Life is pretty tame around here at the moment. I go off most mornings to work on the bus while Ali takes the kids out somewhere to try and burn a little energy. We meet back up in the afternoon, play, eat, take a bath, and go to bed.
It does feel like we’re turning a corner on the bus though. I’ve pretty much stopped tearing apart, and have finally begun putting back together. We even went so far as to go out and buy the wall and ceiling materials, as well as insulation. I had finally decided to just bite the bullet and pay up to have spray foam insulation done, but after calling half a dozen insulation places not one of them returned my call for a quote and I gave up. I hate waiting around for others. I called one place back a second time and said that they hadn’t returned my call in three days. They told me that they were running behind and wouldn’t be returning calls for two months. Customer service rocks.
I also looked at the do-it-yourself spray kits, but the reviews were terrible. People seem to end up with a sticky mess if the temperature isn’t just right, and there is absolutely no way I was going to have the temperature right in the bus in January.
We brought our driver and passenger seat in to have them reupholstered. The passenger seat looks perfect still, but the driver’s seat is tearing every time I touch it. Anyway, we had the seats in the shop, had the work order, and were back in the car driving away when I stopped and told Ali I just had a bad feeling about it. I don’t know why really. The guy didn’t seem convincing that he would have them done when we wanted them, and he didn’t seem all that convincing that I’d be thrilled with the end result. So we circled the block, I walked back in, told him I changed my mind, and carried the seats back out. We’ll get them done another time.
We went and ordered two custom mattresses for the kids. When Ali first mentioned this I thought she was out of her mind. Kids do not get custom mattresses, they sleep on plywood—a piece of foam if they’re lucky. But we went in to talk to the mattress people anyway, and hey, I’m glad we did. For only fifty dollars over the price of whatever standard mattress you choose they’ll custom make it to whatever size you want. All these years we’ve been sleeping on foam! So in a week we’ll have two small mattresses built to my measurements. Cool. The kids owe their mama one.
I spent a total of three days tracking all the wiring down. All the 12v interior lighting wiring was run in one continuous series, so I broke that up into three sections of the bus.
Outside the turn signal wiring had simply crumbled, so I fixed those and got them working. Same for the fog lights. All the lights on the bus are now working.
There was one switch on the dash that we didn’t know the purpose of. When we pulled on it really hard it made the engine heater speed up, but it would slow again when we stopped pulling. So I was underneath the dash looking at it today, gave it a pull and saw sparks fly. When I pulled, it would twist ever so slightly and the wire would touch the switch next to it (the heater switch) and short it. So now I followed the wire, which ran through the floor and down half the length of the bus before simply ending. The switch to nowhere.
I followed another random wire that was hanging loose and also ran through the floor. Underneath the bus I found the wire ran into a wooden box that had been screwed into the floor. It had holes drilled in it and plastic sheeting on the inside. For the life of me I couldn’t imagine what it was. I unscrewed it and found that it was a completely sealed up box. Still not knowing what it was I broke it open to discover… a stereo speaker. Outdoor rocking. I’ll buy some speaker wire and a switch and get my Jensen Concert Series cranking again.
The kids are saying they want to go to Mexico. I suppose they’re just parroting us, but really, look at these pictures—who wouldn’t want to be in Mexico?
13 Comments on “Wires and Winter”
I like this project. Subscribed.
Hey, at least you’re not stuck on an ice-bound freeway in Atlanta with a zillion other people. It IS sounding like time to head South, though. The kids are right. 🙂
I want to be in Mexico, too. Lowe looks like such a manly man in his Batman tee, with his trucks!
Lowe is a BOSS!
looks like he has his convoy aimed south too!
I bet you were thinking about a secret cache of gold and diamonds in that wooden box! Just like Gerardo’s Capon vault.
You all need to get this:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57618090-1/big-street-legal-little-tikes-car-is-your-childhood-on-steroids/
to finish up the Travco restoration. Towing that behind the RV would be cool.
I could definitely see a Beach Buggy with a couple of surf boards behind the new Bumfuzzle but this is brilliant :-). Here is the video: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1090057_little-tikes-toy-car-turned-into-real-car-were-not-sure-why-video
From the update: “we had the seats in the shop, had the work order, and were back in the car driving away when I stopped and told Ali I just had a bad feeling about it. I don’t know why really. The guy didn’t seem convincing that he would have them done when we wanted them, and he didn’t seem all that convincing that I’d be thrilled with the end result. So we circled the block, I walked back in, told him I changed my mind, and carried the seats back out. We’ll get them done another time.”
You are one of those rare souls, Pat, who is not only tuned in to the messages that come from who knows where, but who also trusts his instincts and acts accordingly. I have no doubt it is the source of your success in the markets as well as your success in dealing with day-to-day life.
And I think Ali is similarly gifted. Together, you make an awesome pair of Bums, entertaining hordes of grateful readers on the interwebs with your far-flung adventures. 🙂
The Mexican work ethic will ruin your expectations on customer service. Heard a comedy routine on the radio that summed it up pretty well. Will try to find it. He went on about how you call a business and the “are covered up.. can’t get to it….” Said he figured one thing they were yelling at the Alamo was “Don’t let those Mexicans in…They’ll have this whole place drywalled in an hour!”
Wow . . . unbelievably inappropriate. I take it you’re new to this blog, Chris.
I think you may have misinterpreted Chris’ point. I believe that what he is getting at is that Mexicans, in general, have such a great work ethic that what generally passes for “customer service” in the US is a sad, sad thing in comparison. The remark about the Alamo seems to refer to the fact that the Mexicans would have the drywalling done while you were still waiting for a return phone call from a non-Mexican drywall contractor.
At least, that’s how I choose to interpret what Chris wrote.
I agree with you, Steve.
Hmmm, yes, I see that now . . . sorry for my mistaken reading, Chris. I sincerely apologize for misconstruing your comment.