Tag Archives: converted buses

2015/08/12 (W) Back to Indiana (Again)

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Today was early arrival day for the annual Back-to-the-Bricks converted bus rally in Clio, Michigan.  This joint rally of the Converted Coach Owners (CCO) and the FMCA Great Lakes Converted Coaches (GLCC) chapter has become an annual event that typically draws 20 to 30 rigs.  Most of them are converted highway buses and many of those were converted or re-modeled by the owners.  Many of them are works in progress but such is the nature of the bus conversion hobby and the true bus nut.  But that is not where we were headed today.  Our bus is unusable at the moment as the toilet is disconnected, the bed platform has been removed, and all of the cabinet drawers have been taken out.  But the main reason was that we had multiple commitments in Indiana today.

Our first appointment was with Josh Leach of Coach Supply Direct.  Although CSD is located in Edwardsburg, Michigan we had arranged to meet him in the parking lot of the Martin’s Supermarket at SR-19 (IN) and CR-4 on the north side of Elkhart, Indiana at 9:30 AM to take delivery of 15 yards of upholstery fabric.  We picked that location, rather than his shop in Edwardsburg, for several reasons.  He had to be at the Forest River Owners Group (FROG) rally at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds at 10 AM so that location got him half way to his destination at a good time of day.  For us, Elkhart is a 3-1/2 hour drive.  That meant we had to be up at 5:00 AM and on the road not later than 5:45 AM to be there on time, allowing for coffee, fuel, and bathroom stops.  Had we met him at his shop we would have had to be there by 9 AM requiring us to get up even earlier.  You have to draw a line somewhere.

I took the wheel for the start of the trip.  It was still dark but the faint glow of the impending sunrise was visible as we pulled out onto Hacker Road facing a rising crescent moon.  At M-59 we headed west to I-96.  I reset one of the trip odometers before we left and verified that it was 13 miles from our driveway to the end of the entrance ramp from M-59 onto I-96W.  We skirted the southern edge of Lansing on I-96 and took Lansing Road to I-69 south.

Nineteen miles south of Lansing, and about an hour into our trip, we stopped at the Biggby’s Coffee in Charlotte for coffee and bagels.  Biggby’s is not my favorite coffee but this particular store is in just the right location.  Linda checked the M-DOT website and it appeared that the bridge work on M-60 in Mendon was completed, so we exited I-69S and headed west on M-60.  Unfortunately the bridge was still closed so we had to follow the detour to the south toward Sturgis.  Unlike our previous trip in early July, when we continued on to Sturgis, we followed the complete detour through Nottawa and Centreville and back to M-60 in Three Rivers.  We had never driven through Nottawa or Centreville before so that provided some new scenery for the trip.

As we have done many times before we continued our trip on M-60 as far as Jones where we stopped at the Shell station for fuel.  We then took M-40 south to US-12.  This seven mile stretch of M-40 traverses steeply rolling hills and is both beautiful and fun to drive.  We took US-12, running west just north of the Michigan-Indiana border, and eventually exited onto Old 205 (M-205?) which turns 90 degrees to the left a mile later and drops straight south into Indiana where it becomes SR-19.  A few miles later we arrived at the Martin’s Supermarket at CR-4 just after 9 AM.

Josh was not there yet so we went inside to use the restrooms and get some coffee.  This particular Martin’s has a nice salad bar with a beverage station, a Starbucks Coffee outlet, and a seating area with Wi-Fi.  Josh showed up right on time and parked next to us.  I met him outside and we transferred the roll of upholstery fabric from his car to ours and then went inside to visit for a few minutes before he had to leave for Goshen.

When we left Linda took over the driving.  Our next planned stop was A1-Upholstery in Elkhart to order the cushions for our built-in sofa.  Continuing south on SR-19 we stopped at Factory RV Surplus to look for battery cable end covers but the ones they had were too expensive.  I think they now sell more retail-packaged merchandise than they do true surplus material, and even less salvaged parts.

Lou (mom) and Terry (daughter) own and operate A-1 Upholstery and were recommended to us by Josh.  We discussed the project with Terry, who I had previously spoken to on the phone.  We reviewed my dimensioned scale drawings, which were on one sheet of 11″x17″ 1/4″ grid-square paper, and agreed on how the cushions would be made.  Terry thought she would have them done by the end of the month but noted on the order form that we needed them by September 14th.  We noticed that she had a lot of sample books from which we could have selected a fabric but we like the Lambright Notion Linen, and Terry thought it was a very good fabric that should look good and wear well in our application.  We left the fabric and drawing with her and wrote a check for the deposit.

All of our stops were important today, but our primary reason for the trip was to pick up the pieces of the custom desk and built-in sofa for our bus from Jarel Beatty Cabinetry in Logansport, Indiana.  We continued our trip south on SR-19 to US-20, took that west to US-31, and went south, exiting at Rochester onto IN-25 for the final 22 miles to Logansport.  This is a route I have driven many times but Linda had the wheel this time so I provided some occasional guidance.  I called Jarel to let him know we were making better time than we had anticipated and would be there between noon and 12:25 PM.  I then called Butch to give him a status update.

This was the first time Linda and Jarel had met and so it was also the first time Linda had met Mya, Jarel and Georgette’s sweet little dog.  Mya came up to me, sat, stared up at me like we were long lost friends, and waited patiently for me to give her the attention she was seeking.  I was happy to oblige.

Jarel Beatty Cabinetry, Logansport, IN

Jarel Beatty Cabinetry, Logansport, IN.  Panorama taken from the entrance door.

Jarel Beatty Cabinetry, Logansport, IN.

Jarel Beatty Cabinetry, Logansport, IN.  Panorama from the center of the shop.  Entrance door is far left.

As I have previously described in this blog, the desk consists of nine pieces (if you count the four drawers as separate parts):  two pedestals with separate bases, a cover that goes between them, and four drawers.  The left pedestal has a fold up work surface with two support wings, and a fold down fake drawer front, so technically those are four more pieces, but they are attached to the pedestal with hinges so I am not counting them as separate parts.  The bottoms of each pedestal have been cut out to provide access to the fan-coil heat exchangers that will be installed in the bases, so those are really two separate pieces now, put I am not counting them as such.  I am also ignoring screws, drawer slides, blocking, and other assembly items in my parts count as they are all “installed components.”  With the drawers installed we only had five major pieces to load plus the two access plates.  Jarel also had the pieces ready for the built-in sofa so we loaded those as well.  I took pictures of his shop and the pull-out pantry, which was mostly assembled but not quite finished.

The installed desk will have more pieces than just described but these are the pieces that Jarel made.  The finished desk will have five grills that we have to cut and install, at least four drawer pulls that we have to install, a plywood top that will span the two pedestals and leg space, and a Sandstone Corian countertop that will go on top of the plywood.  While not actually part of the desk there will also be a large cover for the passenger-side living room HVAC duct and wiring chase and a small hose cover at the desk end both of which align with the left end of the desk and will look like they are part of it.  Jarel will make the chase cover later after the desk is installed and we can get a final, accurate measurement for its length.

As long as we were in the neighborhood we naturally stopped to visit with our friends, Butch and Fonda, in Twelve Mile, Indiana.  While we were at their house we loaded a dozen 4-foot army surplus fiberglass mast sections in the car.  Butch had bought these at a swap for me some time ago.  We will use them for ham radio antenna projects.  Butch gave me his old, non-functioning, Vanner battery equalizer to see if I can figure out how it does what it does.  He also lent me his air-powered brad nailer which can also drive 1/4″ crown staples and gave me a box of 5,000 staples to go with it.  Fonda found a scrap piece of resilient underlayment designed for free-floating wood floors.  Butch though it might work well under the 1/4″ plywood underlayment to fill in the gaps and irregularities so we took it with us.

When we were done loading stuff into our car we went to see their new property on SR-25.  They have already had a new roof put on the barn and new doors put in the house.  They have bought themselves a BIG project, but it will be a much more appropriate and manageable place for them going forward than the building complex in Twelve Mile that has housed their business operations for the last 20 years.  It’s an old GM dealership from the 1940s and they have approximately 11,000 feet under roof including a 2-bay service garage with a functioning in-ground lift.

We drove to Rochester and had dinner at Pizza Hut.  Linda and I split a medium specialty veggie pizza and had the salad bar with it.  We might have had a few more restaurant choices in Logansport, but Rochester was 22 miles closer to home.  With the 19 hours we were gone today, and over 525 miles we had to travel, 22 miles and 30 minutes was significant for us.

We got back on the road at 6:30 PM with Linda at the wheel and headed back up US-31N to US-20 and headed east.  We decided to stay on US-20 all the way to I-69, stopping in Lagrange to use the restroom at the Marathon complex.  We stopped again at the Shell station on M-60 in Michigan for fuel.  It was getting dark and I had been able to rest while Linda drove, so I took over the driving duties.  From this point on we were just reversing our route from this morning.  We got home at 10:30 PM, unloaded everything from the car, and then went straight to bed.

 

2013_08_15 (Thu) Back To The Bricks Rally – Day 1

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Today was the official first day of the Back To The Bricks Rally (BTTB), and more of the attendees arrived today.  The BTTB rally is a joint gathering of the FMCA Great Lakes Converted Coaches chapter (GLCC) and the Converted Coach Owners (CCO), an independent group of folks most of whom have done their own bus conversions.

With 22 rigs expected this is one of the largest GLCC rallies of the year and has become an annual event.  It is organized and run by Ed/Janet Roelle, and Marty/Pat Caverly.  Bob Shafer was also one of the original organizers, but now spends his time in Florida and is unable to attend.

The day started with breakfast in the pavilion starting at 7:30 AM, provided as part of the rally fee.  We had coffee, fruit, bagels, Danish pastries, and muffins.  The air temperature was in the upper 40’s to start, but the coffee was very hot so it all balanced out.

Arrival day at an RV rally is always exciting as each new arrival reconnects friends, makes friends of acquaintances, and provides new acquaintances who may become future friends.  Around mid-morning a group of the women went looking for garage sales in the area; a tradition at this rally.

Larry and Alma Baker pulled in around noon; the first new arrivals of the day.  Larry is the current GLCC president.  Pat and Vicky Lintner pulled in with their grand-daughter Graciella, around 12:30 PM.  Pat is the current GLCC national director.  (For the record, Linda is the current GLCC treasurer.)  More arrivals followed and by dinner time we had 15 rigs and folks from Wisconsin who came by car as their bus was out of commission.

As more people arrived, conversation groups formed and disbanded throughout the day.  Converted coaches are usually works in progress, so when converted coach owners get together there are always tours of interiors and lots of looking in bays, and so it was today.

The evening meal was provided as part of the rally fee.  We had a variety of fresh veggies, chips and salsa, fresh fruit, bean salad, and several main dishes including Swedish meatballs and nachos.  Ice cream with toppings was served for dessert.

Most of the attendees gathered in the pavilion after dinner for continued conversations, but it cooled off quickly after the sun set.  Folks who arrived today were also tired as traveling, arriving, and setting up are a bit of work.  By 9 PM everyone had retreated to their RVs for the night.

Larry (L) talking to Ed (R) in front of Ed's coach.

Larry (L) talking to Ed (R) in front of Ed’s coach.

Bill and Barb’s GM schoolie pulling in.

Bill and Barb’s GM schoolie pulling in.

The schoolie with the Clark's 1955 GM 4104.

The schoolie with the Clark’s 1955 GM 4104.

Dennis and Bernadette’s Class B. (They left their big bus at home.) Notice the very nice temporary power panel, thanks to Marty's work.

Dennis and Bernadette’s Class B. (They left their big bus at home.) Notice the very nice temporary power panel, thanks to Marty’s work.

Two more rigs in the arrival area. The driveway into the Fireman’s park can easily handle four rigs with toads and this is where we unhooked our cars.

Two more rigs in the arrival area. The driveway into the Fireman’s park can easily handle four rigs with toads and this is where we unhooked our cars.

Preparation of fresh veggies for dinner.

Preparation of fresh veggies for dinner.

A couple of conversation groups before dinner.

A couple of conversation groups before dinner.

Another group under a patio awning.

Another group under a patio awning.

The long dinner table. (There was a shorter one off camera to the right.)

The long dinner table. (There was a shorter one off camera to the right.)

Ice cream and toppings for those who wanted it (which was almost everyone).

Ice cream and toppings for those who wanted it (which was almost everyone).

 

2013_08_14 (Wed) No Way To Start An RV Outing

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We planned to leave today around noon for an RV rally in Clio, Michigan, about an hour’s drive north of our house.  We spent most of the morning with final preparations, loading food, clothes, technology, toiletries, and finally the cats.  We also put fresh water on board and checked/adjusted all of the tire pressures.

The tires were holding their pressures fairly well, but I discovered that the Pressure Pro Tire Pressure Monitoring System was reading 1 to 3 PSI low on most of the sensors compared to my tire gauge.  I have a very good gauge and had its calibration checked a couple of years ago at the Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally, so I tend to trust its readings.  Besides, when it tells me two tires have the same pressure and the Pressure Pro TPMS tells me the pressures are different (from each other) I tend to go with the gauge.

The rear end buried up to the frame.

The rear end buried up to the frame.

The last thing is always to disconnect and stow the shore power line and lock up the house.  I fired up the engine, put it gear, and got stuck in our brand new gravel driveway!  We tried to extricate ourselves, but that only made it worse and the drive tires ended up buried in the loose gravel.  I called the guy who did the driveway work for us to let him know of our predicament and see what he could suggest.  He didn’t have the equipment needed to get us out, but recommended a towing company that could handle vehicles our size.  He also indicated that he would stop by the house tomorrow evening and survey the situation.  Clearly something (else, additional) will have to be done.

The winch really worked!

The winch really worked!

I called Woody’s Towing, and they said they would have someone there within 45 minutes.  While we were waiting for the tow truck, I engaged the level low system and aired the suspension all the way up.  This got the chassis up enough that we could dig out some of the gravel from around the tires and under the rear end.  The tow truck showed up on time.  It didn’t look like a big enough truck to do the job, but it turned to be up to the task.  The secret was the very substantial winch and the use of multiple pulleys to multiple the pulling force.

Impressive tires holes. We clearly were not getting out of this situation by ourselves.

Impressive tires holes. We clearly were not getting out of this situation by ourselves.

The technician had to position the truck three times to finally get us out.  This was because we had to make a hard left turn onto the concrete driveway that would then take us out to the street.  The first pull was straight forward using both attachment points under the front bumper with the bus engine running, the transmission in 1st gear, the tag axles UP, and me applying power as directed.  This was the hardest pull as we had to get the drive tires out of the rather deep holes they had made for themselves.  The second pull was from the driver side attachment point at an angel toward the driver’s side to get us started in that direction.  This got our steer tires onto the concrete driveway.  The third pull was again from the driver’s side attachment point at an angle, pulling straight out towards the street.  This pull finally got our drive tires off the gravel and onto the concrete.  The holes where the tires had been were very impressive.

The technician from Woody’s clearly knew what he was doing.  He got us out without any damage to the coach, and we were glad to pay the $175 charge.  We hooked up the car and were on our way around 1:30 PM.

We made it less than four miles from our house and encountered a major construction-related traffic jam on M-59 just west of US-23; a one lane road with a flagger.  With no way to turn around and no alternate route there wasn’t anything to do put patiently move ahead when we could.  In what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only 15 minutes, we cleared the construction zone and were northbound on US-23 at 62 MPH, my preferred highway travel speed.  US-23 merged into northbound I-75 at the southwest corner of Flint and we continued on our way.  Things were looking good until about six miles south of our destination exit, when another construction zone had the left two lanes (of a 3-lane highway) closed down.  There was a warning sign some miles before, but almost no indication of the actual lanes closures.  No barrels placed a mile or so before the work to close down one lane at a time; just the sudden loss of two lanes of the highway.  Highway work crews should not be allowed to do this.

Some folks, most perhaps, get on their brakes and stay/merge to the right.  But there are always those “other people” (who are obviously more important than the rest of us) who try to speed by on the left for as long as possible and then merge in at the last moment.  Well, not today bunky.  I was already in the right hand lane when I became part of the traffic crawl and I watched with some delight in my driver side rear view mirror as several vehicles teamed up to block all of the other lanes, including the left shoulder.  We patiently worked our way through the blockage for what seemed like our second eternity today, but was again probably no more than 15 minutes.

All set up at the Clio Fireman’s Park.

All set up at the Clio Fireman’s Park.

We exited I-75/US-23 at M-57 and made our way east through Clio, Michigan.  On the east side of town we headed southeast on Saginaw Road.  About three miles down the road we spotted the Fireman’s Park and made our turn.  The Clio Fireman’s Park is a nice little rally site.  It has an open pavilion with power surrounded by fairly level grass and gravel surfaces, all hard packed.  There is a long driveway leading in that provides an excellent place for arriving RVs to stop and unhook their towed vehicles.  We did just that and while Linda parked the car and went and found Marty Caverly to find out where we should park.  Marty and his wife, Pat, are one of the two that organize and conduct this rally.

All of the other early arrival buses except ours.

All of the other early arrival buses except ours.

Today was early arrival day and there were only five other motorhomes there (all converted buses) so we had our pick of spots.  We chose one we had used before, next to the pavilion and with good access to 20A power.  Marty is an electrician and had been working for days to install permanent and temporary power drops so everyone would have a legitimate 20A connection.  In warmer weather we would not be able to function on a 20A connection, but the weather has been, and is forecast to be, cooler than normal for this time of year with highs in the 70’s and lows of 50.

Part of the protocol of RV rallies is that folks tend to leave you alone while you get parked and set up, but once you are done there is lots of meeting and greeting.  We are expecting 22 converted coaches, and the balance of them will be arriving tomorrow, so there will be lots more meeting and greeting.

Sullivan’s Black Forest restaurant and brew pub.

Sullivan’s Black Forest restaurant and brew pub.

The pre-planned dinner event for this evening was the Black Forest Restaurant in Frankenmuth.  The 13 of is figured out car pooling arrangements and we rode with Paul and Claudiene Elbisser.

 

 

The 13 early arrivals at dinner.

The 13 early arrivals at dinner.

I had a raspberry/strawberry Belgian wheat dessert beer and it was freaking awesome!  (I am not generally a big fan of beer and have finally figured out that I don’t care for the bitterness of hops.)  It made a great “cocktail beer” too; think strawberry daiquiri with a hint of beer after taste.  Linda and I ordered a 16” think crust pizza, no cheese, with mushrooms, onions, and pineapple.  What they brought to the table was a pizza with a crust 2” thick.  15 minutes later we got the pizza we ordered, and it was pretty good.

Everyone (except us) enjoying ice cream under the pavilion.

Everyone (except us) enjoying ice cream under the pavilion.

Back at the rally site, we got a tour of Paula and Claudine’s MCI MC-5 conversion.  We last saw it two years ago at this same rally, and they have made a lot of progress on it.  It‘s a very nice design, and Paul is a superb craftsman.  Ed Roelle set up to serve ice cream with toppings, and everyone brought their camp chairs to the pavilion and set them up in a big circle.  Ed and his wife, Janet, are the other rally organizer couple.  We passed on the ice cream, of course, but enjoyed the camaraderie.  As the sun set it got very cool, and folks gradually peeled off from the group to hunker down for the night.