BCO: Time to call it a day.

[boxcarOkie]

When do you know it is time to hang it up, cash in your chips, and pay for the band?  As the majority of us age, which I will say is a hard truth (stepping out on a limb here, getting younger is not going to happen for most of us) we will have to say good-bye to the bus life.

To compound matters, the price of maint., parts, and replacement engines will surely come into it.  The cost of everything is really biting me bad here lately, from the lowly 9 vlt battery to a box of crackers, it is all going up.  So it isn't just age that enters into the equation, it is a bushel basket full of issues and problems.

It takes $500 to get to Amarillo these days, and no one, no one, is going to Amarillo.

If age doesn't get you the government will.  By 2021 most of the engines will be the newer stuff, and our old hoopies will be a relic, or a thing of the past.  My Detroit having just rolled over 65,000 on a fresh over-build is doing the job and I do not see it heading for Williams/or someone else any time soon.  It is lousy on fuel, it leaks oil, but it gets me to where I need to go, and back again. 

If there is NO OIL under it, then it is more than likely, out of oil.  How many of you can say that?  Hah!  Thought so.  What else do I need?  As long as I am attentive to its needs, I do not foresee any problems with it.

But those folks in Washington, they want clean air, which by the way, smells funny.  They want me, and people like me, off the road.  In 2021 God willing, I will be 72 years old and most likely will not care a thing about old buses, mechanic's wages, profits .... none of it. 

In the shadows of the afternoon and my favorite chair, me and the dog worked it all out awhile back.  We came up with 70-75 years would be the best time (for me) to call it a day.  So in reality, in 2021 (which isn't all that far away really) I will no longer be a member of the tribe.

Wow, 75 or 80 years old, that is hard for me to fathom, that, and the statement my Grand-daughter made the other day.  She asked her Grandma "Will Grandpa smell like that when he gets to heaven?"

2021 will be my golden years ... Just me and my old dawg, and a bus at the back of the shop waiting on the Estate Sale.  Lug Nuts will still be an inch and one-half in most cases, and most likely, dogs will be allowed to vote. 

Anywho, that is how I see it, throw that one out on the porch and see if the cat will lick it up.

Watch those Right-Handers,

BCO

[luvrbus]

Good one Don,but if you set on the porch you will get old.I stay active take NO medications still have my hair (it's a different color though ) still weigh 180 lbs like I have since high school life is good.
LOL the only problem I have I sure seem accident pronged in my later years Sonja is always patching me up,  we won't go there with the reason she says it happens

[Red Rider]

Hey BCO,
Thanks for the entertainment. I for one have missed your enjoyable posts. FWIW I turned 75 last July and still do my own (bus) maintenance.

[Utahclaimjumper]

  I'm already there Don,,,,been 75 for six months. gave up flying after 33 years in the air,, sold the last of many aircraft
  that I have owned and RETIRED at 71,,,other than having to force myself to exercise daily its been good..And I get to do what   I WANT  to most of the time.  I now also have had a "factory built" motorhome for the last 7 years and it has proven to be the most reliable ship I've owned, so the keys are still "active" as long as I can still see the road and find the brakes.>>>Dan  ( OH, and I predate Red Rider by ten days,, I have to remind him often to "mind his elders")

[luvrbus]

LOL at 75 I could still run the 100 yds in under 15 seconds,the only thing changed in my life is I don't buy green bananas any longer  life is what you make it regardless of the age so enjoy it and drink the good wine first and forget about the aches and pains that weren't there yesterday.Lay back and enjoy the kids and all the grand kids   

[muldoonman]

Fortunate enough in my day job to retire a few years ago with no worries and after having sold my 100 acre ranchito, with me as the ranch hand, a couple months ago, finding I'm lost as a goose with nothing to do. No cows to look after. Gonna start my new bus barn in the next couple months as I sold the other one with the place and have my bus in a enclosed storage facility about 2 hours away. Way too far to check everyday. I Feel like a kid at 64 around some of you folks but, if you slow down, I'll catch up.  Never give up, no matter what, just get a shorter, smaller, easier to manage bus.  Take care.

[edvanland]

Well I am 76 youngsters and I know some are older and I still work 7 days a week, bad planning years ago, we ride the trike, go four wheeling and love the bus. Yep my hair is not the same color, blame that on my daughter, but still have it, still weigh 15 lbs, weighted 160 when I got out of the Marines in 1962, man that was a long time ago. Wait a minute my 8v92 doesn't leak oil maybe I better check it. So I plan on sliding in sideways to my grave saying what a hell of a ride. 

[Van]

Bet you can't keep up with my Mom, at age 94 she runs circles around Cheryl and I daily. If you come to the rally be sure to stop by and tell Mom how old you are, she loves a good chuckle lol!

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

[Lin]

Yeah Van, but your from New York.  Everyone knows New Yorkers are tougher!

[digesterman]

Hey Don, I like Amarillo 😊. Good read

[oltrunt]

Hey Don, I've got a plan "B".  I'm in my seventies and when I finally get to old to drive Honeysuckle Rose I'll just park her on the street and the city will haul her away.  Meanwhile, I'll be sitting in my garage in an old lawn chair fishing for trout!  See, when the city told me I couldn't park my bus in the driveway and that I couldn't raise the roof of my garage to make it possible to get the bus in ---I simply jack hammered the garage floor out and lowered it enough to allow the bus entry.  Here is my plan "B".  I'll fill the "hole" with water, stock it and fish and fish away just as if I were at the lake in my bus!  Jack

[boxcarOkie]

Often heard it said that, "Necessity is the mother of invention."  You could be illustrating that very same principle here Jack, I dunno.  I do believe it is the smart move on your part.

Heard of a guy who had a 50 ft. flagpole and the H.O.A. where he lived made him take it down, stating that he could have only a 36 ft. pole.  

Not to be deterred.  He had a crew bring in several dump-truck loads of dirt, and a couple of loads of rock, and made him a hill in his front yard, about 25 ft. tall.  He then installed a "36 ft. flagpole" on top of the hill.

End of problem.  

Moral of the story?  "You cannot make anything fool proof.  Us fools are just too ingenious."

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