ONE GOOD TRIP --- DREAM ON

[boxcarOkie]

A friend and I were discussing this "Alaskan Gold Rush " television show that is currently making the rounds on the Discovery Channel.  These poor saps, six guys from Oregon, are running all of this dilapidated very used equipment and mining for gold in Alaska.  Their collective dream is to find or discover the "Glory Hole," a hidden ancient waterfall where all of the glacial ice age gold is supposed to be.  Each day these hearty souls go to work and chase their dream.    

They do this on a tract of land in Porcupine Creek, Alaska, which is supposed to have something like 15 million dollars in gold reserves.  They have gone through some $270K and so far, after close to four months, they have found only about $8K in gold ... So much for that dream eh?  

All they really had to do was ask Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Bros.  "All the gold in California, is in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills, in someone else's name."  Old CD, but still fairly relevant taking into consideration today's economic conditions.  I am fairly sure that bankers secretly dream, but I don't think it is about buses.

For some strange reason, the DVR let me down last night, and now I have to wait on the final count up (how much they found) which won't be on until Monday.  Sometimes life, just like the current price of diesel, is just so unfair.

Some men desire riches and fame, others search for gold and precious stones.  A few jump out of perfectly good airplanes or push the edge of the envelope every weekend on every conceivable thrill seeking high-octane machine designed by man.  Often they climb to the highest peak or scale the face of a seemingly impassable granite rock formations. When asked why?  They just reply because it is there ... the only explanation forthcoming logical or otherwise.  

Kevin Costner had his "Field of Dreams" and I am sure if you did a search you could find a million more.   One of my favorite episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond is when Marie (the mother) asks Ray "if he had another Happy Dream last night" to which he replies ....... "Maw!"  Most men live lives of quiet desperation, and some of us, dream.  

Which brings us to the bus guys.  As a natural progression of things, my friend and I, we ended up talking about what bus guys dream about.  What is it that hearty men of challenge, those Mr. Good-wrench - Snap On Wanna Be's and mechanical know-how Guru's who consistently major in minutia want out of life?

The owner of a second hand bus, he wants for riches and gold, but not for personal enrichment, but rather to just keep it on the road and out of the shop..  A bus nut secretly dreams of making a trip .... JUST ONE TRIP ... where everything goes just swell.  Nothing goes wrong, that mythical journey down life's highway that is for the most part relaxing and uneventful.  Where every turn is a left turn and the passing lane is never shut down in fifteen hundred feet.

Who hasn't dreamed over a cup of coffee at Denny's late into the night of forty-five feet of luxury, lined with Maui Wowie Teaky Wood from Hawaii and every electronic gizmo there ever was, at the flip of a rocker.  A shop big enough to hold a Goodyear blimp and a little room left over for the John Deere lawn tractor.

While we are at it?

Here is another insightful observation I will share with you.  I haven't a clue to what women dream about, other than this, "it isn't me."  (I know that one for a fact.)  

I can assure you, I know what a bus guy dreams about.  Stainless steel, no rust and a non wrinkled side.  Shiny aluminum wheels that you don't have to polish, bright lit LED's, tagged and labeled wiring in the bays, instrument lighting you can actually see after dark, a nut or a bolt that breaks loose the first time without nut-buster.  A dump valve that doesn't leak yesterdays groceries when you open it up.  

Bus guys in the quiet moment of the day dream of ..... Miles and miles of highway and no cops or D.O.T., a cold start that is smokeless on a chilly morning, an air buzzer that never goes off, or if it does, it runs a minute or two and then quits, a grandchild who doesn't slam the front door.  

Bus nuts pine for ... 79.9 diesel and no line at the fuel desk, a wide expanse of open ground, an occasional uninhabited parking area for a U-turn when he is lost, and plenty of room at the back of the lot, when the day is over and he is tired.  Hot, black coffee, two sugars, and no conversation at the beginning of the day.

You can always spot a bus guy, there are a number of different ways.  Here are just a few, in no particular order:

Your favorite salad dressing is Dello 100.
You have pulled down all the pictures of Lonnie Anderson, Dolly Parton and JayLo, and replaced them with bus posters from MAK Publishing.
The word Re-tread takes on a totally new meaning other than early retirement.
When you are eating out and you hear the word "Chrome" you automatically turn your head in the direction of the voice that said it.
Your wife insists that you "clap your hands" (so you cannot pick anything up) while visiting the truckers accessories section of the truck stop.
All your ball-caps and your underwear have Eagles on them.
R-U-S-T becomes a dirty four letter word.
You drive all the way to Florida to visit the world's largest chrome shop.
The aroma of diesel smoke in the morning smells better than fresh coffee or donuts.
You admit to your true age but you lie about fuel mileage.
A toad is no longer a reptile or in the frog family.

Then there is reality, and our bus ....  "Some men climb a mountain, some men swim the sea, some men fly above the sky, they are what they must be" ... Baby The Rain Must Fall, Glenn Yardbourgh.

Another bus nut recently summed it all up for me rather nicely on the BCM Bus Board.  He said:  

Any trip that you make it home is a good one.
Any trip that you make it home on time is a great one.
Any trip that you make it home on time & can reuse the bus is an EXCELLENT ADVENTURE!

One thing about bus ownership there is never a day goes by, that something happens, good or bad.  Little tail-wind, no traffic, full tank of fuel, these are good things.  Looking down at the gauges and the alternator reading four volts, well, that aint a good thing.  You get out the spare wire and alligator clips, wire cutters and you rig up something to get it on down the road and back to the house.  Sometimes you get lucky, and and it all works, and it is just like the man says ... you get home ''on time and you can reuse the bus again at sometime in the future." And then there are other times, that is what Coach Net or AAA are for.  

Our last trip out, we blew the servo on our coach and had no throttle, 800 RPM and that was it.  Six hundred and forty miles from home in Roswell, New Mexico, the home of space aliens, feed lots and few diesel shops.  We spent what most consider an afternoon of some serious head scratching pulled over next to the curb and I finally wrap my head around it and got it figured out.  

Fortunately we came up with a way to nurse it home on nothing but the cruise control and resume feature.  Limping home on New Mexico State #390 ( a great little two lane by the way, if you have a throttle) I looked at the wife and said to her, "I would like to make one trip, just ONE LOUSY TRIP where I didn't have to work on this monster."  But my bride, bless her heart, she has heard it all before.  

Many, many times before.

She just smiled that smile that she has, nodded her head, and went back to her I-touch and video poker.  Women do not share the same dreams as men.  I have conclusive proof that I will gladly share around the truck-rim campfire some night at a bus meet to be named later.

One trouble free trip ... It is a nice thought, perhaps if I may?  

A nice dream.  

Much like the boys searching for the Glory Hole up north, I haven't personally reached that elusive pinnacle of motoring pleasure, but I am going to keep shooting for it.  It's buried out there somewhere on some highway that I have yet to discover.

See you in the fast lane ... Watch those right-handers.

BCO

Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is most likely on purpose, this post is to be used for edumaycayshunl purposes only and cannot be reprinted electronically or any other way without express permission of the NFL.

[JohnEd]

BCO,

That was a terrific post.  Wifey sends her complements and that means something beyond my being impressed.


John

[Len Silva]

From what I've heard, the folks who made the most money in the gold rush were selling picks and shovels.

[happycamperbrat]

I think youre kinda cute, in a scruffy bus nut kinda way 

[Chopper Scott]

Awesome post BCO!! We both already know about the pratfalls of owning such a beast!! It comes with the territory and if you don't like it then these may not be what you want! I replaced my starter last September, in the shop, on a balmy 70 degree day. It took me basically an hour. The starter quit again last night (solenoids every time) in front of my heated shop but not in a place that I could pull it inside. I layed on the ground and changed it, rolling in the snow and ice on gravel yelling words in French that even I don't know. Temps were at a high of 18. Another $300 lost and I would have chipped in another 100 if somewould would have changed it for me! But such is life. It took me 1 hour and 15 minute this time. Cold fingers! She's back in the warm confines of my shop and after breakfast tomorrow I get to start redoing the interior. That is my reward, how I relax and I love it! I didn't buy the ole girl to save money!!!

[boxcarOkie]

From what I've heard, the folks who made the most money in the gold rush were selling picks and shovels.

Man you are right on that for sure.  I did some nosing around and found out that the grand total for the season was like 20K (http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/02/19/gold-rush-alaska-season-1-finale-recap/) and that they had something like 270K in the project.  Now this fall, they are going to do it again, another bunch of episodes about NOT finding gold.

They were supposed to be all elated about finding the 20K and now claim that the glory hole has $6 million in it.  Kind of ironic, all hopped up about losing a lot of coin.  Almost like Vegas ... You put in the three dollars, it spins around, up comes a cherry, it takes one dollar of your money, gives you back two ... And then says "Winner paid."

Uh huh sure.

BCO

[boxcarOkie]

BCO,

That was a terrific post.  Wifey sends her complements and that means something beyond my being impressed.


John

Thank you so very much, we are glad you enjoyed it.  I almost answered that post "It has been awhile" tonight, but I found out it was about buses, almost got me into some hot water on that one, I'll tell ya.

BCO

Awesome post BCO!! We both already know about the pratfalls of owning such a beast!! It comes with the territory and if you don't like it then these may not be what you want! I replaced my starter last September, in the shop, on a balmy 70 degree day. It took me basically an hour. The starter quit again last night (solenoids every time) in front of my heated shop but not in a place that I could pull it inside. I layed on the ground and changed it, rolling in the snow and ice on gravel yelling words in French that even I don't know. Temps were at a high of 18. Another $300 lost and I would have chipped in another 100 if somewould would have changed it for me! But such is life. It took me 1 hour and 15 minute this time. Cold fingers! She's back in the warm confines of my shop and after breakfast tomorrow I get to start redoing the interior. That is my reward, how I relax and I love it! I didn't buy the ole girl to save money!!!

Often in the early morning hours, I will sit and wonder ... "What was it that I used to do?" ... but it always eludes me.  The wife is quick to tell her friends ... "At least it keeps him out of the beer joints."  I had to change out my alternator and servo this past summer, two big items.  No throttle or horsepower and lack of charge, but of course at my age, it has been so long since I had a charge, I have forgotten where to hook up the cables.  

Nice to have a shop eh?

BCO

I think youre kinda cute, in a scruffy bus nut kinda way  

Why thank you!  They wanted me to star in a remake of Midnight Cowboy, but I turned it down, told them I went to bed at nine o'clock

Thanks for your reply,

BCO

[Chopper Scott]

By the way. Love the paint. Imron is $$$ but she'll be shiney way past your time! Well judging from your pic your time is probably already over but at least you look good inside the bus!!!

[Van]

T. We think he is cute too!  The perfect picture of youth & vitality

Oh! and Okie? He cleans up pretty good also!

[happycamperbrat]

haha!! I like that Van   And yes I watched the Alaska Gold Rush program too, but I figured it was the program that made the real $$$ as it was a well watched series. Sure they will go back, they got the bug. Lastly, I have been meaning to tell you Oakie that your paint looks 1st class nice! But I liked the other paint on it too! Nice rear (on the bus  ) and nice shop too!

[Van]

Don, would ya, could ya(won't you be my neighbor ), will ya, please post a nigh-time picture of your rear end   lit up?  Are those the LED's from Eagle Interiors? Looking good!

[happycamperbrat]

please post a nigh-time picture of your rear end   lit up?

I'll 2nd that! Can we see your rear lit up??   Your fan club awaits 

[Van]

Could it be? Nah! No LED's 

[happycamperbrat]

Wild Thing!!! Whooo Hooo!!

[boxcarOkie]

T. We think he is cute too!  The perfect picture of youth & vitality

Oh! and Okie? He cleans up pretty good also!

That is one of my favorite shots, we took it on our Wedding Day!

BCO