Today was the third and final day of the converted bus rally in Arcadia, Florida. Like the last two mornings we walked over to the activities building at the Turner Agri-Civic Center for bagels and coffee. We went over at 7:30 AM so we would have time to eat and visit and still get back to our coach before 8:30 AM. We arranged yesterday for Hotties Detailing to wash our coach and polish the Alcoa aluminum wheels this morning. They expected to be on site around 8:30 AM and were actually a few minutes early.
Not a bus conversion, but certainly a very nice Airstream trailer (Arcadia Bus Rally, Arcadia, FL).
I stayed around the coach to get them started and then wandered off with my camera to take photos of all the rigs in the east row. Most of them were backed in facing east so I wanted to take advantage of the morning light. We had fog again overnight and into the morning but it dissipated by 9 AM. I returned to our coach before Hotties finished to check on the work. They did a nice job at a fair price.
I went to Ronnie and Diann Mewbourn’s coach to interview them for a featured bus article in Bus Conversion Magazine about their 1969 Model 07 Eagle conversion. By the time I was done with the interview it was time for their lunch so I returned to our coach. I went back in the afternoon and photographed the interior and bays of their bus.
The east-facing row looking north from the south end. (Arcadia Bus Rally, Arcadia, FL)
As it was last night, dinner was served at 5 PM. The food for everyone else was different from the night before but included bread and baked potatoes so we were able to have that in addition to our salads.
Starting at 7 PM Master of Ceremonies John Vickery handled the door prizes with help from rally organizers/hosts Bill and Brenda Phelan. The recipient of the third boxed set of Bus Conversion Magazines was Dan and Sandy Cerrato. I was getting their information after the door prizes concluded and they invited me back to see their converted bus, a 1953 GM PD4104 that they have had for 37 years. I got the grand tour and had a long chat with both of them.
The east-facing row looking south from the north end. (Arcadia Bus Rally, Arcadia, FL)
This was Dan and Sandy’s first rally of any kind ever and I got the feeling that they really enjoyed it. They are very proud of their bus, and obviously still very fond of it after all those years. They had started subscribing to BCM in early 2015 and Dan had read all of my 2015 articles. BCM was also where they found out about the Arcadia rally. They live near Ocala, Florida, so it was an easy trip for them. Dan was interested in writing an article for BCM about their bus and their experiences with it, so we talked about that at length and I offered to assist him if he wanted.
Buses in the infield, including some from the later 1940’s. (Arcadia Bus Rally, Arcadia, FL)
The entertainment for New Year’s Eve was Kenny Flint and the Rough Diamond Band. We sat with Paul/Claudine Elbisser and Dan/Kathy Rory and their son James. James is a young man with Down’s Syndrome but he had the time of his life dancing with the ladies. Kenny even let him sing/play with the band for a couple of songs. We had snacks and a little bit to drink, but not much, and stayed until midnight to welcome in the New Year. We did not have champagne this year, the first time I can remember that we skipped that part of the New Year’s celebration. With the playing/singing of Auld Lang Syne at midnight the band wrapped up the entertainment for the evening and the small crowd drifted out and headed back to their rigs.
The west-facing row looking north from the south end. The nose of our coach is just visible, 4th from the right. (Arcadia Bus Rally, Arcadia, FL)
On the way back to our coach we stopped at Dan and Sandy’s bus and sat around a small campfire for a while. Scott Crosby was there and David Evans joined us for a while. Although it was not cool enough to require, or even justify, a campfire everyone enjoyed it. It’s just not camping without a campfire. Both Scott and David have GM Silverside buses from the late 1940’s. Scott does video production and some still photography professionally and owns/operates the BusGreaseMonkey.com website/forum. He mounted his small camera on a tripod and made time exposure “light paintings” of several buses, including ours, which he e-mailed to me.
By 1 AM we were tired, thanked Dan and Sandy for the campfire, and headed home. Linda was to bed and asleep right away but it took me until 1:45 AM to finally turn out the lights and go to sleep.
