In May of this year we bought a 1964 MCI Challenger diesel 35' bus conversion already converted. We didn't start living in it right away because we had an apartment at the time and we were trying to get it into the shop to have a few things fixed before we made our big trip from Oregon to Iowa with it. Once it was back in Iowa (yes it made it all the way back just fine) we cleaned it up as best we could (the previous owner smoked in it for 14 years) and found someone to do some much needed work on it. We've since traveled to Northern Alabama with it and as of a week and a half ago we actually started living in ours. I must say that the first week was horrible and it took us some time to adjust and get all the glitches worked out of the bus. I can't say that we got all of it fixed yet but it's definitely better then it was. Keeping the inside cool has been tough. The furniture that was in it we threw away and haven't found anything to replace it yet so we are sitting in camping chairs. The inside needs to be updated and we still can't get some of the smoke tar out but we are liking our bus more and more. We'll be parked for the next six months while I'm working on a contract. We never did get our acreage sold, we decided to take it off the market and rent it out. We would still not be RVers if we hadn't found our bus and we are really glad that we did. Good luck to everyone waiting for their house to sell. As for me I look forward to finally getting to post to some of the other topics.
NorCal Dan said
04:32 PM Jul 1, 2009
Problems aside it sounds like your enjoying your bus and getting it all fixed up just the way you want it. How was the trip south? Hopefully you weren't grinding gears all the way and your getting the hang of shifting.
jdkblue said
07:50 PM Jul 2, 2009
Our trip was hot and humid the whole way. We bought some gas for our generator underneath so we could run the ac in the bus on the way but couldn't keep up and the heat that was being put off by the generator didn't help either. The bedroom stayed nice and cool but we ended up shutting the ac off and opened all the windows. We had two close calls in rush hour traffic in St. Louis and Kansas City but thankfully nothing happened. We had the tires locked up once and must of laid some heavy marks because it smelt horrible. Even in those situations my husband did awesome driving the bus, he rarely ground a gear. Once we got into some stop and go traffic though, he quickly lost his patience and started grinding gears quite a bit and wasn't running it to the govenor. On the interstates our bus really hauls without a problem but my husband hasn't quite calmed down enough to handle the stop and go traffic yet and I don't like driving through it much myself.
NorCal Dan said
09:31 PM Jul 2, 2009
You do have a way with words...I could almost smell the tire rubber. But it sounds like you had a fun trip. Keep us posted on your adventures. Have you started a blog yet?
Gummy said
12:59 PM Jul 3, 2009
Welcome to Full-timing or as you have just found out The Asphalt Jungle but that's only on the Interstates and big cities....Hopefully. Remember Your Retired, Slow and Easy Gets the Job Done. Gummy
Our trip was hot and humid the whole way. We bought some gas for our generator underneath so we could run the ac in the bus on the way but couldn't keep up and the heat that was being put off by the generator didn't help either. The bedroom stayed nice and cool but we ended up shutting the ac off and opened all the windows. We had two close calls in rush hour traffic in St. Louis and Kansas City but thankfully nothing happened. We had the tires locked up once and must of laid some heavy marks because it smelt horrible. Even in those situations my husband did awesome driving the bus, he rarely ground a gear. Once we got into some stop and go traffic though, he quickly lost his patience and started grinding gears quite a bit and wasn't running it to the govenor. On the interstates our bus really hauls without a problem but my husband hasn't quite calmed down enough to handle the stop and go traffic yet and I don't like driving through it much myself.