Well the Brown Crown is back home from a 3,000 mile journey from California to Oklahoma and back. Took my mom and 2 sisters back to see my mom's birthplace and family in Pawhuska, OK. There were a few problem at the beginning and the end, but everything else in between was fabulous. The bus itself ran great for the whole trip
The Detroit now has 320,150 miles on it. It used 6 quarts of oil on the 3,000 mile run and averaged about 9.5 mpg on the way out, and about 8.9 on the way back due to driving for two days into nasty direct headwinds across New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
First day we went from Bakersfield to Laughlin, NV where my seven year old air-conditioner went out in 108 degree temps
My mom is elderly, so her and my sisters and the dogs got a room at the Casino Hotel. I was afraid to leave BC, so took a cold shower and spent the night in a VERY HOT bus. Some local guys put in a new one the next morning and we were on our way.
Rest of the trip, until the last day, was fantastic. Got to see some sights I haven't been to in over 30 years. Went across Arizona, New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle and on into Oklahoma. My uncle lives in the Osage Hill Country of Northeast OK and it's beautiful country. Brown Crown got a good bath in a BAD ASS thunderstorm in Amarillo...lightning bolts lit up the inside at night as if it were daytime
We covered 3,000 miles, and only 60 miles from home, BC blew it's right rear tire. I knew the tires were close to the end of their life and we almost made it. Blew this at 63 mph, and other than the noise, no big deal...just pulled over and waited for the guys to change the tire, then we made the last 60 miles without incident.
It was a trip of a lifetime, especially for my mom
, and made all the long hours working on the bus well worth it
Tango told me not to come back without pics, so here are a representative batch:
Parked with the big boys at a California rest stop
The view from the drivers seat
Changing out the air conditioner in Nevada
All of us enjoying a well earned cocktail from the new wet bar after our air conditioner ordeal in Holbrook, AZ at a KOA
BC along old Route 66 in Erick,OK at what is left of an old motel my family stayed at on our first trip in 1967
I dont't think it's a Best Western anymore
A conversion sitting at a home right down the street from my uncle's house in OK
BC under some nice oak trees
A working oil pump in the middle of the street in Barnsdall, OK
Price Tower in Barttlesville, OK. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
The Oklahoma hill country
BC at a rest area outside Amarillo...they say everything in Texas is big, and this rest area was no exception
Tourist Trap in Arizona
My dog Yoda enjoying his ride
BC at the Needles, CA KOA on the way home. It was 107 that evening, but the new air conditioner kept the inside at about 84
The right rear tire...thankfully, only rubber is all over the side...no damage to the paint
Linear Mode
