The bus is parked along the side of the house and my mom is keeping a watchful eye on the state of each blade of grass underneath. I’m really glad that we settled on a smaller vehicle since this one is just about ready to go which makes things much easier. The bus is actually a converted D400 Ford truck. Still has the chassis and engine but aluminum caravan type body. Theo drove it down to the garage at the crack of dawn to get the tyres pumped and to get the hang of taking a corner before the rest of Monte Vista woke up. The seller had delivered it to us so it was Theo’s first time behind the wheel. The sweat poured off him since the bus doesn’t have power steering and maneuvering the thing was a new experience. I bounced up and down with excitement on my couch seat while he worked on his abs. We were both grinning from ear to ear by the time we stopped at the garage and everyone came over to inspect our “tortoise house” as they called it.
Our goal now is to get the necessary stuff finished to be able to roadworthy the bus but we fiddle around with other fiddly bits as well. I’ve had my head and shoulders wedged into a dark rusty storage box in the floor to hold the back of a nut in place for Theo to screw the bolts in place. I’ve had the vacuum cleaner hose inside the engine housing box (which is inside the bus nogal) to suck out cobwebs around the engine. We’ve bought a spare tyre – I’m talking truck tyres here which don’t come cheap and a deep cycle battery to give us power. Theo has almost finished with the lights and fixed the handbrake cable, bled the brakes and needs to replace a metal plate on the under carriage which is too rusty. He sorted the front wheel bearings out - the master cylinders had to be resleeved before it moved anywhere. Holding thumbs the back ones are ok. We are also pottering around inside fixing door handles etc and I’m making curtains. I’ve made a headboard and am having all the cushion seats recovered. Theo still needs to sort out the shower floor, the roof vent, build a small cupboard for more packing space, and he’s had a look underneath and is pleased that we have water tanks, sewage tanks and there’s space for our vegetable oil tank. Remember, our idea of running on cooking oil? Well that part must still be sorted but will come later. And then of course there’s the trailer or possibly some kind of hydraulic ledge for the bikes and the storage box.
We are working at a leisurely pace but hope to get going the beginning of April. We both resign end February - thats like in 3 weeks - ooh scary - no turning back now. I work to end of March but luckily Theo is able to take leave after his resignation date so he will have time in March to pick up the pace a bit. He writes his code 10 learners on 1st April - ominous date I know, and then we are both doing a 3 day first aid course at St Johns before hitting the road.
Yeehaa - cant wait for end of March to come.
Our goal now is to get the necessary stuff finished to be able to roadworthy the bus but we fiddle around with other fiddly bits as well. I’ve had my head and shoulders wedged into a dark rusty storage box in the floor to hold the back of a nut in place for Theo to screw the bolts in place. I’ve had the vacuum cleaner hose inside the engine housing box (which is inside the bus nogal) to suck out cobwebs around the engine. We’ve bought a spare tyre – I’m talking truck tyres here which don’t come cheap and a deep cycle battery to give us power. Theo has almost finished with the lights and fixed the handbrake cable, bled the brakes and needs to replace a metal plate on the under carriage which is too rusty. He sorted the front wheel bearings out - the master cylinders had to be resleeved before it moved anywhere. Holding thumbs the back ones are ok. We are also pottering around inside fixing door handles etc and I’m making curtains. I’ve made a headboard and am having all the cushion seats recovered. Theo still needs to sort out the shower floor, the roof vent, build a small cupboard for more packing space, and he’s had a look underneath and is pleased that we have water tanks, sewage tanks and there’s space for our vegetable oil tank. Remember, our idea of running on cooking oil? Well that part must still be sorted but will come later. And then of course there’s the trailer or possibly some kind of hydraulic ledge for the bikes and the storage box.
We are working at a leisurely pace but hope to get going the beginning of April. We both resign end February - thats like in 3 weeks - ooh scary - no turning back now. I work to end of March but luckily Theo is able to take leave after his resignation date so he will have time in March to pick up the pace a bit. He writes his code 10 learners on 1st April - ominous date I know, and then we are both doing a 3 day first aid course at St Johns before hitting the road.
Yeehaa - cant wait for end of March to come.
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