IN MY WILDEST DREAMS

[boxcarOkie]

In My Wildest Dreams ...  This is running this month in BCM, if you don't get the magazine, here is a copy of it.

BCO

<><><>

I am reading an ad on an MC-9 this morning on the internet, V6 Detroit an automatic tranny and he says it gets "13 MPG?"  This is of course, a marvelous selling point in this day and age, but is it realistic?  A bus that gets thirteen miles per gallon, is there truly such an animal on the planet?  

Having driven lot's of miles on the super slab and two-lanes of this magnificent country that we live in, I have never experienced numbers such as those.  They just seem like something completely foreign to me.  I can only dream of numbers like that.

Speaking of dreams?  (Nice blend eh?  Thank you very much!)

Like a lot of you I suppose, I started my dream a long, long time ago.  And to some extent, that has been accomplished, I didn't get to do everything that I set out to do, but quite a lot of it fell beside the way over the years.  I have few regrets if any.

Before we go any further, let us look at the definition of the word:  Dream, noun ... A series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep.  A state of mind in which someone is or seems to be unaware of their immediate surroundings.  A cherished aspiration, ambition, or idea.  And my own personal favorite, much too often over the years I thought:  An unrealistic or self-deluding fantasy.

Our dream (or rather MY dream, she came on board later on) was given birth one hot August afternoon in Arizona back in the late seventies.  We walked out of a restaurant in Lake Havasu City Arizona and there it was, this huge MC-9 parked right next to my van and a friend of mine suggested "this ought to be your next project, you like building things, you ought to build one of those."  Which at the time I figured was somewhat ludicrous, "who has the money for one of those?" was the first thing that came to my mind.

But the seed was planted.  

A bus?  Why not, I mean, it isn't all that impossible, there could be a way to do it.  All I had to do is make sure the kids got thru college, the house got paid for, buy a washer and dryer every now and then, a new car here and there.  Piece of cake.  Marked up and living the American Dream.  Just be a good little soldier, put in my time, keep mounting up those old freight trains and riding them down the line.  

It could be done.

I started socking a little bit back here and there, and over the years, I accomplished all of the above and at the same time, built up a little "bus fund."  Then slowly but surely, I started watering the seed, allowing it to grow in my mind.  During this period of time, I would occasionally whet my appetite some.  We bought an old schoolie, worked on that for awhile and then sold it off (at a complete loss).  No appreciable monetary gain, but valuable experience was obtained during the process.  

Then came the Blue Bird, heavier than a tank and you could drive it off of a bank building, and it would come back for more.  But it just wasn't quite right ... No offense to any Blue Bird affectionado's but it had the styling of a brick and very little curb appeal.  No huge investment in time or money here, and luckily we came across some guy who just had to have it, so we parted ways and got back into the hunt one more time.  

Daddy's Hobby our current bus, a 83 model Eagle 10-S is the final end result to the dream.  An ongoing siphon of discretionary income, demanding of us every now and then, huge investments of time and energy, ideas, hopes, dreams, plans and schemes.  During this ongoing transformation of this Old Hoopie one very real conclusion has come to the front burner of the stove and that is this.

It is also the last bus.  

This labor of love has under no circumstance been easy or cheap, but it has been interesting  and the learning curve increases with each passing day.  Being no exception to the rule, I occasionally daydream of better things.  By definition, I fit the mold, almost perfectly.  When I do this, venture off to my personal La-la-land, replete with zombie like stare, my wife tells the grandchildren, "Look Grandpa is zoned out!"  

Which is not true, I have never been in the zone in my life, I just make occasional mental departures from reality every now and then.  This often occurs unexpectedly during performances of Dancing With The Stars or I Hate My Kitchen on the Food Network (check your schedule for local listings).
 
Over the years we have had our bus stored some 19 miles from the house, and very little was accomplished.  Insurance regulations forbid our working on it there, and bringing it home to work on didn't make us any friends with our neighbors.  So much like a Las Vegas gambler or poker player, we decided to go "all in" and made the move from the city to our rural area and never looked back.  

We moved some 22 miles west of Okie City and built us a shop on our little goat farm in the country to store and work on the bus.  Which has proven to be a solid investment and a good move on our part.  Every man's dream a shop to call his own, the Man Cave, the place to slink away and lick your wounds or dream your secret things.  

A estrogen restricted area of your making ... In my case, my own personal dog house.

One thing that has happened since then is the company that built our 40X70 building will from time to time call me and ask if they can show it to a prospective customer?  As it is my habit, I always agree, and to this date, I have sold three or four buildings for them over a brief period of time.  With no real background in sales, this kind of amazes me but it has shown me that I can be very convincing if I want to be.

Last week, I received a call and once again, they asked if I could show my building to a customer.  I agreed.  He showed up with his wife and two kids and I proceeded to give him the ten-cent tour.  Along the way, I answered his questions and proffered up my unsolicited opinion on this and that.

At some point in time, I asked him, "What is it that you are going to store in the building, if you do not mind my asking?" and he replied, "Oh, we are going to put some basketball hoops up and then later on, we are going to buy a bus."  So I asked him ... "What kind of bus?" and he said, "Oh, I don't know, we are just at the looking stage right now."

This is when the other shoe drops.

I looked the guy in the eye and said, "I don't know, it is most likely none of my business.  But have you seen the price of diesel these days?  Do you know what one of these (pointing at Daddy's Hobby) gets for a MPG figure?  I would re-think the bus idea."

Just change my super-secret CB Code name to "Dream Killer" now if you want to.

The reality is that fuel is NOT going to get cheaper, it is going to continue to escalate and will never plateau at any magic number, not during my lifetime, I have accepted that.  But to stop and consider economic conditions now, the price of a bus, the cost of a shop to store it in, the associated costs required with ownership.  Well, there are cheaper dreams to be had.  At 5mpg it is pretty hard to sell the idea to a newcomer, and frankly, if it had not been at 49.9 per gallon way back then when I started out, I most likely would have not entered into it to begin with.

Maybe this person could find a job and earn some serious money, it is after all his life, and not mine.  I just felt the need to point out the obvious, that it is okay to dream (which in the end costs you very little) and the simple fact that it is a lot cheaper to go out to the shop and shoot some hoops with your kid.  I told him to take his good looking, brand new 3/4 ton Chevy Dually and throw a fifth-wheel behind it ... He would in the long run, come out ahead on the deal.  

I did not set out to kill this guys dream, just kind of warned him a little.  What he ends up doing will be his choice not mine.  Which I see as just plain good advice.  Does this qualify me as a "bad bus person?"  I don't-think-so-dot-com.

A few days later, the telephone rings and it is my building sales rep calling me and he says that the guy appreciated me showing them the building, also he found my candor and honesty in answering his questions encouraging and he signed on the line for a new building.

That makes number five.  

After what seems an ocean of time, the dream still is fresh and it was all those years ago.  Even today, the dream still lives on for us, and we do our best to live it, whenever we can.  Unfortunately, we often find ourselves parked somewhere waiting on payday and a replenishment of fuel funds.  

That is often the way it is with dreams .... Man hopes, he schemes, he dreams ... and then God smiles.

Watch those right handers ... See you in the Fast Lane.

BCO



Don Smith, The Boxcarokie is a Retired Railroader, Free Lance Hack,who enjoys bus related endeavors, writing, humor, computers, some photography, garage sales, junking, fried chicken, woodworking, John Deere tractors, most of my grandchildren, life, love, pursuit of happiness.  A fun, well rounded person living in El Reno Oklahoma, the last vast great stronghold of good community living left in America ... You can find more of his whacky world at www.boxcarokie.com

[Van]

Thanks Don, that was great!  Remember a Busnut will always do what they say can't be done, once they've had "The Dream"  

    the moody blues in your wildest dreams                                                                                                         

[Chopper Scott]

Always great reads Don. Back when I was developing my bad habits you could get a pack of smokes for 35 cents out of a vending machine, my doctor smoked while he was examing us youngsters, you could bribe someone of age to get you a case of Bud for $5, a gallon of gas was 35 cents also, health insurance was taken out of my check at a whoping $30 a month, and I thought I was a rich man when I finally surpassed 10 grand on a W-2!! But then again back then I couldn't afford the luxury of owning something that can eat up 5 crisp one hundred dollar bills to fill up either! I just keep pluggin away!

[artvonne]

  Fuel is expensive, no doubt. And 10 mpg (or less) really adds up fast. But everything is inflated. When I started driving in 1974, gas was running $0.58-$0.65 gal. The minimum wage was $1.65, Milk cost $0.75 gal. So in reality, fuel hasnt gone up so much as our money is becoming more worthless. But overall the expense hasnt changed a lot.

  1 ton truck and a 5th Wheel. BTDT, no tha-an-an-ks. Might as well ride an ox cart. Fuel economy wont best 10 mpg with that either. And when ya get where yer goin you get to drive a 1 ton tr-u-ck. I had a nice 5th Wheel, but when we started considering a newer 1 ton crew cab at over $20K used, added to the cost of buying the trailer it made no sense, and I bought the Bounder instead and drag a Jeep.

  My Uncle bought a small Van type class C with a V-10. gets about 6 mpg.

  Nope, I like the idear of something more substantial under me and mine. If I dont get 10, well, sucks to be me then. But I think I can. In fact I bought the Bus and am converting it with the idea to one day go to Alaska. I cant think of a better vehicle than a 35 foot single axle Bus.

[MEverard]

 Fuel is expensive, no doubt. And 10 mpg (or less) really adds up fast. But everything is inflated. When I started driving in 1974, gas was running $0.58-$0.65 gal. The minimum wage was $1.65, Milk cost $0.75 gal. So in reality, fuel hasnt gone up so much as our money is becoming more worthless. But overall the expense hasnt changed a lot.


Well said.

If the price of fuel is the only reason people don't buy a bus, they are only fooling themselves. Hard work, mechanical frustrations, money pit. Those are reasons not to buy a bus. However, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Mike

[mugsytrpt]

Well...dreams are just that....dreams.  Some cost more than others.  No matter what it cost at this point, I would bet most of the people on this board would and do choose to keep their bus or for those who do not have one will still find that special bus for themselves.  My bus is a basic tmc mc9.  Still has all windows and will for many years.  It is fully functional and I am enjoying when it with my family when we can fill it up.  While we have had a couple of problems and even had to replace my generator.  We put in a Kubota diesel.  Anyway....while it is costly...so is driving an SUV a staying in a hotel/motel.  Also those of you who have some type of camper/motorhome....it is about the time we spend with family and friends.....my take on that is .....  that is what is PRICELESS.  So I will continue to slowly make my bus what i want it to be and in the time being enjoy it the way it is.  There is nothing like sitting behind the wheel of you bus driving down the open road.   Wish all of you best.  Enjoy what you have....those who have not bought one yet....DO NOT get discouraged by some of what you read here.  This site is to help each other with problems and learn from each other.  I hope we can all learn that even though it is costly it is great fun.  BTW.. tell me,  Have you found anything in life that is worth anything that is not costly one way or the other?

Happy Bussin'
James

[Chopper Scott]

Part of being a nut is spending as much as we can on it!! Not many dudes here forking out 1/2  a million or more on their dream and posting here about it. I'm closer to the guy with the schoolie than those types. For folks on a budget a schoolie would be a great start especially for local outings. Makes more sense than what it takes to keep a 40 year old monster running up and down the road!!

[MEverard]

Scott,

You hit the nail on the head.

Mike