Finally nabbed my (first) bus...

[EastCoastCB]

Dude- Bob, did you get into an accident?

[dan-fox]

uhhh, what they said. What's up? Don't keep us hanging.

[EastCoastCB]

I got into a fender bender pulling out of the first intersection of my maiden voyage of my first bus way back when. What an ordeal!

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

I got into a fender bender pulling out of the first intersection of my maiden voyage of my first bus way back when. What an ordeal!

This... kinda sorta. The other party involved probably isn't moving just yet. Didn't get home until 4:30 am. You'll have a wait a bit.

[Brewerbob]

Person of interest,
Know that I'm only poking fun at you. It's all done with a smile. No worries whatsover.

[EastCoastCB]

Sorry to hear bout that, Bob.

My ordeal cost me my first bus... My ins cancelled me, the vehicle I damaged was a "rare" mid-80's toyota land cruiser. Guy sued me, I ended up paying for his toyota's full restoration. With all NOS parts!

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Sorry to hear bout that, Bob.

My ordeal cost me my first bus... My ins cancelled me, the vehicle I damaged was a "rare" mid-80's toyota land cruiser. Guy sued me, I ended up paying for his toyota's full restoration. With all NOS parts!

No insurance companies were harmed in the making of this story.

[Brewerbob]

Since she only has 4 posts on this forum, I'm guessing she isn't very active (and she said as much on the drive). So, without further ado (shouldn't that be French and adeu or something). Copy/pasted from an email...

Picked up my bus Monday. Before the auction ended, I found someone on the here that was bidding on a bus at the same auction. Some pain in the ass bid up both of our buses and still managed to win one for less than we paid. How the hell does that work?!? Anywho, ended up going out there with the gf and the other bidder. Turns out she's a girl; single mom of 2 toddlers, sewing business, and wants to go mobile. While pretty cool she doesn't know nothing about cars, buses, that kind of stuff.


We all drove out in my car and got our buses. Hers had a problem with the windshield wipers. The guys at the school shop went out of their way to get it fixed for her. Very cool. On the drive back she was in front of me since she has the faster bus. Enter problem #2. She was spraying my windshield with transmission fluid. Something (most likely a hose) was leaking. Got her some transmission fluid and were on our way again. Once it got dark a couple of semi trucks flashed their lights at her and she freaked out!!! called me on the phone in a panic.


Got off the interestate and stopped at a gas station. She tried coming around my bus to park next to it and hit it!! I think the reflector I saw on the ground was from my bus. They are slapped on there with double sided sticky tape. I slapped it on the back of my bus. She wrinkled one of her undercarriage storage doors.


There was a WV state cop in the median that was giving us a dirty look as we went by. Since we were driving without tags I was kinda worried. When we pulled into Walmart for more transmission fluid he came driving over. Great!! Turns out she had NO tail lights at all. He was fine with her leading and me behind for tail lights. Off he went without any hassle at all.


Coming out of Walmart she mentioned (again) that she had no dash lights and no tail lights only this time in the same sentence. That's when it dawned on me that they are on the same circuit and she probably had a blown fuse. Earlier I was thinking the guys knocked a wire loose when they were playing with the wipers behind the dash. The guy at the garage had a 15 amp fuse that he gave her mostly because he didn't feel like putting it back The dash/tail lights needed a 15 amp fuse. We didn't even have to go back into walmart.


Finally got home about 4am and to bed about 4:30. I gave myself an extra 1/2 hr sleep this morning.


Gf went straight from my house to hers to drop off the dogs and into work. I left the bus at my walmart since the storage lot would have added an extra hour and a half to the gf's drive. I'll take it to the lot on wednesday.

[cadillackid]

best thing I ever did was put self resetting circuit breakers in my fuse panel of the DEV for headlights and tail light / dash,

for whatever reason maybe once a month ..something would trip my dash light breaker... they stay off for 5 seconds then come back on.. never seems to be anything i can track down... but has saved me a few times over the 15k ive driven that bus from having to stop and put a fuse in..
-Christopher

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Brewerbob

Since she only has 4 posts on this forum, I'm guessing she isn't very active (and she said as much on the drive). So, without further ado (shouldn't that be French and adeu or something). Copy/pasted from an email...

Damn, you sound like a REALLY nice guy, Bob!
Sounds like a typical, if slightly tragic, skoolie return voyage. Glad it was nothing serious, and that yall are home safe!

How are you liking the bus, other than that bit of unpleasantness?

[cadillackid]

seems there are often adventures in Skoolie-Returns.. part of the fun of all this... war stories to tell when you get back home and show the bus to friends
-Christopher

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

best thing I ever did was put self resetting circuit breakers in my fuse panel of the DEV for headlights and tail light / dash,

for whatever reason maybe once a month ..something would trip my dash light breaker... they stay off for 5 seconds then come back on.. never seems to be anything i can track down... but has saved me a few times over the 15k ive driven that bus from having to stop and put a fuse in..
-Christopher

You aren't much of an electrician are you? Everyone knows that if you keep blowing fuses/circuit breakers that you are supposed to replace them with a penny. Now the true secret is that you have to use a 1981 or older penny. Those are all copper. They switced to a zinc core mid way thru 1982. Once you have your penny installed it's easy to find whats shorting out. Look for teh arcs and sparks. Sometimes accompanied with smoke and flames.

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Damn, you sound like a REALLY nice guy, Bob!

That's what my mommy and gf say but they are biased. I can't leave someone sitting on the side of the road if I can help. It only cost me time. A fair amount of time but whatever. The whole point of caravaning is so no one had to walk. I knew someone was going to have a hiccup. 50/50 chance it would have been me instead.

Sounds like a typical, if slightly tragic, skoolie return voyage. Glad it was nothing serious, and that yall are home safe!

Yup.

How are you liking the bus, other than that bit of unpleasantness?

Love the bus but hate the tranny/gears. Flat ground and 65, I was pedalling as fast as I could and still had to wait until she was slowed down by traffic to get in front of her to get her pulled over. She was too busy driving see the headlights flashing and I hadn't found the air horn yet at that point

Originally Posted by cadillackid

seems there are often adventures in Skoolie-Returns.. part of the fun of all this... war stories to tell when you get back home and show the bus to friends
-Christopher

True, very true. Some of us deal with it better than other tho. Damn, the bus literally just went up in flames on the side of the road. Damn, I don't have a marshmallows but at least I'm still breathing. Some break out into tears over scraping a little paint and knocking a reflector off. See the scraps, ...I literally laughed.

[EastCoastCB]

As a coin sorter/hunter/collector- I can tell you know your pennies!

[dan-fox]

Originally Posted by Brewerbob

Some break out into tears over scraping a little paint and knocking a reflector off. See the scraps, ...I literally laughed.

Heidelburg dueling scars! Your bus must be an aristocrat.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

As a coin sorter/hunter/collector- I can tell you know your pennies!

Flip the penny and if it zings, it's copper. If it clinks, it's zinc. I have an ashtray from one of the kids art class that is painted orange and some generic candy dish that's white. When i get more than 4 or 5 pennies in my pocket I sort them into the dishes. I need to roll them as the dishes are full again.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by dan-fox

Heidelburg dueling scars! Your bus must be an aristocrat.

She took out the top marker lens too. Now it matches the other side. Passenger side came pre-flattened.

Heidelburg??? Tourist town in Germany, been there, got the t-shirt but what does that have to do with buses or dueling scars?

[dan-fox]

Originally Posted by Brewerbob

Heidelburg??? Tourist town in Germany, been there, got the t-shirt but what does that have to do with buses or dueling scars?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dueling_scar

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Brewerbob

She took out the top marker lens too. Now it matches the other side. Passenger side came pre-flattened.

Heidelburg??? Tourist town in Germany, been there, got the t-shirt but what does that have to do with buses or dueling scars?

heck it looks like a lot of the school busses I see taking kids to school in Florida.... took me a minute to even find the battle scars...

going fast in a school bus aint all that... if im taking the bus i dont need to fly... if i want to fly i'll go buy another old G-body and drop that extra somewhat-radical SBC I have laying around into it...

but I get it some people want to roll wheels with the 600 HP petes out on the highway..

-Christopher

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by dan-fox

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dueling_scar

Went in '94 missed out on that tour apparently.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

heck it looks like a lot of the school busses I see taking kids to school in Florida.... took me a minute to even find the battle scars...

For sure. I've seen far worse. She just caught it perfect on mine that there was no damage. She wrinkled one of her lockers and the skirt behind it. I honestly think it'll hammer out and still latch. As long as it doesn't have to be shiny sports car finish, that'll work.

going fast in a school bus aint all that... if im taking the bus i dont need to fly... if i want to fly i'll go buy another old G-body and drop that extra somewhat-radical SBC I have laying around into it...

but I get it some people want to roll wheels with the 600 HP petes out on the highway..

-Christopher

The TDI has helped a lot in retraining me. I'm fine with rolling at 60 mph and looking out the window. I just want to be able to roll at 60 mphh and look out the window AND SEE SOMETHING. Not a line of semi trucks with their hazzards on but still passing me. If I can freewheel down the hill at 80mph so I crest the next uphill at 50 then I'm good. If I'm dropping to 3rd gear (~38mph) and staying there then not so much.