First weekend trip.......WOO HOO!!!!
Greetings,
We took the Pig out for it's first real workout this weekend.
Spent Friday and part of Saturday getting ready, filling water tanks, going over little details, changing the oil in genset, checking air in tires, you know, ALL THE GORY LITTLE DETAILS!!!!
Ran the AC and other electrics on shore power until we got ready to leave.
It was nice and cool in there when we pulled out!
Unplugged from shore power and plugged into the genset, started it and pulled out about 4:30 PM on Saturday and drove about 105 miles to Bunkerfest - the biggest Paintball Tourney in Texas held in San Antonio.
I sponsor a Rookie and a Novice 5 man team and went to watch and smooze with vendors, other field operators, etc. - oh yeah and a little vacation.....
The trip over was anti-climatic and went well.
When we pulled in, we noticed our teams had formed a circle and saved us a prime parking spot.
We setup, checked level and set the awning.
It was in the middle of a field with no trees in sight and was about 90 degrees when we arrived.
After we setup camp, we went and watched the X-Ball demonstration, then headed back to the bus.
About dark, I rolled up the awning - just in case of high winds, then we watched Lord of the Rings 3 and retired for the night.
The AC was a godsend for us and some team members sleeping on the floor!!!!!
Sunday started fast and furious about daylight - both my teams are 5 man and the 5 man prelims started on Sunday - Sat was for 3 man only.
During the day, there were dozens and dozens of lookers, a few very appreciative ladies (the porta potties were positively NASTY by Sunday about noon) and at least a hundred pictures of the Flying Pig hood ornament!
The day went smoothly and all systems functioned perfectly - so, I guess those months of planning, drawing and replanning paid off.
The bus saw a steady stream of folks who "just wanted to stand there for a minute to cool off."
We partied lightly on Sunday night - the Rookie team didn't make the cut, but the Novices came out in 9th place and they were taking the top 16 teams to Semis, so we were in for Monday!
Sunday night was uneventful - the team was tired from all day in 95 degree heat, so after a light supper of burgers cooked on the RoadTrip grill, the wife, my son and I took a shower in the bus, and we retired for the night - the team had a motel for Sunday night.
Monday morning started early again.
Unfortunately, the team didn't gel on Monday and lost all three Semi-Final games, so no finals! We were kinda glad as they were all tired, sunburned and ready to go home and it was gonna be EVEN HOTTER today.
We broke camp and pulled out about noon. The trip home was another breeze, but traffic on I10 east out of San Antonio was heavy. We were able to run 60 MPH most of the time with an occasional run up to 65 down hill! We stopped about 20 miles from home and filled up, then drove on in and hooked up to shore power.
We burned 37 gallons of gas. This was a for 211 mile round trip and running the genset for 46 hours straight with the AC going the whole time.
Not too shabby for a 28 year old bus with LESS THAN 12K total invested!
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