We just got back from Peoria Illinois, a round trip of about 1500 miles, no problems at all, I wonder what I'm doing wrong. This makes almost 5000 miles this summer with only one gremlin in my speedometer, the gods are smiling on me, or the other shoe is about to drop, not sure which. Next run is in september to lower michigan, then on to the Mohican bluegrass festival in Glenmont Ohio, from there I'm not sure what direction to try. I apologize for the boring topic but sadly I have no problems, no anguish, nothing that needs solving, I know, I know, I'm tempting fate but am really pleased with the boredom of enjoying what we all love to do. I did see a great prevost at the Mt Hawly rv park in Peoria, along with a couple of other great buses there, not sure if any of them are here on the board but if you are, let me know and I'll raid your coffee pot next time lol.
Good post Cody,
These posts do balance out the impression that all buses do is break down & we spend all our time & $$$ fixing them..
We just returned from a short trip where we were using our bus's diesel generator to power several air rides out at our annual church jamboree. No problems - and it was fun to use the bus to help others. This weekend, we're taking the bus & our bluegrass group up to Michigan for some bluegrass training with "Monroe Crossing". Should be a hoot. :D
Best Regards,
Phil
Guys,
I was thinking about posting how Great my bus has been running too, but was afraid of jinxing myself! ;D
I feel like it took me a little while to sort out all the little things that probably where the reasons operators
let these coaches go and don't keep them in revenue service.
But that said, Its is just so fun to fire that diesel up, head out and just have fun with the family.
We get such a kick out of the magnetic appeal to others when we are out at the state parks we love to frequent.
The bus is better than a puppy to get a conversation started.
Cody,
Thanks for a positive update that MANY of us share.
Cliff
Phil, what part of michigan? We're based out of the Upper Penninsula and we're involved in bluegrass too, we've been friends with many of the performers for a long time and hit festivals with them on a regular basis. I know exactly what you're saying with the impression some people have on buses and their reliability, we run into that on a regular basis, we're asked how many miles are driven and how many are towed lol. I think people relate the older buses to the older S&S units, and don't realize that there is no comparison at all, the buses are meant to run and will live almost forever with regular maintenance. A lot of the posts that are written do seem to relate to problem solving and general bus repairs or modifications and uninformed people that browse the forums could see that as an issue, when in fact buses are safer and will provide a high level of service for much longer than the S&S rigs they are familier with. I guess we all need to work harder to educate the general public in this regards by posting more on great vacations or the uneventful runs we take on a regular basis. Personally, I enjoy reading about the vacations or visiting runs that I find here on the forum and would like to see more of them posted, I'm always looking for a coffee pot with an extra chair around it or a new destination to visit.
Couldn't agree with you fellas more. Most of us spend so much time working on these buses and they don't get the use they were designed for...and a few more great tales about fine trips might be in order. I'll keep that in mind for our next trip...and post here.
Cliff, you mean your bus attracts more attention than Rosie? :o
'Rosie' is their family dog...and a cute one at that..... ;D
Bob
Cliff, your absolutely right in the bus being a great conversation starter, I enjoy the looks we get when we pull into a campground and it never takes long before we have people walking by to see the rig, one of the comments I hear most often is when people ask how many miles are on it and I tell them, they seem amazed that it's still running, they have no idea on the longevity of a bus or the quality of construction much less the possibilities of making it into something that nobody else has.
Cody,
Good ride, good fun, no problems now that is they way it is supposed to be.
Thanks for the post I was starting to wonder if it was possible to run good mileage with no problems :)
Skip
I agree with the other posts, we need more positive stories, even though reading about the break downs, and the pitfalls of building help us all in a round about way, (misery loves company thing?) It really is fun to read the success stories, PLUS, it gives the guys that are still building some incentive.
We also had a good weekend. We had our first family camp out, my three grown girls, their husbands, and and my two grand daughters pulled pop ups, and my wife and I took the bus to Peninsula State Park in Door County, Wisconsin for the weekend. (what a fabulous place)
We had a great time, AND the bus ran great! It doesn't get much better than that as far as I'm concerned.
Jim
Phil, Cody,
WOW! Maybe we should start a sub group for Bluegrass pickers. I know a bunch of them that travel in busses. We had a tent set up at Bussin' 2007 specifically for a bluegrass Jam. It was a very busy spot during the rally. Last January there were about 13-15 bus conversions that all got together at the YeeHaw Junction Bluegrass Festival in Florida. The promoter lets us Reserve" an area so we can all park together. We gat a lot of looks from the other festival goers, when thery see all these buses together and the are we set up for jamming. Jack
Jack, I like that idea, over the years we've become friends with many pickers, some are world class musicians that would be household names in the bluegrass community, many of these travel in buses or S&S rigs. I can't imagine anything being more fun than to combine bussing with music, the only thing that would make it more fun would be to combine a rally with the MACC (musicians against childhood cancer) in Columbus Ohio. This is a benefit for St Judes Childrens Hospital and is held every summer in July, musicians come from all over the country for 11 days of picking and stage performances, the jamming goes long into the night long after the stage closes and starts up again in the morning, it's a blast.
Let me add to the good riding, not fixing tales. (knock on wood). We've been able to travel to shows and rallies right along, not as much as we'd like, but no issues.
i credit our travel success to some of the wisdom on this board and my own intelligence at taking good advice from those that offer it. We try to watch for problems and stay on top of the maintenance, oil changes, etc.
thanks to all of you for helping us enjoy the ride.
and cody, next time you are in Ohio, let us know. we're kind of east Ohio on w of cleveland but always happy to see some other bussers. also, remind me of the columbus thing next year. we wanted to go, but were committed already.
our next gig is in Goshen for the Fall Escapade rally for full-timers and wannabee's.
Tom, we're in your area at least a couple of times a summer, we have friends east of cleveland in the mentor area.
Cody,if you and Jack like good music the first full weekend in Aug they have a harmonica fest in Yellow Pine Idaho if you are ever out west this is a must to attend .it was canceled this year for the first time in 19 year because of fires.a guy from Galena OH finshed 3rd last year. Yellow Pine has a web site you can read about it. a great place for music lovers
Sounds like it might make a great group for FMCA.
Richard
Quote from: JackConrad on August 20, 2007, 12:17:23 PM
Phil, Cody,
WOW! Maybe we should start a sub group for Bluegrass pickers. I know a bunch of them that travel in busses. We had a tent set up at Bussin' 2007 specifically for a bluegrass Jam. It was a very busy spot during the rally. Last January there were about 13-15 bus conversions that all got together at the YeeHaw Junction Bluegrass Festival in Florida. The promoter lets us Reserve" an area so we can all park together. We gat a lot of looks from the other festival goers, when thery see all these buses together and the are we set up for jamming. Jack
Hey One More Trouble Free Run
I just got back to Albuquerque, NM from Sioux City IA from my nieces wedding and two weeks ago I ran out to Moline IL and ran the Bix Seven ( a running Race ) and floated in the Spoon River Float (a beer drinking and food fight event )( we had plenty of water to clean up after the food fight )and back.
The bus ran great and the only problem with the bus was the heat on the last day coming in to Alb. I towed a Nissan Pathfinder the whole way.
The first trip was 2700 miles and the second was 2000 miles. Both in less than a month and we have a plan to drive up to Dodge City KS for the Great Santa Fe Trail Endurance Horse Race on Sept 7th.
If you want to know what went wrong -- the King Dome only found one sat while in motion. The Genset did not like to be run while driving -- the computer would lose the high speed connection when we got on bumpy roads -- we forgot to pack a ladder on the first trip to clean the windshield AND the biggest complaint of all --- I had to wash the pathfinder when I got where I was going because of the oil and exhaust. BUT we stayed without hookups for multiple days and the generator did great and we never ran out of water or storage and everyone wanted to see inside and we are still working on it so it's not finished but they all loved it.
IT JUST DON'T GET NO BETTER THAN THIS
Melbo
I just got back from Mammoth Lakes, Ca which is at 8300ft elevation. It was between 100 and 107 running through the Mojave desert. Had to use the misters and take it easy on some of the longer grades-other than that the bus ran great! First run with the new tachometer. On easy acceleration, would shift from 1st to 2nd at 1500rpm and lockup bringing it down to 1100rpm. Upshift from 2nd to 3rd was at 1950rpm and 3rd to 2nd at 1350rpm. I cruised most of the time at 1850rpm which was 58 and the King cruise was delightful. I am surprised at the low rpms the engine is turning, but with the turbo and air to air intercooler, seems to work just fine. At my governor setting of 2400rpm, my GPS put me at 76mph-works for me. I also thought I had 4.625 rear end ratio, but works out to be more like 4.55. But no problems. These are commercial vehicles, and with proper maintenance and driving techniques, should go many miles between any required maintenance. Good Luck, TomC
Like those before me, I hesitate to post as I don't want to jinx myself.
Our Eagle hit the road a year ago March. In the last 1.5 years, we have traveled about 31K miles and have stayed in the bus over 250 nights! Like Tom, we have been able to make several trade shows. We have tried to do some fun things on these trips. Still have a long way to go to get a good mix of business and pleasure ;).
Given the extensive drive train work that I did, we have been very fortunate and have almost no problems. Same is true with the house systems.
We would love for the bus to be a bit more fancy, but it is 100% functional and very comfortable for our use.
Jim
Quote from: plyonsMC9 on August 20, 2007, 05:47:56 AM
Good post Cody,
These posts do balance out the impression that all buses do is break down & we spend all our time & $$$ fixing them..
Great point, Phil or is it Phil I never can tell which of you I am talking to these days! LOL!
OK now here is another interesting point that I cherish and remind folks of this one all the time when people ask the age of our coaches when looking to charter one! My dad was at Nashville Airport for a pick up one day and a driver pulled up in a super sharp "Executive Coach" to pick up some cooperate clients. Well he and dad got to talking and come to find out it was the owner of Anchor Trailways (John). He made a comment to dad about how well our coach appeared to be maintained, when dad told him we do the best we can with what we have and that some day he hoped to have nicer, newer coaches such as his company (40+ coaches some brand new). He told dad to
"be thankful we were able to keep the ones we have as nice and reliable as they are, because the only ones that don't break down or have problems are the ones that sit around in parking lots and never go anywhere!" Well first off I take it as quite a compliment coming from a man who owns that many nice coaches, to tell us how nice it appeared that we maintained ours!
Second I always remind people mechanical items do break sooner or later! And like John said! It's not the age but rather how well it's maintained! JMHO FWIW!
;D BK ;D