Flashback-More pics from Bladenboro

Ok, I found a couple of pics from my iphone I wanted to share.

Below is a picture of the tobacco field behind my Uncle Donald's house. As I have grown older I realize the only place I have ever seen a tobacco field is on my visits to grandma's. Many of the fields now produce beans, probably a testament to the decline in popularity of tobacco. But I wanted to capture this image for posterity.


The next photo is me trial fitting the tile linoleum that Uncle Donald and Aunt Debbie generously donated to my cause. I had to figure out the best layout to maximize the pieces I had to work with.

Near Disaster Averted

I was just mentioning electrical stuff in my last post. And I just had a potentially catastrophic problem happen earlier this week. As I was leaving Lowe's my headlights started acting strange but then seemed to work alright. Then my running lights (the ones around the top of my bus so people at night can really see me) start blinking in a very delibrate pattern....10 seconds off, 1 second on. I know this is not good. I think it is just low voltage because my gauge showing whether the alternator is charging my battery or not is dead, so I assume my battery isn't getting a charge and has slowly been drained. I think this is an odd warning system.

Then I caught a distinct wiff of electrical smoke. Very scary. The wires on this bus can burn it down if they are messed up. So in the Haywood Mall parking lot at night I donned my miners light and tore into the walls. This is what I found. I cluster of 15 wires welded together by sheer heat.
This was after I cut away part of the protective sheath (the part that wasn't already burned away. You can clearly see where the insulation around the wires was melted away leaving exposed wires.
Here I am very concerned about the predicament I found myself in. The cables are over my left shoulder, the burned parts are just south of my left shoulder.

I spent about a half hour pulling the wires apart. They all melted together. This is what was left. Some wires were burnt in half, others just lost their insulation. Very bad stuff.
I pulled out my box of wire connectors and repaired the wires. Only took 2 sweaty hours of work. Then I put the decorative yellow electrical tape around the connectors so there would be no mistake where I had made my fixes.
I then encased all the wires in a hard plastic sheath and I am in the process of tucking them back in place. You can see the very thick sheet metal I had to bend back to access the lower parts of the wires. That was particularly tough and the rivets would not break. When I get some steady strong electricity I am going to break out my angle grinder and completely remove that metal.
All in all everything works again and I am happy.

Latest Project

Ok, the task at hand is to have electricity on the bus. For those of you who don't have your electrician's license, let me give you the simple explanation of my dilemma. On a Motorhome electricity can be supplied by AC current (like your house) and DC current (like your car). I am currently using AC current powered by my generator to provide me with air conditioning. I want to take that same AC power and be able to use it to provide electricity to some wall outlets I am going to install. That means that whenever the generator is running I can plug something up and use it like laptop, microwave, vacuum cleaner, power tools. As I mentioned before the generator can get pretty pricey when used extensively not to mention that there is some noise pollution that others around me might not appreciate.
So after I am fully equipped to take fully advantage of my generator my bigger quest will be to get my DC system going. This will be my bread and butter of electricity when on the road. Basically, I will use power stored in Deep Cycle batteries (like car batteries but can be drained more and recharged). I will start off with two of these batteries, each providing 125 amp hrs when full. I will then hook up a nifty little device called an inverter that converts the battery power from DC to AC so I can plug in all my cool stuff and have lights. The interesting part is going to be how to charge those batteries. If I lived in a traditional house I would just plug a battery charger in the wall and hook it up to the batteries until fully charged. I have to be more creative now. I can use the alternator of my bus when I am driving to provide a charge to the batteries. I hook up a battery isolator that allows me charge starting battery (bus battery) and my house batteries (deep cycle battery) That is good, as long as I am driving somewhere. Not so good to run the diesel engine just to charge the batteries. I can plug a battery charger in whenever I am running generator and charge the batteries that way. Or I can do it my ideal way, which is a combination of both of those plus Solar power. In the context of living like I want Solar power is sweet, free, consistent power. They charge my batteries during the day and I deplete them at night. There will have to be some wattage monitoring on my part so I don't kill the batteries every night. But it isn't like I will be Tivo'ing Days of our Lives. I just need a little light and power for basic essentials. I won't be able to run the Air Conditioning off of the batteries, but with cooler months on the way and my ability in the future to drive up into the Colorado mountains for cooler temps I am not as worried about Air Conditioning.
So there, in a nutshell, is my current endeavor. After electricity comes plumbing, and after plumbing comes hitting the road. Plumbing will be easier than electricity but needs to be logistically thought out more.
Here are some photos of wiring for AC current off of generator that I started working on last night. Nothing sexy to you maybe, but a thing of beauty to me.

Pets

I think it is worth noting that pets have added unplanned challenges to the bus conversion. I am traveling with my dog and two cats. I have to accommodate them constantly. It seems every little thing I do has to be done with pet planning in mind. Even now as I sit in the library, my furry friends are on the bus in the afternoon heat. Although I have it well insulated, much better than a typical car (even more than most RV's) but not so good as a house. All window are tinted and have drapes on the inside. Walls have 2 inches of foamboard insulation. Roof is painted with reflective white elastometric paint. Floor has a half inch foam board, then half inch subfloor then carpet or linoleum. The small space still heats up quickly. Think about how long it takes your car to get hot on a summer afternoon after you turn off the air conditioner. My bus takes about 15 minutes. I need to be able to circulate a breeze in there without losing my animals or possessions. It is too expensive to run the generator all day (about a gallon of gas an hour), so this past week I became a master screen builder. Well, 'master' may be a bit generous... but the screens are holding up and don't look too bad either. I had to custom fit the long back window that flips up, the side emergency door and the front door. The front door has only a bottom half screen that my clever cats (think of the penguins from the cartoon Madagascar) have learned to get around and over. I close and lock front door when I leave the bus. So now I can spend a little time indoors working on my blog, finding out how to build a better bus, search out the best deals in town... instead of running in, checking email and running out. I'm back in Greenville and the weather is wonderful. While I was in Columbia, it was so hot that if I left the animals for 15 minutes they were all panting (bad sign when cats are panting).
The heat isn't the only problem area. The very fact that my critters are independent like me makes them want to go out and explore at every stop we make. This is rarely a good idea for them as truck stops, rest areas, parking lots and other high traffic areas are not pet friendly. Every time I leave I have to make sure none of them is lurking around the corner ready to make a mad dash the second I crack open the front door. This also goes for my re-entry onto the bus. This is one of the things I have learned the hard way. I have lost both cats during this trip. Miss Priss (not a sissy name, just one that reflects her delusional impression of self grandeur and her mistaken idea that her every wish be catered to) hopped off the bus in a Bi-Lo parking lot in Greenville but I went back there the next evening and she came strolling up with the 'what took you so long' attitude. Oscar jumped ship at the same Bi-Lo, and being a simpler thinking beast, it took me two evenings of going back, walking around the parking lot calling his name until he ran out from underneath the shed next to a Wings restaurant. I don't know if he was expressing his thanks for coming back or if he was complaining about camping outdoors for two nights but he was sending out meow's like a kid trying to get a parent's attention. Mom, mom, mom, mom...meow, meow, meow, meow. I use Nala, my black lab to help keep things in order. She is protector of the cats and playmate, but strangely she likes no other cats. I mean she Really doesn't like them. It is the only time I have to worry that she will run off /or cross a road without my permission is when another cat is visible. I don't like to walk Nala on a leash, the only times I do are when she has lost her ever loving mind to hyper activity, when walking around other people who may have an irrational fear of all dogs (parks), and high risk or legally required areas.
The cats are verbal when they want food, Nala just gives me the look, that unfortunately I confuse sometimes with the I gotta pee look.
Other idiosyncrasies of pet travel: When I drive Nala insists on sitting on the front step, next to the window of the front door. Only once have I forgotten to latch the door before taken off. At the first left hand turn the door starts to open...thank God for my Matrix like reflexes. I think it scared me more than her.
The cats usually find a comfortable place to chill (which I use the term comfortable loosely, as no ride is truly comfortable, like riding a roller coaster isn't comfortable). But every once in a while they will engage in cat wailing, hair raising, skin crawling simulated mating. I suppose it is to provide me with the same comfort my driving is giving them. They are both fixed and they have never done this before but have done it 4 times now, and only while I am driving. I solve the problem by sending Nala back there by suggesting there are foreign cats onboard and they are hassling our family cats. She dutifully zooms back there calms things down and comes back with the 'I took care of it' look and resumes her spot at the bottom of the steps by the door.
All the pictures I have of my road mates are spontaneous, none are posed. I have missed many a good shot before I learned to keep my camera in my pocket at all times.
I truly enjoy traveling with my pets. I have worries ahead that I don't face now. If I am out camping in some remote area where I don't have to keep the animals out of traffic what new dangers do I have to look out for? Bears, coyotes, foxes, scorpions, lost/trapped pet. I have all the animals trained to come when I call. The cats have a special 'no fooling' call that I use only in emergencies, they have been rewarded with their favorite culinary delight - pure tuna juice.

Walmart People Watching
Substitute Bus Driver


Watching a rain storm together out the back window

I ready to go when you are. (or Why is my water bowl holding the windshield?)

Perceptions

I have found it interesting all the different kinds of feedback I get from people about my bus conversion plans. Only a handful of people seriously think this is a cool idea and seem genuinely envious. Most people are skeptical to say the least. And it seems the closer they are to me the more vocal they are about their doubts. It no longer bothers me...in fact it illustrates the very reason why I am doing this. Not a single person who tries to share their negative viewpoints have the type of lives I want. It seems that they are passing along the same negative attitude that kept them from chasing their dreams. The people I look up to, that are universally icons of success, were not following conventional wisdom. They broke from the beaten path and made their own way. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Mother Theresa, Richard Branson, Bono, Edmund Hillary, Crocodile Hunter to name a few. For most of my life I fell into the trap of following the advice of the mediocre masses. The ones that said go to college, get a job, get married and have kids. That was the extent of their wisdom. They knew nothing else, nor did they care to know anymore. I am not built that way. I have an itch that needs scratching. I crave adventure, excitement. Creature comforts are nice, but not a high priority for me. I finally am truly getting to know myself and I want to take a full measure of the man I am. How much can I survive? How much can I learn? How much does the world have to teach me?
This is not a criticism of people who aren't like me. It is an epiphany of why people are not supportive of things like what I am doing. What if Bill Gate's friends in college said 'don't drop out of college and go into something unknown like computers. It might not even catch on." What if Mother Theresa's peers said don't help the poor in India, you might catch leprosy or get killed, or you won't make a difference. So many people have excellent hindsight and can see what a good idea something is after the fact. But I have realized that fear is a powerful force in most people's lives. Just about everybody I have ever talked with has some form of repressed dream that they never let manifest. And they are armed with reasons (excuses) for not pursuing them. Granted some things are legitimate concerns that could make things more difficult. If I had a family this may be considerabley more difficult...or it might not be. Having a partner to help and discuss ideas and offer general support would be priceless. That is why most people Fulltime with a spouse.
Material wealth is not a goal of mine but I could see it be a byproduct. If I were to do something I loved (ie adventure travel, etc) then I would be successful and money may follow. But again the richest people in the world aren't working because they need the money, they do it because they love it. The mediocre people are playing the lottery thinking that the money will make them happy. I heard once, imagine that you had $200 million, what would you do during the day. How would you fill you days? This defines what you love.
My definition of success is happiness with my life. I only need enough money to get by. I don't need more to impress anyone or buy things I don't need. I need enough to gas up the bus, feed me and the pets, and a little bit for maintenance, improvements and repairs of the bus. Yes, if I had $200 million life would be easier, but I don't necessarily crave easier. I crave the challenge. I would still keep the same bus I have now, maybe buy all the dream accessories I want (Solar panels, diesel generator, big refrigerator). But I don't really dream of those things, I am too busy figuring out my next step. And that gives me purpose. Once the bus is road worthy I don't want to go parking in RV parks all the time, maybe once a week. The rest of the time I want to be boondocking off the beaten path in national parks, or where ever I am.
I feel like although I don't have many of the things that made my previous life convenient that I am not in any way suffering. In fact, I am more self satisfied with my accomplishments thus far than anything else I have done before. This is truly me and my goal. Everything else...college, jobs...have been at the coaxing of others and was their wish for me. But that is a little too generic for me.
I like the random people I meet in my limited travels so far. I have found my bus is very approachable (vs the million dollar rock star bus). Countless girls in a Walmart parking lot stop and ask about it, truckers at rest areas stop me and spent half an hour talking about my bus and their similar dreams of doing a conversion. I will start asking them if they mind me taking their photo to put on my blog. I enjoy these sometimes random visits.
Then there are the people who have gone the extra mile that helped me incredibly. Stacey and Andre Burger, Bronson, Grandma, and Heather who all gave me a place to park so I could get work done on my bus. And they all provided me with the sweet lifeline of an extension cord to their electricity. Their kindness is appreciated deeply.
Charles Bordner who employed me to tile his bathrooms when I needed a job. A job site where I could bring my dog, do my laundry, take a shower and get on the internet. Elizabeth Hanner and Britt McGregor who helped me out in countless ways from letting me borrow a trailer to get supplies from home depot, to odd jobs to make a little extra money, to giving me food from their pantry that they weren't going to use.
Not too surprising is the random acts of kindness from strangers. Todd, the guy who fixed my clutch; Brian who bought my jeep and in the meantime provided a place for me to park the bus, John, the owner of a small business in Mauldin who allowed me to stay behind his business with electricity and access to water and Wifi. Greg, the guy in Mauldin who had done a school bus conversion himself and provided me with tons of insight and just plain great conversation. He also took me to run errands a couple of times and even bought me lunch (and he gave me what seemed like 5 lbs of his tasty boiled peanuts that he sold at local race tracks). The guy I forget his name, that stopped by and talked then went home and brought me a couple of RV parts manuals so I could see what is out there for the RV market.
My brother Mark, for the great pair of brand new gym shoes. I had held off buying some because they were a definite necessity although they were mighty close to being on the must have list.
My neighbor, who out of the blue on the day before I moved out gave me so much cool stuff I can't even list it all. 3 wet suits, plumbing supplies, electric supplies, tools, coolers, rock climbing gear. A treasure trove perfect for my adventure.
I have become very grateful for the simplest of gestures and gifts. In fact for every setback I encounter, there is an equal or greater help out there from someone. Today I realized my fuel line is dry rotted in a spot to the point that fuel is actually leaking through the side of the hose. It is a very slow leak, with a drop of diesel falling every 2 minutes. Definitely needs fixin'. But something good will happen soon, it always does. The fuel line thing seems like a simple fix. The tough part is disconnecting the line from the gas tank without all the fuel draining onto the ground. I will research online to find a fix. I also need to find about 6ft of 13/32 fuel line. I'm thinking autozone.
Here are some photos that I have of people from my journey so far.

The Burger Clan:



Random Girl in Walmart parking lot:

Bus Mechanic:
Final thoughts on perceptions:
As I am typing this in the coffee shop, there is a couple of girls who sat down at a large round table (think big round table at cracker barrel) where a guy was already seated. Evidently the girls are having a bible study. The guy makes a comment about 15 minutes later because he can't help but overhear their conversation. Nothing too much, but he mentioned he was nostic, which is clearly different from what the girls believe. The girls are curious about this strange new belief. Then another man at another table comes over and joins the conversation. Basically, the new guy (in his 50's) is coming to actively debate the original guy's beliefs. The Original guy (about 30) is nice, polite and knows he is being ambushed. He doesn't want to debate but engages in conversation to explain his point of view. The young girls ( maybe all of 18) don't engage, but listen to the older gentleman quoting Josh McDowell and other mainstream christian writers. Then the older gentleman takes the tactic that he wants to pray, and he proceeds to pray for this poor misquided soul. I almost feel the need to go over and defend the the nostic guy, not because I agree with him, but because I believe a person should not be accosted, judged and subjected to fools like the uninvited guy. But the nostic is very calm, very cool, very polite and has handled the guy nicely.
I do NOT like evangelical christianity, it is intrusive, self important, and closed minded. To me this is Christianity in its bastard form. There are no other topics that people can have in a coffee shop where people feel the need to get up and interrupt a conversation to tell someone they are wrong. It is basically rude and self righteous. I think it is a particular problem here in the bible belt of the southeast. I want the free exchange of ideas and the mutual respect of people to not agree. I personally find someone of a different belief interesting to talk with, I don't have a need to change their beliefs.
One of my hero's, Mother Theresa, preached through her actions of love, kindness and caring not by telling people they were wrong. She didn't try to convert but if asked didn't hesitate to share her beliefs.
Politics being the other hot button topic. I find an amazing lack of respect in dialogue pertaining to religion and politics. I find it hard to understand why people grasp to what they know and don't even want to hear what others think, lest they might learn something new. Perhaps their purpose is to give me a chance to work on my own patience issues. I need alot of work.

How I spend my days

I get this question all the time. And the answer depends on where I am. Right now my primary goal is to get the bus up to snuff to fulltime in it. I have been fulltiming in it since mid April but depending on my circumstances I may be actively working on it in a variety of ways.
For Example, at Bronson's where I was for a month my main goal was to get rid of excess stuff by selling it. I needed the space and I needed the cash for the clutch repair. In between that I was sanding my jeep down, putting bondo on dents, sanding bondo down, prepping for painting, primed the jeep, painted the jeep, polished clear coat. All this so I could sell the jeep. I got very little done in the way of improvement on the bus. Not because I didn't want to but because I could not unload all my stuff into a business parking lot to work on it. Plus all extra money went to mechanic to fix clutch. Plus buy food for me and pets. I enjoyed working on the jeep and I think I did a good job on it.

First pics are of the jeep where I stripped it of all paint. I did this part before heading out on bus.
These are some pics of work getting done at Bronson's. Rain is the enemy to a vehicle that is stripped to bare metal. I was dodging rain and sanding surface rust off the jeep constantly.
Primed Jeep- I half wish I would have just thrown clear coat on this primer job and gone with it but I had already bought the $180 metallic Green non-refundable paint.

I then wet sanded with 400 grit wet/dry paper until the primer shined!

Then I used Bronson's paint gun when he was home feeling under the weather. He learned he could trust me and let me use his shop. I started at midnight and didn't finish the paint job and clear coats until 6am. Before I even began painting I had spent about 6 hours prepping jeep to be painted by taping up everything I didn't want paint on.



Then after clear coat cured for 24 hours I had to sand out minor imperfections. What the 600 grit did to my jeep nearly stopped my heart. But I had full confidence that polishing would bring back the original luster.
After initially polishing only a few swirl marks are left that the finishing compound will take out.
I think some people might the impression that life on the road is easy or worse that I expect it to be easy. Far from it. I work harder and longer than I have ever in my life. Life's uncertainty's are more pronounced. But I have never been happier. I know that whatever obstacle comes my way I will find a way to overcome it.

Sometimes before I go to bed I decompress by watching a movie on my laptop. But that is testing the limits of the laptop battery, so the movie needs to be under 2 hrs in order for me to enjoy the movie to the ending.

Today is a typical "not able to work on the bus" day. I did fabricate a screen for my fold up rear window. That took me 3 hours. I had calculated it would only take me an hour. Therein lies my biggest problem. I conceptually understand what needs to be done and calculate based on that. What I still need to figure in is the real world application of doing something I have never done before in my life. That means tripling my original estimates. I sold my portable DVD player on craigslist. I am currently at a coffee house to check emails and update my blog. I also shop for good deals on craigslist for items I need for the bus. My next major improvement will be electrical. I need solar panels and deep cycle batteries to store the power. Then I will work on plumbing. I need to install a toliet, shower, sink and tanks to accompany them. Then at that point I will be road ready. For those of you who keep asking my timeline, well it isn't always up to me. I am trying to sell my trailer now to get more money for new improvements. And get my bus registered in Columbia (while I am here). In a perfect world I would be leaving for my ramblings in a week. but I have been hoping for that for months and something always comes up. It took a month to sell my jeep, the guy gave me $500 deposit and then took a month to get me rest of the balance. Not the way I would have scripted it but nobody's life sticks to the script. But I adapt and make the most of any situation I am in. And life is never, ever boring for me.

My Time at Grandma's

This is the bus as I parked it at my grandmother's house. I was there for two weeks, visiting with my 86 year old grandmother who is in surprisingly great shape. She is out and about feeding chickens, driving the golf cart to visit nearby relatives, and counseling her grandson on the merits of 'settling down'.



I was not allowed to photograph grandma but she did provide me with a pre-approved photo she had of her and my grand-dad (he passed away 2 years ago). I guess grandma doesn't want her image tarnished with unprofessional pictures of her. Good PR work grandma! As soon as I get to a scanner I will put the picture on here.
I decided to go ahead and jump to where I am currently in bus construction because so much has happened in the past few months that it would take too long to ever catch up. I will sprinkle parts in as I can.

Here is a picture of the bus as it looked when I arrived at grandma's.


As you can see it would be nearly impossible for me to get any work done in such tight confines with all my stuff in the way. So I had to go somewhere where I could unload it while I built bed frame and cabinets.

Here is a picture of my stuff outside the bus. Under a tree, under a tent, under tarps. I was dodging rain every afternoon. It threatened to rain everyday but only rained less than half the time. In any case I was running around at the first sound of thunder pulling tarps over everything and putting electrical tools back on the bus.

I did alot of interior work at night when it was cooler, I did all my cutting in the daytime outside. The first thing I tackled was the bed frame. I took the old flimsy box spring and used the wood from it for cabinets later. I built a sturdy bed frame out of 2x4's. Here is a picture of completed picture.

Working outside at night in the country was an interesting experience. Besides protecting myself from getting malaria from the teradactyl sized mosquitos I had to be careful of the giant spiders that worked overtime to feast on the same mosquitos. And they center their webs right at head level just to freak me out.

Every little branch that brushed my hair at night had me flailing my hands over my head like a Pentacostal on Meth. I wore my headlamp religiously. Speaking of religion, one of my grandmother's conditions was that I not work on the Lord's day, which was scaled back by my second Sunday there to 'don't work where the neighbor's will know' on the Lord's day.

I had my own fan club out in God's country. Seems the closest neighbor's, who lived a couple hundred yards away, had three kids who monitored my daily work. Justin who was 10, stopped by first and said whatcha doin'? Pretty soon, Morgan and Tricia, 5 and 18, respectively, came by for a visit. I enjoyed the company, but grandma felt that 18 year old Tricia might be a little too interested in the going's on at the Bordeaux manor. True, they made a point of constantly riding bikes by and calling out Hey an awful lot. Here is a picture of the three of them.


One rainy evening I caught my beefy cat, Oscar contemplating ending his misery due to the near heat stroke inducing weather by huffing silicone caulk. Fortunately he thought better of it.
After finishing the bed frame, my next project was to build up the kichen area. I was getting tired of fishing in totes for food and then hunt for a pot or pan to cook it.




You may have noticed the flooring. The linoleum is compliments of Uncle Donald and Aunt Debbie. They were awesome and some of the most supportive people of my endeavor. They are themselves Motorhome owners and they gave me all kinds of valuable advice as well some nice treats like carbon monoxide detector (invaluable when you run a combustible engine to get your air conditioning and basic electricity), all essential velcro strips, books and magazines on fulltime RV'ing, ironing board, dry food goods and a tour of a real factory made Motorhome. Unfortunately I don't have photos of them. I was so busy working I didn't take many pics when people were around. Aunt Linda and Uncle Wendle were also very generous. Aunt Linda brought me home cooked chicken pot pie. Uncle Wendle owns a hardware store and gave me carpet remnants and hooked me up with plumbing supplies to build my laptop mount. My laptop is my GPS and Radio when driving.

Laptop mount acts as drink holder when I am not driving.

Quck Recap-prelude to a bus conversion

I noticed that I had not included pics of me removing the seats from the bus the first night I got it home. That freed up much needed space for my Sanford & Son impersonation. Although I have read online all the nightmare stories of break out the grinder and cutting bolts off my seats came up relatively easy. And I didn't have to go under the bus to loosen any bolts because the seats were screwed down along the aisle with thick coarse threaded screws. Under the windows they were bolted to a rail about 10 inches off the floor against the wall.

Here is a picture with a couple of seats removed from right side.



















Here is with all seats removed except for three that I hoped to use later (possibly for a dinette). Notice my ipod stereo on rear seats, a man must have his musical motivation.

Leaving my permanent residence-Part 1

After I had everything that I could fit on the bus I drove over to a friend of mines with every intention of staying there a month or two while I converted the bus. The time frame is the end of April. This friend was someone I dated many years ago but we had remained good friends afterwards. She had an unusually long driveway where I could park the bus and no homeowners association forbidding Recreation Vehicles prominently displayed. Ironically, she lived in the historic district of downtown Greenville. I like to believe my bus only enhanced the historical atmosphere of the neighborhood.
My friend, insisted I stay with her. I was hesitant because, while we were good friends, there was still a reason we didn't hang out 24/7. But I had a backup plan, head to my grandmother's and do the construction there if things didn't work out at my friend's place.
I was at my friend's for about 3 days and I decided it was best to head out. As I was backing out of her driving, which took about a full two minutes stopping both lanes of traffic while I demonstrated my inexperience in backing a bus in a downtown neighborhood. My frustration level grew and the already difficult, unfamiliar gearshift was put into first gear. Breaking a cardinal rule I had been warned about for this bus. First gear is a 'granny' gear reserved only for the steepest of inclines and can be shifted out of only after I come to a dead stop. Normal operation of the bus from a stop typically starts from second gear. If no stop is made before shifting out of first gear the bus transmission becomes locked in first. The only way to unlock it is to access the transmission from a removable plate in the floor at the back of the bus. Well I tried to shift, not knowing I was in first, due to my haste to get traffic flowing again. I immediately realized what I had done after trying unsuccessfully to shift into second three or four times. Prior to this I had a mantra "Don't use first, don't use first" I still have that mantra. In first gear the bus cruises along at about 3mph. This is embarrassing. It is midnight on a friday night and there is a good deal of traffic. I put on my hazard lights and pick up my cell phone. I don't know where I am going because my plans were to hit the flea market the next day and sell off what I could of my un-needed stuff. I needed a place to park a bus. But I also needed to find out how to fix the transmission. I called the pastor of the church that I bought the bus from and left a message. (I guess pastors aren't one of the people up at midnight on Friday night). I then called the only person I could think of that had space for me to temporarily park the bus, Bronson, the guy who was to guide me in my jeep painting ordeal. He was a referred friend of a friend person that I happened to have programmed into my phone. He typically worked late nights at his body shop because it isn't as hot then. He answered his phone and I think I surprised him with alot of information. He had only known me as a guy wanting to paint his jeep, now I was calling saying I had a bus, that it was stuck in first gear and that I needed a place to park it for the night. His first question was "you have a bus?" After a quick explanation and reassurances that this was only temporarily and that I desperately needed a place to stay so I could sell my stuff and hit the road, he conceded sure I could park it around back.
After my call I was about half a mile away from Bronson's and there is a fairly steep decline before an equally steep incline. I decided I needed to boost my speed so I pushed the clutch down in order to coast faster down the quarter mile length of decline. After reaching speeds in excess of 10mph my clutch plates inexplicably went from neutral back to first gear causing a slamming on the brakes effect that included squealling tires and objects to come flying forward. Me and the pets nearly soiled ourselves. The bus was stilling running in first gear but now the clutch failed to disengage when I pressed it to the floor. This was very very bad. It would mean I wouldn't be able to come to a stop and start going again. Where I stopped was where I was until the problem was fixed. Luckily there were no more stops before I got to Bronson's. I pulled into the lot trying to shout out the window to Bronson as he was driving towards me in his car with his window down trying to shout something at me. He was trying to tell me where to park (and not run into his car), I was telling him I don't have a clutch and where I stop is where I will be. He didn't get all that because things had changed since I hung up the phone with him and the last thing he expected was additional bus problems plus the diesel engine is loud and we were both moving in opposite directions. I picked as good a place as any and stopped the bus.
The photo is the bus at Bronson's.
I also had not fully planned all the logistics for how to retrieve my jeep and remaining stuff from my other friend's house and get to my grandmother's house with the jeep. I simply thought I would fix it up in a few days, sell it or tow it. This became critical for my immediate future. But like so many things I was to learn, I learned my best lessons from making a few mistakes in calculations.

Catching Up

Ok, blogging is tougher for me than journaling. Besides disciplining myself, making the time to do it, the basic difference is accessing the internet in order to blog. Wi-Fi is one of the many things that I use to take for granted that I now consider a luxury. In my current position I find it more important than a cell phone. I find things on craigslist for sale, research how to convert the bus whenever I get stuck on a particular project, check the weather forecast, search for future locations to visit, browse potential employers, and keep in touch with others through email.

So I will be bringing my blog up to date over the next few days while I am visiting my grandmother. I have been here a week now and have gotten several things accomplished, but it will be only the tip of the iceberg in 'my bus experience'.