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04-16-2019, 10:56 PM
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#141
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 3,856
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Thomas Built Bus
Chassis: Freightliner FS65
Engine: Caterpillar 3126E Diesel
Rated Cap: 71 Passenger- 30,000 lbs.
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There is something mystical or magical about the sand dunes. I hope to visit there again some day.
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04-18-2019, 11:38 AM
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#142
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: pa
Posts: 2,498
Year: 98
Coachwork: 1. Corbeil & 2. Thomas
Chassis: 1 ford 1998 e350 4x4 7.3 2 mercedes 2004
Engine: 7.3 powerstroke & MBE906
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You are right...especially with the evening light. This second time entry in DV was a lot more infested with people. Our first entry one and half week earlier was more adventurous.
We got out of DV pretty quick and took the back road to pahrump. Some more long down hills but 2 gear and the retarder did a good job.
We resupplied at wally in pahrump spend the night and Leena and me changed the primary filter/ water separator. Our next stop was going to be las Vegas. I had a friend over there from the electric car "solectria" forum who had visited us in State College. Fortunately he was able to free his schedule up.
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04-18-2019, 04:22 PM
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#143
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: N.C.
Posts: 1,136
Year: 1997
Coachwork: Bluebird
Engine: DT466E
Rated Cap: 34
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Y'all are having entirely too much fun.
How are you finding these little out-of-the-way nooks? Googling, word-of-mouth, or just discovering them as you drive along? I plan on re-tracing a LOT of your steps.
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04-18-2019, 07:49 PM
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#144
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Western Oregon
Posts: 876
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Blue-Bird
Chassis: TC RE 3408
Engine: 5.9 Cummins 12V Mechanical/Allison MT643
Rated Cap: Blue-Bird says 72 pass.
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Me too, especially since I have a cousin in Pahrump.
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04-18-2019, 10:55 PM
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#145
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: pa
Posts: 2,498
Year: 98
Coachwork: 1. Corbeil & 2. Thomas
Chassis: 1 ford 1998 e350 4x4 7.3 2 mercedes 2004
Engine: 7.3 powerstroke & MBE906
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Well it is not my first time traveling across the US. The nice thing is that we can spend the time stopping and seeing places without to much time constraints.
Sightseeing gets tiring after a while. I can see having a loose occupation would be something I need to do this full time. Time will tell.
Monday 08 April we drove out of Pahrump on our way to las Vegas. We found a diversion in the red rock canyon. We were a little rushed because we had set a time with our friend in lasvegas. Kids had a great time. The park is high quality and we could have spend 2 days there.
In the evening we arrived at our friend. He had just bought a converted GMC pd4106 bus. I like the design and style of those buses.
Next day we did the shower thing at our friends house and he and me went to the nuclear testing museum. I definitely want to go there again and spend some more time.
Wednesday we took Dory to the Hoover Dam. After a security check we were allowed to drive over it. As you can see we did the power generation tour. That night we boondocked in Henderson at a gym place. The wally did not allow overnighters.
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04-18-2019, 11:21 PM
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#146
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 3,856
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Thomas Built Bus
Chassis: Freightliner FS65
Engine: Caterpillar 3126E Diesel
Rated Cap: 71 Passenger- 30,000 lbs.
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I lived in Las Vegas for a while. I really like Red Rock Canyon. It is like it is from a different planet. I lived off of Charleston on the way to Red Rock. At the time, it was the closest housing development (or any other sort of development) to the park.
RE: Hoover Dam: That dam tour is fantastic! All the marble and brushed aluminum sets a person back to the 60's. The generators are simply HUGE!
I am assuming you took the windy route back out as well. They must have been a real workout with Dory!
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04-19-2019, 05:49 AM
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#147
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Virginia
Posts: 2,324
Year: 1971
Coachwork: Wayne
Chassis: International Loadstar 1700
Engine: 345 international V-8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joeblack5
Well it is not my first time traveling across the US. The nice thing is that we can spend the time stopping and seeing places without to much time constraints.
Sightseeing gets tiring after a while. I can see having a loose occupation would be something I need to do this full time. Time will tell.
Monday 08 April we drove out of Pahrump on our way to las Vegas. We found a diversion in the red rock canyon. We were a little rushed because we had set a time with our friend in lasvegas. Kids had a great time. The park is high quality and we could have spend 2 days there.
In the evening we arrived at our friend. He had just bought a converted GMC pd4106 bus. I like the design and style of those buses.
Next day we did the shower thing at our friends house and he and me went to the nuclear testing museum. I definitely want to go there again and spend some more time.
Wednesday we took Dory to the Hoover Dam. After a security check we were allowed to drive over it. As you can see we did the power generation tour. That night we boondocked in Henderson at a gym place. The wally did not allow overnighters.
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When we went over the Hoover dam, the power plant tour was closed, so missed out on that. I remember the security check, seems odd they did not mind a trailer full of fuel(veggie oil) we were running our truck on it. Cross country on a tote of veggie....
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04-19-2019, 10:54 AM
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#148
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: pa
Posts: 2,498
Year: 98
Coachwork: 1. Corbeil & 2. Thomas
Chassis: 1 ford 1998 e350 4x4 7.3 2 mercedes 2004
Engine: 7.3 powerstroke & MBE906
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For techies the power plant tour is lame. 25 yes ago things were more in debt. What can you do in the time of most people staring at there mobile anyhow.
Cross country on Wvo. Fun times..we did that with our ambulance. Going from taco bell to taco bell. Filtering on the road.
You can drive over the hoover dam but have to return over the dam as well. The steering fun is was a pleasant workout. Security asked for guns and wanted to see in the box on top of the jeep. It was good. The coach in front of us had to open each and every little storage they had. I guess our conversion and kids was disalarming to them or the coach before is was just number 13.
Pic. of one main penstock out of 4
Thursday 11 April we spent time in the Henderson library. Back into Vegas around 4pm and took the jeep downtown. Container place with a kids playground and a fire blowing mantis...shops? ..not our style..
Then in the evening the vulcano and fountains. The pirate ship was there but shows had stopped a long time ago.
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04-19-2019, 11:19 AM
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#149
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: pa
Posts: 2,498
Year: 98
Coachwork: 1. Corbeil & 2. Thomas
Chassis: 1 ford 1998 e350 4x4 7.3 2 mercedes 2004
Engine: 7.3 powerstroke & MBE906
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Pics. If it works.
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04-19-2019, 12:39 PM
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#150
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Western Oregon
Posts: 876
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Blue-Bird
Chassis: TC RE 3408
Engine: 5.9 Cummins 12V Mechanical/Allison MT643
Rated Cap: Blue-Bird says 72 pass.
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The highway used to go over the top of Hoover Dam. There was no security check. That was the highway we took to go to Grandma's house in Phoenix. The last time I went to Grandma's house was the summer of 1964.
Just a ways past the dam there was a couple with their suitcases standing alongside the road, maybe 100 feet at most from a brand new Cadillac with the front end completely engulfed in flames. We stopped. They said they had a wrecker coming from Kingman. My dad advised them to get further away from the car before it blew uo, and we drove on to Grandma's house.
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04-19-2019, 01:14 PM
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#151
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Bus Geek
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Eastern WA
Posts: 6,401
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: All American RE (A3RE)
Engine: Cummins ISC (8.3)
Rated Cap: 72
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I remember crossing Hoover dam in my converted Eagle shortly after 9/11.
At first they told me that I could not cross. After a little encouragement and a 20 minute inspection of the bus they yielded and let me pass.
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04-19-2019, 05:29 PM
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#152
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Virginia
Posts: 2,324
Year: 1971
Coachwork: Wayne
Chassis: International Loadstar 1700
Engine: 345 international V-8
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They were building a new bridge by the dam when we were there about 10 years ago. So crossing on the top of the dam was the only way. Guess the bridge is done now?
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04-19-2019, 05:46 PM
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#153
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Bus Geek
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Eastern WA
Posts: 6,401
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: All American RE (A3RE)
Engine: Cummins ISC (8.3)
Rated Cap: 72
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronnie
They were building a new bridge by the dam when we were there about 10 years ago. So crossing on the top of the dam was the only way. Guess the bridge is done now?
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The bridge is done and open.
I have not driven it. I moved away while it was still under construction.
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04-19-2019, 07:10 PM
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#154
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: pa
Posts: 2,498
Year: 98
Coachwork: 1. Corbeil & 2. Thomas
Chassis: 1 ford 1998 e350 4x4 7.3 2 mercedes 2004
Engine: 7.3 powerstroke & MBE906
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Yes the bridge is done..a pedestrian bridge runs parallel to it. It is only accessible after you go thru security. To bad it was to difficult making an observer picture of Dory driving on the dam.
The dam is hardly visible from the bridge. Wrong picture for the penstock.
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04-20-2019, 01:07 AM
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#155
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 3,856
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Thomas Built Bus
Chassis: Freightliner FS65
Engine: Caterpillar 3126E Diesel
Rated Cap: 71 Passenger- 30,000 lbs.
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No Pirate show? Wow, things have changed. I lived in 'Vegas when they demolished the Dunes and staged it as a cannon shot from the pirate ship. That was a fun night! All the local TV stations aired it live.
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04-20-2019, 04:27 PM
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#156
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: pa
Posts: 2,498
Year: 98
Coachwork: 1. Corbeil & 2. Thomas
Chassis: 1 ford 1998 e350 4x4 7.3 2 mercedes 2004
Engine: 7.3 powerstroke & MBE906
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Next day in the afternoon we left lasvegas and drove to searchlight. In searchlight we took fuel at 2.99/gallon but the pump was that slow that after 1/2 hour we were 30 gallons further. It got dark and I was a little in a hurry. The exit of the gas station was treacherous seeing the damaged pavement. I did not allow Dory to get in full ferry mode and I also did not think well enough about my angle of attack . So..oh. I scraped the left front of the bus and instead of waiting for complete airup I pushed thru. The result... A sudden hissing sound. I thought I ripped of a brake line. Air pressure loss alarms going of. Thinking that the safety brakes would engage in the middle of the road I pushed thru to a parking area.
By the time we were out of the traffic a second alarm went off. Quite cool. Like as scene out of a submarine movie where they are taking on water. OK ok not that bad. In reality after examination it turned out that I had ripped of the drain valve of the secondary air supply. That one is feeding the airbags.
Tried to remove the remaining brass 1/4" npt thread but I was not able to. Then I remembered that I bought a set of machinist taps in Ajo in a thrift store. So all came good. The largest one made some thread in the remaining brass and a bolt and electrical tape stopped the leak.
By then it was dark so we decided to boondock right there. As a bonus there was a Denys in town as part of the local casino. All in all another adventure.
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04-20-2019, 11:01 PM
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#157
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 3,856
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Thomas Built Bus
Chassis: Freightliner FS65
Engine: Caterpillar 3126E Diesel
Rated Cap: 71 Passenger- 30,000 lbs.
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Nice save! Lucky it was the drain valve.
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04-21-2019, 11:14 AM
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#158
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Bus Geek
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Eastern WA
Posts: 6,401
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: All American RE (A3RE)
Engine: Cummins ISC (8.3)
Rated Cap: 72
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Are you heading through Laughlin?
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04-23-2019, 02:18 PM
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#159
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: pa
Posts: 2,498
Year: 98
Coachwork: 1. Corbeil & 2. Thomas
Chassis: 1 ford 1998 e350 4x4 7.3 2 mercedes 2004
Engine: 7.3 powerstroke & MBE906
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After breakfast we moved on to telephone cove again. The dirt road in that at first looked so menacing to us became just a dirt road. We stayed for three nights and had a good time in the water.
Hi Steve. We passed by laughlin on our way to Kingman,az. There we spend some time in the visitor center and electric vehicle museum and of course the steam locomotive. It started raining so another wally was on the menu.
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04-23-2019, 10:43 PM
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#160
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: pa
Posts: 2,498
Year: 98
Coachwork: 1. Corbeil & 2. Thomas
Chassis: 1 ford 1998 e350 4x4 7.3 2 mercedes 2004
Engine: 7.3 powerstroke & MBE906
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Wednesday after a rainy night in kingman,az we attempted to get our kicks on the historic rt66.. Maybe we were a little tired of site seeing...may be to touristic..so.oo..no stopping ..and we rolled on direction grand canyon. We boondocked just south of the GC in the national forest. Next morning early we parked at the visitor center. With Rosie our dog we first hiked the rim trail. Then after breakfast we took a shuttle and hiked the first 2 miles of the kaibab trail. Rosie stayed in Dory. Dory stays pretty cool and has great cross ventilation. Then we found a boon docking only 3 miles south from the fee entrance station. Kids and dog were happy to be out of the desert and with trees. Leena discovered a poorly extinguished camp fire and was able to bring it back to life.
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