Watch out TBH could be a weapon

Yes, that's me behind the controls of a 40 foot several thousand tons of shiny metal, diesel thrumming driving machine! No, I'm not mad, although it looks like it. That's how my face looks when I'm concentrating hard on not hitting any innocent and unsuspecting fellow motorist. (And notice - only one hand!) Let me further explain that the picture is shaky not because the photographer was scared but because TBH does sway a little because . . . well, it's a bus.
If you ask my family, they'll tell you I'm not the best driver (although I don't thing I as bad as they make me out to be!) Ok, I DID hit a big white wall, I was in a hurry when when I backed into the garage door, and I admit I can't back up with a trailer in tow, but here I am driving FORWARD!



The Grandparent's are totally oblivious of their peril as they watch the scenery go by!

The Saga of TBH part 1

The saga of the TBH (the bus from hell).

I said to Lee last January, “Lee, when was the last time your folks went back to Michigan?”

“Well I think it’s been about four years now,” he said.
I cogitated for a few minutes, “How old are they going to be this year?”
Lee gave me a, duh, can’t you do the math look and said, “They’re going to be 90.”
“I betcha they’d like to go back for a visit.” Little did I know what kind of Pandora’s box I was opening.
“That sounds like a good idea.” Lee agreed. He ran in to ask Mom and Dad if they’d like to go to Michigan this summer and found out that Dad’s family holds a family reunion every August in Wisconsin and yes it would be nice to go back and see those relatives and Mom’s in Michigan

“Hey maybe we could rent an RV and take the cats along.” I suggested.
“I don’t know, I think RVs are going to be too expensive, and I don’t think we should take the cats.”
“But look, we could put them on a leash and train them to a litter box!” I pointed out this website which I'd found when I Googled "How to walk your cat on a leash".

(This isn't really our Sylvester)
You could train your cat to use the toilet too, but that was even too weird for me.

We got collars for the cats, but Snickers got out of her 3 times the first night we put it on her and then she lost it. Sylvester of course was a complete gentleman and kept his collar on. Both of the cats learned what a litter box was and Snicker likes it so much that she comes in from outside to use it!

The Saga of TBH part 2

Several weeks later, we found out that renting the RV isn’t that bad, they just kill you on the mileage.

So we checked into plane tickets. It was $600 round trip per person in about January of this year. Not too shabby, but Mom and Dad didn’t feel they wanted to reserve tickets so far in advance.

By April the prices had doubled. Now it was $1,800/per person round trip. Lee being the frugal, cost conscious, (cheap) man that he was swore it was highway robbery and suggested that maybe we could take them in his tiny (but well maintained) Skymaster. We could fly them out there ourselves!

OK- that wasn’t going to happen no matter how expensive the plane tickets were!

Then Lee got the bit in his mouth. He began researching purchasing an RV. After all you can buy an inexpensive 5th wheel for around $20-$30K. Then we could have something afterwards we could use. Of course his truck is only a ½ ton pickup and can’t haul anything that heavy AND 5th wheels have many steps in them, which Mom and Dad at their age have trouble dealing with.

“You know GM is going under and needs to get rid of their trucks, maybe we could trade my truck and get a 3/4 to haul it with...” Lee hypothesized. We found out that GM isn’t in such bad straits, it would cost us an additional $20K to upgrade to 3/4 ton pickup.

“What!” I screeched. “That’s ridculous!” Scrap that idea.

By now Lee was looking at bus conversions. “Did you know that regular Class A RVs aren’t put together worth a sh..darn (I’m editing, this is a G rated blog)? I mean they just collapse if they’re in an accident. These bus conversions are REALLY REALLY safe.”

The Saga of TBH part 3

Three weeks later, “Sandi, come here, look at this bus! This is a totally redone Eagle conversion in California. The guy selling it only wants $40K for it but it does have a lot miles on it.”

A couple of days later, “Sandi, I think I’ve got I narrowed down. I found this newer 1998 MCI bus conversion in Florida. It’s only 35 feet long.”
“Yeah, how much?”
“Only $80K.”

“What!” I screeched. “That’s ridculous! Why do you want to buy an RV? You HATE driving! That’s why you told me you wanted to buy an airplane!”

“Well. I’ve always wanted to travel around in one. Ok, look. Here’s this one in Virginia. The guy is asking $70K for it and it looks in pretty good condition. This one’s a Prevost. They’re like the top of the line bus manufacturers. The engines on these things go for 200,000 miles. This one was never a bus but originally built to be an RV. It doesn’t have a lot of miles on it either. Oh, and it was owned by Jerry Falwell.”

“I don’t know. That’s a lot of money. Who’s Jerry Falwell?”

“You know, moral majority, Liberty University. Oh, never mind. I’ll offer this guy $50K for it ok?” Lee’s always looking for a good deal.
“Ok,” That’s $20K off his asking price. He’ll never go for it I thought.

“Sandi, I talked with the guys wife. She said he’s never going to go for it but she’ll ask him.”

“Sandi, come here!” Lee shouted to me. “Guess what? His wife called back and she said she’s really surprised, but he’ll sell for $50K, but, (there’s always a but) I have to come pick it up on Monday and he’s not going to fix a darn thing on the bus!” (That should have been a huge tip off.)

“Lee, it’s Friday. How can you go to Virginia and buy that bus on Monday?”
“WE’RE going to Virginia.” He corrected.
“No, I can’t....” I began as I marshaled all of my arguments. After several minutes Lee said, “Ok, maybe Ron will go with me. Then he can me my mechanic and do the pre-buy on the bus.”
(Ron had be aiding and abetting Lee’s bus search for the last month. Ron owns a company that does bus conversions here in Kalispell and is now trying to be semi-retired.)
I answered the phone. “Hi Honey, I’m so tired, but we’re her in Virginia. We’re going to look at the bus tomorrow and if Ron says it good, we’ll buy it.”
It was Sunday night and Ron and Lee had a whirlwind couple of days getting the travel arrangements around.

The Saga of TBH part 4

Ten o’clock Monday morning. “Hi Honey, Ron says that the engines in really great shape and we should be worried about the bus. It’s a great buy!
We’ve signed the papers and we’re heading home in a couple of hours. Ron has an appointment Wednesday at home so I’ll see you in a couple of days!”

Monday afternoon the phone rang. It’s Lee, “Hi Sandi, the bus odometer/speedometer isn’t working. Can you look up some RV shops along our route and see if they don’t have a replacement. Then ask them if they’ll over night it to some shop along our route. We will be driving through Springfield, Missouri tomorrow and if the shop would have an open bay, Ron says he could install it...”

Tuesday morning. It’s Lee, “We’re stuck, I left the bus in gear and you can’t leave it in gear, it drains the battery...we’re not going to worry about replacing the speedometer. Ron says that we could get into the engine and then spend several hours trying to fix it. The better way to go is replace it when we get home.”

Wednesday morning. “Hi honey, Ron’s not going to make his Wednesday appointment but it’s ok. He’s got it rescheduled for Thursday. The bus is not developing any power going over the hills and it’s slow going. We’re for sure going to be home on Thursday.”

Our bus woes have just begun ...

We're OFF!

It was a hard struggle with many set backs and frustrations BUT we are finally heading down the road.
We finally finished loading and took off around 7:00 pm Wednesday for Missoula.

First stop:

After a truly yucky and not so quick dinner. we really were on our way.

We left town at 8:00 pm and arrived to our first overnight destination in Missoula. the Walmart SuperCenter. Hey don't you guys turn up your noses at that! It's a great place to boondock.
If you forget something, you can just walk right over and buy it - at a great savings to your pocket book I might add.
But seriously, we couldn't believe how many big rigs were parked there.
We stayed most of the next day there and headed over to Dr. Rosen's for the deposition a little after noon.
Our next destination: Bozeman to drop off Debbie & Andrew's wedding present from Grandpa. He'd only been working on refinishing the table for the last year and a half but it done. Not to Grandpa's satisfaction. In fact he said to me, "Maybe we should take it to Michigan with us, I can finish it up and we could drop it off on the way back."
Our final destination last night was Billings, but we didn't make it. We stopped just outside of Billings and parked the bus in a truck stop over night.

North Dakota, here we come!

Cirque and More

This time we went with Kagan and Becky. The whole idea was to take our now 6 month pregnant daughter to see the sights and catch a cool Cirque du Soleil show before she becomes a mommy and it tied down for foreseeable future.Unfortunately we went during a very very cold snap that was circulating around the country.


The first show we saw was 'KA' at the MGM Grand. It is the second best IMO - the all time most fabulous Cirque show is 'O'!
Kagan, Becky & I ran around Las Vegas Boulevard. We visited the Mirage for fabulous buffet breakfast. I was wishing I had a second stomach to put all the yummy food in. Here they are in front of the Beatles Love theater at the Mirage.

Then it was across the street to the Venetian to pick up tickets for the BLUE MAN group. Here we are all ponchoed up and ready to get wet. (If we'd only known!)

On the way we saw the Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.

If you've never been there you should definitely go. The figures look so LIFE-LIKE, the photos don't do them justice!