the bus. I replace it with a cupboard to store small items. I didn't know where a scrap metal place was to sell the heater so I left it on the side of the road. Someone picked it up within a day.