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Old 05-05-2009, 12:54 AM   #21
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Year: 1993
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: Ford B600
Engine: Cummins
Re: Tone's Project

Well, took the bus on her maiden voyage!
Myself and 8 other paintballer put 300 miles round trip on her!
Rocked out on the trip there. The weather was great heading out.
We found some "far away" spot to park the bus and setup our canpoies and tarps.
There was 800 people at this event! It was crazy! Friday evening the rain rolled in.
Saturday the rain got worse and worse..70 plus mph winds,rain drops the size of ping pong balls,wind driven sideways rain.
A branch from a tree fell on one paintballer but he was ok after walking off the field with abit of help.
Our camp was blown apart... we had a creek in the middle of camp... 4 of the guys even got wet sleeping in
tents.. Myself and my 3 other teammates slept great in the back of the bus with GI style cots. I kept the original
heating system intact, It manages to warm up in 15 or so minutes of idle... So after 20 or 30 minutes it was toasty and dry!
Woke up in the morning with a knock on the bus door.... I got up and opend the door to
greet my soaking wet friend and he lookup and said, can I come in the bus.... I told him to take his muddy shoes off first.

After raining all saturday and saturday night things were a sloppy mess. The camping for the paintball event was around a filbert orchard, the soil
swelled with all the moisture. At the events end as folks were leaving , everyone was having problems getting out of the orchard even the trucks.
The access roads were weaving left and right and uphill and down .... I was sweating bullets on how to get the bus out .. fortunatly all this time the nice little "high ground"
I choose to park the bus on was still dry and holding up firm! But it was 1/2 mile of mud bog to the street! The fellow who put on the paintball event came up to us as we were packing
up to head out ... he said, guess what? I said what's that? He says I bought a school bus Saturday! I said Sweet! Went on discussing the deal he got and the
mechanical challanges and how he was so interested only because I rolled in with mine on Friday ... as the opprotunity arose on Saturday he jumped on it!
I told him about Skoolie.net and all the great info to be found, he was excited... Next year Event producer said... lets camp next to eachother! I said sure!
This guy owns a couple of paintball fields, paintball stores, even has a line of paintball guns! My team was so excited.. we already have a local sponsor here in Bend Oregon.
The hopes of picking up a national sponsor made me forget about the bus stuck on a small grass island sourround by a mud highway!

Heading out!

So as the time comes for the inevitable, must fire up the bus to leave ( she is loaded up with gear, leftover supplies - no beer left though!, paintball team.)
The event producer says, we'll follow you when you get stuck, we'll go get help .....
I slowly just beyond idel speed head out.. so far so good.... up to the first corner... slowly and easily .. I cant go to wide because the mud bog is nasty from others going
thru already.... just as I am about to come out of the corner... the back slide 2 or 3 feet... and I'm done! I try rocking her back and forth for some "traction" but to no avail.
The event producer says I'll be right back.... and indeed he comes back with 20+ kids who volunteered to referee the event ... coming to the rescue...
At first I was hesitant to think these kids could help move a school bus... Believe it or not... the did .. with my help a the wheel and gas!

We ( myself steering and applying minimal gas) and the kids began to power slide/steer/push the bus about 1/10th of a mile untill we hit a small uphill....
It was the funniest sight ever! I was using the PA to jokingly tell them to push harder and stuff... the kids got tired my friends took some pictures .. it was funny as hell!

As we contemplate how to get up the small incline... low and behold the filbert orchard owner come out with a rather large john deer tractor, the tires were as tall
as the nose on the bus... he chained me up and slowly he pulled the bus the rest of the way to better ground....my friend video taped this event as it was also truely funnier than hell.

The farmer was cool and told us how to easily get out from this point on out to the street, I thanked him many .. many times.. and off he went ....

We drove home safely, everone basically slept as I drove my bus home in the dark and rain for the first time.... I took it easy , no rush.

Dropped my friends off and unloaded gear... Then I drove off to head home myself...

On the drive I thought ... A lot of first times happened..

First time I drove my bus on a road trip
First time I drove my bus at night
First time I drove my bus in the rain.
First time I slept in the bus.
First time I power slid the bus.
First time I went mudding in the bus.
First time I got pushed by a bunch of 17 year old kids in the bus.
First time I got towed by a John Deer Tractor thru the mud in the bus....

Hopefully the next trip is much less exciting!
I will put up pics and video of this ... I sure some here will find amusement in it!

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Old 05-05-2009, 11:25 AM   #22
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Re: Tone's Project

Sounds like a real adventure, and yes please share some pics and videos. But not on photobucket or flickr, cant see those, blocked by network rules.
I hope my maiden voyage will be less adventures then yours.
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Old 05-05-2009, 12:46 PM   #23
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Re: Tone's Project

MAK'IN MEMORIES Hey, nobody got hurt, no damages on the bus and you made it home. Sounds like a fantastic first voyage! Have yet to power slide something that big but I'm game Enjoy
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Old 05-07-2009, 11:36 AM   #24
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Re: Tone's Project

did you post the video on youtube? I would LOVE to see it, sounds like my kind of road trip
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Old 05-07-2009, 06:18 PM   #25
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Re: Tone's Project

Pictures of campsite....
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Old 05-09-2009, 10:34 AM   #26
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Year: 1993
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Re: Tone's Project

Supergame campsite and bus site. School bus tractor pull!



Watch in HD
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Old 05-27-2009, 04:44 PM   #27
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 57
Year: 1993
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: Ford B600
Engine: Cummins
Re: Tone's Project

Took the bus out for her 2nd voyage for Memorial Day Weekend...
My wife and myself for the first time..... 140 miles one way.. not to shabby... All the real traffic was coming to Bend, Oregon and I was leaving!
It worked out great like that. Drove to Noti Oregon, west of Eugene about 20 minutes ( half way to the coast). I drove thru Eugene and
saw a couple of other Skoolie owners and waved as I drove on thru....

We basically camped on our friends land... a 30th birthday bash for my buddy Awebry... He homebrewed about 45 gallons of microbrew and bought a couple extra kegs (just in case).
We drank ALL the beer! There was bout 40 of us. Everyone LOVED the bus! Everyone wanted a tour of the bus... I must have told my story of buying the bus for $500 about 30 times... Kids wanted a ride in it, adults wanted to buy it or buy one just like it ( for $500, who wouldnt). With the awesome tunes in it we partied all night in and around it...

Everyone was impressed with my ability to back her in to position for the weekend, so was I

We took all the comforts of home, our two beagle pups and their huge 4 foot dog crate, we had room for a Calfornia King matress in the back even.... I used the 2 rows of 4 bus seats as storage and organizing up front as we lived in the back..... Hooked up some x-mas lights to the inverter and strung them around the bus and arond the trees it was cool!


On the way home.... traffic was the same ... everyone was leaving Bend... and I was coming home... no traffic for me... Traffic was backed up out of Sisters Oregon for over 5 miles... As I drove by them all waving and using the PA to say "Hello" to the folks stuck in traffic who were waving,whistling,and cheering me on.... I saw 2 short bus skoolies next to eachother... we honked, waved... & I PA'ed to them to turn around and take the cut off to avoid the 5 miles of standing traffic... I hope they heard me...

We are going to have a blast this summer with our great bus... Just need a good name for her!
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Old 06-10-2009, 08:42 PM   #28
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Year: 1993
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Engine: Cummins
Re: Tone's Project

Put a new battery in the bus almost a month ago before the paintball trip... A battery tender has been on my mind since I shelled the cash
for the new battery... keep it healthy for the long term... There are some nice battery tenders out there, and they arn't free either...
I'm sure it's true for battery tenders... you get what you pay for.....

but here's one I found at a local auto parts store for the same as online on ebay... I paid $29.99
Schumacher SE-1-12S Fully Automatic Onboard Battery Charger - 1.5 Amps

http://store.schumachermart.com/se-1-12s.html is the manufacture page...

Installed



After a week of service... so far so good and wallet friendly!
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Old 06-11-2009, 11:05 PM   #29
Almost There
 
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Posts: 82
Re: Tone's Project

Buses are great for paintball trips. My first bus was bought to get my team to and from paintball games. Great advertising, as well. 800 people? The only ones I had heard of that large were Oklahoma D Day and New Jersey Nam. That one sounds like fun. What was the name of the event?
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Old 06-13-2009, 01:49 AM   #30
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Year: 1993
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Engine: Cummins
Re: Tone's Project

The event was Super Game #37, at Sniperz Den Paintball, St. Paul Oregon...
This event was a record event for Oregon....

http://www.warpaintpb.com/

Super Game 38 is in July...
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Old 06-16-2009, 05:30 PM   #31
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Re: Tone's Project

That is a long way from Ohio, but it looks really cool.
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Old 07-05-2009, 01:52 PM   #32
Mini-Skoolie
 
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Year: 1993
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Re: Tone's Project

You are right!
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Old 04-28-2012, 03:16 PM   #33
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Year: 1993
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Engine: Cummins
Re: Tone's Project

Yahooooooo......

I havnt posted in a long while.... but guess what... The paintball team is rolling out the bus for one more in state adventure.
It's been about 3 years since the last paintball bus journey, so we are all eager! 3 years later... I now have 15 month old TWIN boys! I cant believe it too!
Bennum and Bowie ... 2 pretty good lookin little boys ( They must have gotten that from their mother!)

So cleaned the bus inside and out.... gonna head out this Friday. 7 of us to the Oregon Supergame Paintball Event June 6,7,8th .. there should be about 1000 people at the painball event playing.... I'll post up pics when we get back....

So new features for this year's trip: Verizon Mobile Mifi Hotspot for 5 divices, 32" LED Flatpanel, Blue Ray Player, Laptop. We will be streaming digital movies from the laptop to the blueray player to the tv using Serio using the DLNA protocol that the blue ray player supports. We'll have tons of movies, music and live internet to update our frineds with our paintball current events.

What engine oil should I use in my B700/Bluebird Schoolie? I need to add about a half a qt it seems.... thanks in advance.
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Old 04-29-2012, 08:15 PM   #34
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Re: Tone's Project

I see you have a Cummins diesel engine so you need diesel rated oil. I use either Delo or Rotella 15w-40 in my diesels.
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Old 05-03-2012, 03:39 AM   #35
Mini-Skoolie
 
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Re: Tone's Project

thankyou kindly
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