Hello from NH

[ermracing]

New member, but no bus, yet. We are shopping around for one to serve as a tow rig (race car) and rv. Looking to get a medium sized International (35 pass?) with a wheel chair ramp at the back. There are a few I'm looking at so hopefully we can pop on one soon.

I have a CDL/Pass/School Bus ticket although it won't be needed to drive it. Did some time in a '75 Winnie as well, but never used that for towing the race cars.

Dave

[dan-fox]

Hey! Welcome! I split my time between DC and Keene, so we're not that far apart. No bus yet either, but as retirement gets closer I'm turning up the heat on the search.

With your CDL I'll likely be asking you for some favors at some point so don't hesitate to ask me!

[Johnny Mullet]

Good luck on your search and welcome to the site. Even an E-Series 7.3L shuttle bus can tow a racecar trailer, car, gear, etc.

[ermracing]

We currently use a '99 E350 extended body with the 7.3 as the tow rig. It's approaching 300k miles and is need of some work. Basically thinking this is a good time to swap it out for a bus do the RV thing as well.

[WanderlustExistence]

Hey! Originally from Meredith NH Best of luck to you!

[ermracing]

The trip started at 7pm on Friday when we left from NH and headed over to Albany in our 2015 Fiat 500. We then turned south on I-87, I-287 and I-95 on our way to North Carolina, just across the border from Norfolk, VA. We took that route to avoid the congestion and tolls through CT and NYC. After crossing the Delaware Memorial bridge we turned south and down the Delmarva peninsula. We made it to Dover, DE at 3am and decided to grab a few hours of sleep. We were back on the road at 6am and saw a wonderful sunrise while continuing our southward journey. We crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and then down to NC, arriving a little after 11am. (The Fiat averaged 38mpg for the trip down.)

We spent an hour checking out the bus and getting the paperwork signed. The seller had agreed to send us a BOS the week before so we could get NH temp plates before heading down since we didn’t actually purchase the bus until we came down. With the bus checked out and the temporary plate on the back we headed north around 12:30pm. The fuel tank was about 2/3rds full so we could get a fair distance before having to re-fuel.

The first thing I noticed was the torque of the engine, great! It shifted fine, but I quickly discovered it was governed at 55mph…. Gonna be a bit longer to get home.

I called the International dealer back here in NH to ask about the limiter but they said it has to be changed with a computer, so nothing I could do about it on the road.

We headed back the same way we came down, across the Bay Bridge Tunnel. I had looked at the fare schedule beforehand and noted that a 6 wheel ‘rv’ or truck is $33, but a ‘school bus’ is only $1! We put an EZ-Pass transponder in the bus so I don’t know if it cost me $33 or a buck yet, will have to check the account later.

We made it just into Delaware when we stopped to top up the tranny. It wasn’t always shifting into top (Allison 2000) so I topped it up with a few quarts of tranny fluid. This helped it on the rest of the way home although it would occasionally only go to 4th for a bit when we stopped for fuel. I also discovered a neat feature on the back door. It has a dead bolt on the inside so we can lock it when we park the bus. This lead to the next discovery - the bus won’t start with the dead bolt locked! However, it acted like the battery was dead so it took me a few agonizing minutes to figure out what was wrong!

We kept heading north, weaving our way back across the Delaware Memorial bridge and onto the NJ Turnpike. (Fortunately all the tall bridge crossings were done at night, because I hate going over them, especially in high profile rigs.) We made it up to New Paltz (Poughkeepsie), NY around 2am and then spent another hour trying to find a motel that wasn’t fully booked. And also practiced turning and backing the bus in dark and/or tight parking lots… We grabbed a few more hours of sleep and then completed the last 4.5 hours of the trip, arriving home almost exactly 24 hours and 560 miles after leaving NC. (The Fiat averaged 42mpg for the entire trip so it was getting close to 45mpg following the bus at 55mph.)

On the way down I was thinking of Chessie as the name for this bus, mainly because we were going over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. When we saw the bus, the original school district was Chesapeake City, so Chessie fits perfectly!

[Johnny Mullet]

Congrats on getting the bus home!

[dan-fox]

Most excellent! Welcome to the madhouse. I'm in Keene; gimme a holler if you need another strong back.

[ermracing]

Will do Dan, working on removing the ceiling now.