I was up until after 1 AM last night fussing with my computer but the OS was updated and was running better (I think) when I finally went to bed. I need my beauty rest so I did not get up until 9 AM this morning. Linda had already made coffee so I checked the temperature of the refrigerator (41.4 degrees F) and then got out the soy creamer. 41 is better than 45 but given where the thermostat was set the temperature in the fresh food compartment should have been 35 degrees or lower. We had a very late breakfast of homemade granola and small glasses of orange juice to wash down our vitamins.
Because I did not get to upload any blog posts last night I switched up my routine and spent the morning working at my desk. The weather was very nice so Linda went for a long walk. My computer was back to normal and I managed to upload nine posts to my blog (May 10 through 18) by 1 PM.
I had an e-mail back from Ken Schramm yesterday letting me know that his “last day at Wayne RESA” gathering would get underway around 3:30 PM at Ashley’s Beer & a Grill at Westland Mall. Brendan and Shawna’s celebration is from 5 to 8 PM in Ann Arbor so we will be able to attend both events although we might not make it to Ann Arbor until 6 PM.
Today was our friends’ 44th wedding anniversary. Butch and Fonda were married the same year we were one day before us. We did not know each other then but are now friends through our mutual passion for converted highway buses.
Brendan called and talked to Linda. It turns out that tomorrow is grandparents/special friends Shabbat at Madeline’s daycare center and Brendan thought we might want to attend. It starts at 10:30 AM and includes lunch. The food at the daycare center is vegetarian but not vegan so we will see how that works out. Brendan is going to take care of Linda’s plants so we will take these with us and go to his house when we are done at the daycare center. I will pick up our electric pressure washer while we are there so I can wash the bus on Saturday. We were going to buy cards today for Ken, Brendan, and Shawna but decided we would do that tomorrow on our way to Ken’s gathering.
Linda made large green salads with chickpeas for lunch. We both put on a few pounds over the winter and really want/need to take them off. After lunch I worked in the bus. I removed the wood trim along the top of the beveled strip mirrors on the wall in hallway. The strips were glued directly to the wall so I put the trim back on. If we do not want to see these mirrors we will have to figure out some way to cover them.
There was a triangular horizontal panel between the upper edges of the J-lounge and the dinette with four switches mounted in it. Two of those switches no longer control anything but the other two still do. I secured the panel above the passenger side HVAC chase and blocked it in so it could not move. I dressed all of the loose wires with cable ties and cable clamps and secured them to the floor. I cut two grates from a piece of expanded metal and secured them over the two holes in the driver side HVAC chase where the sleeper-sofa was installed. That sealed up the last of the holes that the cats might get into. If one of them got into the HVAC system we would have disassemble half the bus to get them out.
I removed all of my tools and miscellaneous parts from the bus and set them on steps leading to the house. I had put one of our folding chairs inside the bus to sit on and moved it to the location of the passenger chair as a safety barrier after I moved the trash can out yesterday. I folded it up and put it back in the bay where it is stored. While Linda vacuumed the inside of the coach with our Shop-Vac I put tools and parts in the garage or back into the appropriate tool boxes. When she was done we got the Shop-Vac out of the bus and put it in the garage.
There is a maple grab handle on the right side of the entrance stairs (as you enter the bus) attached to a piece of maple trim from the back side. The finish is worn and the handle is loose. I wanted to tighten it, which required access to the back of the trim board. Linda recalled that we had Creative Mobile Interiors (CMI) tighten this handle when we first got the coach so we figured there had to be a way to get to the back of the trim board.
We removed the cockpit HVAC access panel just below the trim board but it did not appear to provide access to the back of the trim board. I removed the only two screws I could see (at the right end of the trim) but it still would not come loose. I figured the trim board had to be screwed on somewhere else and the only possible place was under a piece of inset brass finish trim. This brass trim is used throughout the bus, including around the edges of the Corian counters, and has an adhesive backing. I have found screws under it in other places so I pried the end up and peeled it out, revealing three screws.
I thought I was on the verge of success until I removed the three screws but still could not get the trim board loose. I tried prying it at various points with a screwdriver but it would not budge and we finally came to the unhappy conclusion that it was glued on. Perhaps it is secured from underneath in some manner that we did not see but I will have to return to this when I have more time. Linda suggested that we cut the handle off and install a new one that can be screwed on from the front. She’s a clever girl. As long as the access panel was off we vacuumed out the cockpit HVAC system and then replaced the panel.
About this time a UPS truck went by headed deeper into our neighborhood. Since we live on a dead end street I knew the truck would be coming back so I waited for it and flagged down the driver. I explained to the young man that we had two packages delivered to the wrong house in the same week about a month ago and that I had called the 800 number and talked to customer service but I would appreciate it if he would mention it to his colleagues as we will be ordering a lot of stuff starting in the second week of June. He was very nice and said he would.
Our last bus task for today was the hard one. We moved the passenger chair from the garage back to the bus using a hand truck so we did not have to carry it. It is very heavy but with Linda guiding the top and me supporting the base we got it inside and set in position. We tilted it fore and aft so I could slide the mounting studs into position and line them up with the holes in the base. I then bolted it down to the support rails by tightening the four nuts.
This was all trickier than it sounds. The bolts have square flanges that have to engage in the open slot of the channel to keep them from turning while being tightened or loosened. But that required me to pull up on the studs as the nuts were not going on that easily. As when I took the nuts off, I had to wedge one of them up with a screwdriver while I got the nut tight enough that the bolt would not spin. I reconnected the power to the chair and we checked that all of the adjustments still worked, especially the footrest.
With the installation of the passenger seat we were done working on the bus until after GLAMARAMA and have two seats with seatbelts so we can tow the car rather than drive it separately. This will be much nicer for us and the cats, although I expect the modified interior will freak them out initially. We will be gone most of Friday but have Saturday to prepare food, reload the coach for the week, and wash the exterior. Oh the joys of owning a converted coach.
For dinner Linda served the last of the whole wheat capellini with Portobello mushrooms and asparagus and steamed some broccoli. A piece of whole wheat bread and a small glass of Leelanau Cellars Winter White wine completed the meal. We had watermelon for dessert later.
I returned to my office after dinner and updated our Rand-McNally RVND 7710 GPS. I then continued uploading blog posts. By the time I quit working around 10 PM I had uploaded nine more posts and was caught up! I think 18 posts in one day may be my all time record. I did not get to work on articles for BCM, or copy files between our NAS units, but I was satisfied with what we had accomplished today.
