So, obviously buying a 56-year-old motorhome, and immediately moving into it to head out on the road is going to present some challenges. Maybe more than I had anticipated. Maybe the previous owners who didn’t use the thing were just ignorant of the problems, or maybe someone selling a used car wasn’t entirely forthcoming.

First thing first—before the family could ride along—was a new set of tires. Not a cheap prospect when the tires are this big. Fortunately I’d been able to get them to knock the cost off of the purchase price at the last minute. I found a place in town with the tires—as well as an incredible list of reviews, which is an oddity in the tire business—and they had them on the bus in a couple of hours. I was happy to be told that they had had no issues. No bent wheels, and no rusty lugs, which he said are the two big ones they run into with vintage motorhomes.

Back on the road now, we could move into a campground for a few days to get settled in a bit. This was mainly meant for Ali to rip things out of the bus and give it a good cleaning. However, it quickly became apparent it was going to take more than some elbow grease to get this bus ready for the family.

I hooked up the city water and turned it on. Water was spraying everywhere. Literally five major leaks in a bus with only two sinks, a toilet, and a shower.

Oh my goodness. Imagine slathering silicone on top of pipes and thinking that was going to stop water? This contraption was just one of the culprits. After a brief attempt at saving the existing mess, I realized it was going to be better, and probably even easier, to just replace all the plumbing on the bus.

And I was going to do it in a day.

I actually did manage to pull it off. I wasn’t able to get everything hooked up, but I was able to get all the lines run and at least have running water at the kitchen sink. I’ve actually never done plumbing before. On boats my repairs have always been hoses and hose clamps. This was my first time actually using PEX, and frankly, I’m amazed at how simple it is. By the time it was done I was thinking about redoing the boat, too. Granted, I took the easy (more expensive) way out and used the push on Sharkbite fittings, but I was in a rush. Next time I’d use the crimpers and the inexpensive fittings. But either way, I was happy to be able to pull off a small miracle.

While I worked on that, Ali ran around town getting bedding and other necessities. The kids found plenty to do around the campground.

While the family did some grocery shopping I ran off to return the rental car. Uber sure makes life easier when it comes to things like this. It’d be a nightmare trying to swing by the airport to return a car while following with the bus.

I’d barely even looked at the engine, being so busy with everything else. Beyond topping up oil I’d just ignored it completely. The bus was running good while cruising down the highways, but would give me some trouble the minute we stopped moving. It was also running really rich. Once the engine was hot, if I shut it down and then restarted it, I’d have to really rev it to keep it from dying. Then back on the highway it would be fine. If we hit a stoplight it would sputter a bit while we accelerated, but then catch again and roar off down the road.

Anyway, we pulled into one campground and stalled on the entrance road. It would start, but immediately die again. It’d been a long day and we were all ready to be settled in for the night, but here we were a couple hundred yards from our spot and I couldn’t get going. Okay, time to look at the engine. I popped the hood (inside, between the driver and passenger seats), spun off the air filter cover, took off the filter, and looked closely at the Holly carb. I thought maybe the manual choke wasn’t opening and closing properly, but it appeared to be. Then I looked at what was in my hand. The air filter was solid black. It clearly hadn’t been changed in many, many, many years. I propped it in sideways so the carb would get air without having to suck it through the filter. Success. Problem solved.

This is a picture of it after I had cleaned it, hoping to squeak out a couple hundred more miles. That oil breather cap thing was crazy clogged as well. It took the old guy at Napa an hour to find these two parts, and neither of the replacements were actually correct matching parts.

We made our way south about 100 miles at a time. Tried to stay on the backroads as much as possible, and hit the small State Parks along the way. Honestly, I can’t even remember their names any more, but we found some nice ones. Got to go for a swim at this one, feed the ducks, have a bonfire, and work outside in the shade.