Tuesday, May 19, 2009

And the adventure begins.

Finally took our first trip in the bus this weekend. We drove up to Jeff City on Saturday to hang out with the fam, and to test that we could make it that far and start again the next day. We headed out Sunday with not much of a plan, just that we were going to the Cedar Creek section of the MTNF.


Our niece Mackenzie checking out the bus.

On the way to the forest the first sign we saw was for the Pine Ridge Campground. After a brief discussion we discovered that we had no cash, and no check to pay for a campsite, but thought we would check it out anyways. To our great surprise it was a free (donation suggested) campsite! So we of course pulled in and set up camp. (We scrounged together some change and donated that)

Diane posing with the bus at our first campsite.


After setting up camp we hiked a couple miles out to a pond and sat down for a picnic, then headed back. Some friends from Columbia (Josh, Ashley and Adele) came down to celebrate the inaugural event. Adele stayed the night to break in her new tent, just as we were breaking in the bus. We couldn't have asked for a better night; clear, high 40's. There were some drunk teenagers and a lot of cars that drove through the campground through all hours of the night, but all in all a good night. We didn't sleep in the upper bunk (we're still working on cleaning the cushions and fixing the zippers), but the bottom bunk was nice and probably slightly warmer. The next morning the bus started on the first try, things are looking up.

We have also decided on a name for the bus, after many debates and months of thought, it has been approved by the three of us. And the name is: Gifford. Reasoning behind the name: We feel that the bus is a grumpy old man, and we plan on spending the majority of our time in the bus in National Forests, so we saw it appropriate to honor Gifford Pinchot. So all blogs from this point on will not say "the bus" they will say "Gifford".

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Back in the saddle again

Well we are back in action. For those that don't know, shortly after the last post we were preparing for our first night of camping. I pulled the bus out of the garage and parked it on the street so we could load everything we needed in. About 45 minutes later when it was time to go, we climb in and turn the key.....nothing happens.

Oh you can imagine the disappointment.

After about 2 weeks of constant rain (which was incredibly aggravating since the bus is on the street now) or of me being way too busy to work on it, I began to diagnose the problem. Starter was good, battery was good, I could hot wire it, so with all things checked, and with a little logic I deduced that it must be the ignition. So I ordered a new ignition lock cylinder (we got new keys) and put it in this week, now we're back on the road.

Now if it would just stop raining long enough to go camping.