The Bright Side (Christi)

THE BRIGHT SIDE I was watching the news a couple of days ago as they were reporting a story on a tent city that has emerged in Sacramento. These are not the mentally ill or veterans suffering from PTSD or drug addicts or those we normally think of as homeless. The folks that have found themselves there were like many of us living paycheck to paycheck. But their paychecks had stopped. They are in a situation they never dreamed they'd be in and are making the best of it, while trying to find jobs. While I have had some extremely hard times, I have never had to live in a tent. A feeling of gratitude came over me. I felt grateful that even when I have lost sleep over money problems, I have never been where they are. Close yes, but not quite there. I realized how lucky I am to have the opportunity to work with my husband, to build our bus. To know that we will never have to live in a tent. We understand that it could get really tough but we will have a home. This has actually been a very comforting thought for me. Growing up, I was lucky enough to be able to spend a lot of time with my grandparents. They, of course, lived during the Great Depression and were always very frugal. I learned alot from them about not being wasteful, something our kids and grandkids may have not learned, had it not been for our country's current economic situation. I was also very lucky to have a mother who taught us to look on the bright side. Looking back I realize how hard that must have been for her. She was a single mom in the 70's. Wages for women sucked. My father didn't pay child support. Yet, we were never on welfare. We never went hungry. We always had a roof over our heads. And Mom always had a positive attitude. I come from a line of strong, hard-working women and I am grateful for that. Yes, I give into that temptation to whine, but when it gets the best of me, I try to remember what those before me have been through and remind myself that they went through much more. I need to just put on my big girl panties and deal with it! Living in this situation our country has found itself in, I choose to do as those before me and "look on the bright side" and know that all things happen for a reason. We have been living in a "throw away" society. Now, we have a big fat wake-up call. How will we handle our personal struggle with this? I think that the majority will stand up to the challenge. History is repeating itself. Those of us who learned from those who lived through this before need to teach those who have not had the experience. So, fellow bus nuts, raise your glasses to our good fortune to have this opportunity to travel this great country of ours and remember to always, "look on the bright side." And if your having trouble seeing the bright side, move your bus for a better view! All the Best, Michael & Christi Please Comment Below

A Thank You to Mr. Trevor Hall (michael)

A Thank You to Mr. Trevor Hall. Christi & I would like to thank Mr. Trevor Hall for all his help with our life changing MCI Bus adventure. He sold us this great bus. He sent us an e-mail. Trevor wrote "Hey Mike and Christi! I just checked out your blog and you guys are making great progress! You will be on the road in no time! And at least you got all the "no fun" stuff out of the way, now its on to the fun "clean" work. Well, I just wanted to drop you guys a line and say hello. Hope all is well! Keep up the good work!-Trevor". Thank you for believing in us and helping to make our wish come true.

All the Best, Michael & Christi Please Comment Below

Start Framing & Insulation (michael)

Start Framing & Insulation After walls are stripped it's time to affix 1"x 2" furring strips along the base of the side walls and about 1/4" below the window frames. I pre-drilled the base holes. A self tapping screw would not go through the sub-frame without pre-drilling. The self-tappers worked fine on the top run. We put a screw about every 2" or so.

We bought 4' x 8' x 3/4" backed insulation. I measured every 8' to

get a good fit. The MCI bus

seems to be shorter in the rear???

We used 3M spray adhesvie to hold the insulation in place and to keep it from squeaking later on. Spray the wall on the top, sides and bottom, then do the same to the foam. Wait 3 mins. and set in place. Installing the beadboard. I may have jumped the gun on this one.

After putting half of it up, I stopped until we skin the windows.

I am using 1/4", 3 ply wood beadboard that comes in 4' x 8' sheets. Again, because the couch gets shorter to the rear, we took measurements every 4' starting in the rear. This amounted to a

1/2" gain every section. To cut down waste, I took the smallest measurement in each section and square cut the beadboard. I affixed the panels to the furring strips with PL200 construction glue and 1" brads. This made a small 1/2" to nothing gap along the bottom that I will cover with baseboard later. Walls next. All the Best, Michael & Christi Please Comment Below

Plumbing, where to begin? (michael)

Plumbing, where to begin?

1st things 1st. Hit the Internet. Hmmm, Busnut, MCI Bus nut, Bus conversion. The plumbing tree, this looks good. Hmm, by Evangelina. "I can do this". OK, make a list. Give it to Christi. She comes back with all the right parts, she's good. Print the picture from the site. Scratch my head a little and Walla. Find and paint a piece of plywood, a little 1x2. Some keepers. Bam, just like Evan did it. "Now, where do I hang this thing?" Scratch, Scratch.

All the Best, Michael & Christi Please Comment Below