Having just returned from our first official "Steel Tent" weekend, I would like to make a few observations for those of you that are contemplating something similar. (you salty road worn pro's ....bare with.)
Just because those unused empty dashboard openings next to your speedo are the perfect size for your coke can ....they do not make a good cup holder. While they may work fine for those long, straight, stretches of Kansas I-70, expect to cut the can in half, with the steering wheel, when any turns are necessary. Very messy.
Do not go to walmart and guess as to how much food you think you'll need for the weekend. To save a little space, try to plan each meal. (no.... you will not eat 12 loaves of bread in two days.....or 36 cans of chunky soup....All you really need is plenty of sodapop and lots of microwave popcorn.)
Do not go to Home Depot, buy the freshest railroad ties you can find, cut them to length for ramps and stow them anywhere in your bus. It will take you days to figure out what that smell is. (even after you dump them on the ground and leave them behind in the RV park, next to the flower bed, ((like they were meant to be there)) , your bay will continue to smell like an old telephone pole.)
Six electric blankets on high, draw more electricity than you might think. Check to see if your extention cord feels like a hot marshmallow.
If you cut a trap door in the floor so the little ones can sleep down in the Bay, (smuggler's hold) and you plan to leave the trap door open all night and you have a few sleepwalkers in the family.......sleep light. (whew!that was close)
Popcorn does absorb lots of liquid, but it does not work as good as kitty litter and peeing into the half full bowl, instead of walking to the bathroom on a cold night, is gross.
You do not need a 60 inch plasma TV in the bus. Your kids will be too close to the screen and will go cross-eyed trying to watch. (And surround sound, turned up high enough to shake the bus will probably annoy the neighbors.)
And finally; try to remember that while standing on the ground next to your bus at home, true, you really can't see much inside, but at the park, your neighbor will be eye level in his own giant RV, a scant 20ft away........ Yes........... you need curtains.
Thanks
Chazwood.
Popcorn as an absorbant :o
Lov ya Chaz
Chaz,
I just hope foxworthy does not find you ... he may have a whole new category --
you know you are probably the reason that some RV parks turn buses away -- lol
keep um coming - yours are the first the things I look foward too.....
dp
OHH the memories LOL ::)
Chazwood
BUT did you have FUN............a little lighter spring in your step
chest puffed out........like ya I'm bad :)
Sounds like life is good no matter what was learned at least you had the
oportunity to experience something new.
Thanks for sharing
Skip
Fun ???? Are you kidding? ;D I'm hooked!
Many friends and relatives are asking what it feels like to drive this bus......This is what I tell them.
Find a comfy lazy boy chair and place it in front of the largest picture window in your house......now........get out your keys and start your house. Drive it down the road.
Note: If this is your first time driving , your elevated heart rate and rubber knees are normal . However, please also note: you are not going as fast as you think you are , pull over periodically .......you're holding up traffic.:D
Quote from: skipn on February 24, 2008, 06:38:51 PM
.... like ya I'm bad :)
Here's a little
theme music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG5NhkxQJQc) to go with that.
Quote from: chazwood on February 24, 2008, 07:22:58 PM
Fun ???? Are you kidding? ;D I'm hooked!
My sister asked what it felt like to drive this bus......This is what I told her.
Find a comfy lazy boy chair and place it in front of the largest picture window in your house......now........start your house, and drive it down the road.
Note: If this is your first time, the elevated heart rate and rubber knees are normal . However, please pull over periodically .......you're holding up traffic.:D
I'm glad you got out and had the fun already. We full time in ours and I never tire of the feeling.
Only this
theme music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw00EUh0GT4) is more my size.
Great post!... Great attitude!... Great lesson!... :)
One's bus does not have to be perfect to have fun with it, get it out and us it.
Those first "roughing it" trips will make for some awesome memories, maybe even the best.
Absolutely inspiring. 8)
Thanks for the laugh,
Laryn
Don't you love the looks you get when you ease into a park with the big detroit rumbling lol, thats the best part.
At this point (with my current, new-found-driving-skills) I would say the looks I get would be categorized as "fear". I guess "easing" a 40 foot bus is something I need to practise.
Especially when turning left at an intersection......I don't know what all these people's problem is, but I've never seen so many folk in the turn lane backing up in a panic in my life. You'd think I was going to run them over or something.
Carefully cultivate to ability to produce a crazed look and white knuckles, it'll help clear a path when ever you need the extra turning room lol. A high pitched hysterical laugh helps at times too lol.
Chazwood...PLEASE do what we did and are doing.
In our S&S I started a 'Log' as soon as we bought it. We log the dates of trips, where we went, strange or funny things that happen(ed), etc. It is fun to look back at those trips now.
For our Scenicruiser Dianne is making a scrapbook for it. The way she is doing it, it is as if the bus was talking. For example it statrts out, "I am a PD-4501 Scenicruiser bus, I was born at the GMC Truck and Bus Plant in Pontiac MI on (The day it came off the assembly line), I am number 945 of 1,001 built. I was sold the the Eastern Greyhound Lines... " Then she has a photo of the GMC Assembly plant, one of the bus new, the Final Assembly Record, and so on...
It (The bus) talks about being sold to Newton's Bus Lines, then to Oakalanta Sugar Mills and to the last owner before us. Photos of all!
Then...check this out...it says, "After 25 years of sitting in the sun rusting away...a man came to see me today and talked to my owner about buying me and finishing my conversion...
It is a cool book. She will add to it as we finish it.
Jack
Quote from: jackhartjr on February 25, 2008, 04:53:45 AM
Chazwood...PLEASE do what we did and are doing.
In our S&S I started a 'Log' as soon as we bought it. We log the dates of trips, where we went, strange or funny things that happen(ed), etc. It is fun to look back at those trips now.
For our Scenicruiser Dianne is making a scrapbook for it. The way she is doing it, it is as if the bus was talking. For example it statrts out, "I am a PD-4501 Scenicruiser bus, I was born at the GMC Truck and Bus Plant in Pontiac MI on (The day it came off the assembly line), I am number 945 of 1,001 built. I was sold the the Eastern Greyhound Lines... " Then she has a photo of the GMC Assembly plant, one of the bus new, the Final Assembly Record, and so on...
It (The bus) talks about being sold to Newton's Bus Lines, then to Oakalanta Sugar Mills and to the last owner before us. Photos of all!
Then...check this out...it says, "After 25 years of sitting in the sun rusting away...a man came to see me today and talked to my owner about buying me and finishing my conversion...
It is a cool book. She will add to it as we finish it.
Jack
I like it ;D
I believe we all remember our first,,,,, ;D Trip that is.....! It was 6am, I was flying down I-75 at 65mph. Every truck in the state was seeing how close they could get to me, they could sense the fear.
Felt like they were running 190. I'm still pulling the finger nails out of the steering wheel. Now have driven all halfway around the county, I can relaxy and drive that house.
Chazwood, they WILL get out of your way.... Have fun....!
Bill
Tampa Bay......
Thanks for sharing this, Chazwood. My wife doesn't want to steel tent. I'm hoping to show her how fun it is just to go off somewhere in the bus, even if it is not complete. She got a kick out of some of your points.
We will be steel tenting hopefully within a few months...thanks for the post..good to know others are in the same shoes....
The way I see it ..."steel tenting " is kinda like the first few months of marriage. We ain't got it all figured out yet........ but we're having loads of fun trying. ;)
We purchased our MC-8 (a seated coach) in October-99. We set a goal when we purchased it that we would use it at least 1 weekend a month (except June, July, & August, when it is just to hot in SW Florida).
Our first outing was a bluegrass festival with most of the seat removed, a Coleman stove, sleeping bags, & a cooler (campground had showers and bath facilites). Every time we went out, we had something new to try that had been added since the last trip.
I remember our next trrip with the toilet installed! A 5 gallon bucket of water to flush the toilet (into a temporary holding tank) and a blanket clamped to the ceiling for bathroom walls.
Nothing like using your bus to keep you motivated. Jack
We have a 9 year plan to have our bus done (to coincide with my retirement)...In the mean time we've collected some nice used kitchen cabnits, a used 5th wheel trailer we got for free that gave us a complete bathroom, including tanks and a temp stove, converter, some furniture, ect. We are looking at our bus as a "handymans speciel". We'll get it setup with what we can afford and then upgrade as money allows. We've got everything stripped down and will be doing sprayin insulation as soon as the weather breaks. We will do our "permanent" walls, ceiling and hardwood floors, along with the permanent wiring and plumbing. Everything else will more or less be garage sale stuff, but will allow us to use the bus as much as we want while we "upgrade"....bottom line is, I think my bus will always be a work in progress !
Quote from: chazwood on February 26, 2008, 06:25:18 AM
The way I see it ..."steel tenting " is kinda like the first few months of marriage. We ain't got it all figured out yet........ but we're having loads of fun trying. ;)
Chaz,
You hit the nail on the head with that one! ;D
More important than the bus or phase or condition your conversion is in, is chosing the right Gal to be married too while your doing it.
Having one who is behind you 100% (OK 99.9%) makes it go a lot easier and the fun is in the process, and the experiences while were converting these monsters.
I know I married wayyyyyyyyyy better than I deserve. (NCBob, NO need to second that....that goes double for the rest of you)
We were just looking at our 1st steel tent trip pictures, man was that fun....and creative!
Cliff
Thanks for stirring up some memories. Like one of the first times I pulled into a fueling depot and discovered that I needed about 1 foot more space between the fence and the pumps to make a U-turn. That was also the time I discovered that you actually CAN back up very short distances even with a towed in tow. Or the time I discovered that I in fact did have room to make a U-turn in the Boeing parking lot in Seattle. Or the time I discovered that a 2 yard Fiat loader will pull a 1981 Prevost out of the mud even if the bus is sitting on the frame. Its an ongoing learning experience. I still check the mirrors to see how close I came to the curb or light standard but its no longer a surprise when I miss them.