Our bus in Jacksonville on 5/15/09

This is the story of picking up our bus and driving it home to NH. It may not really benefit anyone who is reading this blog for the purpose of learning how to convert a bus to a motor home, but hopefully it will be entertaining enough, and maybe even a little bit educational, too.

As discussed in my Shopping for Buses post, we won the bus on eBay, and it was located in Jacksonville, FL. We decided to buy 1-way plane tickets from Manchester, NH to JAX, and then drive it north. Since the seller of the bus (we’ll call him “Ron”) owned and operated a Limo service, he was kind enough to offer to pick us up at the airport and take us to his place of business, located in the southern part of Jacksonville, near I95 and across the St. John’s river from the Naval Air Station. It wasn’t exactly downtown, but it was certainly within the city limits, and it was not like any campground we’d ever visited before!

Our flight was scheduled for Saturday, May 15^th, and we cleared our work schedules for the next 5 days, planning to get home well before the following Thursday when normal life would resume. David’s mom would watch Stitch (our American Eskimo dog) and the cats would watch the house during our absence. We had the new, converted title to the bus (now officially a Motor Home), and we felt great about our plans.

Surprise! On Friday, May 14^th, we got a call from Ron (the seller of the bus), who had one of his employees go start up the bus to be sure it would be ready for us to drive home. Ron’s employee didn’t learn how little diesel fuel was in the tank until he ran it dry. The bus had started again just fine, but in running out of fuel, it needed an expert to clear the air out of the fuel lines and re-prime the bus to start again. Ron called a local mechanic service he used for any repairs to his Limo fleet, but the fellow they sent out didn’t have the expertise to fix the problem.

So, Ron’s call to David was a heads-up that we probably wouldn’t be able to drive the bus until the following Monday at the earliest, when a more expert mechanic would be sent out.

What to do?

We had very little flexibility in our dates and options at that point. Since taking our dog on the plane was not an option, we needed to work around Mom’s schedule, and she would not be able to take him again until 3 to 4 weeks later. Our temporary plate was already issued, with a 30-day period of validity.

We decided to go forward as planned. We figured that the extra day (Sunday) would give us a chance to do some work on the bus that needed to be done anyway, and it would be a fun adventure.

Our luggage and its contents were rather strange for the flight south. We packed our largest suitcase – the one that met all the maximum limits for most airlines – with a king-sized air mattress, sheets, pillows and 1 sleeping bag. We chose one of our coolers for allowable dimensions for checked luggage, and verified online that Southwest would accept it. David filled the cooler with all the tools and gadgets he thought he would need to use while we were down there, then sealed it tight with Duct tape. We then each packed a carry-on sized suitcase with a few changes of clothing and toiletries. David took his laptop and we were all set to go.

The flight to JAX was uneventful, and Ron met us at the airport as planned. I admit I was hoping for some miraculous spontaneous restoration of the bus fuel lines, but that was not to be. We arrived in the back parking lot of the Limo shop, and met our future Motor Home for the first time.

It was all that we had hoped for and more. The first thing we did was open all the windows to get some ventilation going – it was HOT in Jacksonville, about 95 during the afternoon, sunny and cloudless.

Ron seemed a bit surprised that we were not planning to rent a car and book a motel room for the following nights until Monday’s service appointment. We considered that a back-up option, but really felt that we had planned well enough to manage “camping” in the bus for that period. Honestly, we wanted to minimize costs. And David wanted to play with his new toy!

David had planned to immediately remove enough seats so that we could spread out the air mattress that night. For the remaining daylight he worked on it, but found that the bolts were so rusted, they wouldn’t budge without some WD-40 soaking first. Fortunately, our King mattress unzipped into 2 single-sized units, so we blew them up separately and wedged them on the floor in the aisle between the seats, one for each of us.

The Limo shop was the kind of place that had people coming and going at all hours, and Ron told us that we could help ourselves to ice from their ice machines in the unlocked area of his offices. He also ran an extension cord out to us, so we had electricity. David had brought his own selection of cords and plug adapters, so we were in great shape in that regard. The bus had a bathroom, but no running water, and we weren’t really sure we wanted to use the toilet and holding tank anyway. Upon exploration of accessible areas in the shop, we found a nasty lavatory, but it was better than nothing!

We were within walking distance of a variety of fast-food restaurants, grocery and drug stores, and there was even a Wal-Mart about a mile away. So, we moved all the tools out of the cooler, filled it with ice, and took a walk as the sun set to get some take-out for supper, bottled water and beverages for the evening.

We went to sleep feeling excited and happy about how things were going, but it was not destined to be a very good night.

The night was still, hot, humid and buggy. We had to keep the windows open to get any hint of breeze that might blow through, and as a result, the bugs found us. Or, rather the bugs found ME. The aisle space between the seats was about 18”, so we had enough space below the seat bottoms to lay flat, or lay on one side, but changing positions was very difficult. The bus had absorbed so much of the day’s heat, the the temperature near the floor had to be around 85 to 90 degrees, even if the air outside was closer to 75. I kept throwing the sheet off me, drenched in sweat, and apparently that’s when the bugs got me. During the night, I was so distracted by the heat and cramped discomfort of the tight space, I didn’t notice the bugs biting, I guess, not that I could have done anything about it at that point.

Around 3 am, we learned another fun fact about our surroundings: The brush and shrubbery bordering the back parking lot (that made the area so nice and private) hid train tracks, and some sort of loading station. Suddenly the air was filled with the grinding of tracks moving, trains getting filled up with whatever load they hauled, and generally reminded us of the ambiance of the motel in “My Cousin Vinny” – remember that movie?

We were both relieved – and wide awake – by the time sunrise rolled around. As we drank our first Pepsi (blech! I don’t usually drink that, but we knew we’d have no immediate coffee and would need some morning caffeine), we discussed how we were going to manage sleeping better the following night. The first priority was to get rid of enough seats to have more space on the floor.

While David successfully loosened the bolts that had been marinating all night, I proceeded to count my bug bites, which were beginning to itch like crazy. Hmmm, 75 on one arm, 68 on the other, 85 or so on each leg, with lots around the ankles and tops of my feet. Thank goodness I’d worn an oversized T-shirt to sleep in and protect my torso and butt, for the most part!

We washed up as best we could, and took a walk to the grocery store. We got food for breakfast and lunch, and then checked out the Walgreen’s next door. There, we found a box fan on sale, and since we had power, we grabbed it! I also got some itch-fighting spray and ointment and cleaning products so I could wash the floor where David took out seats. It was really dirty under the seats!

Sunday was another cloudless day, and by 11 am we could feel the heat rising as we walked back to the Limo lot. Fortunately, the fan worked wonders! We were able to direct it to the area we were working in and it kept us comfortable throughout the day.

After removing seats andshopping

Even better, that night it effectively solved 3 problems: it kept us cooler, it kept enough breeze going to prevent the mosquitoes from landing on us, and it provided white noise to help offset the 3 am train activity!

Check back soon for Part two!