One Busy Day for Mrs. Jones (michael)

One Busy Day for Mrs. Jones

Today we got a lot done to Mrs. Jones. Jeff showed up at 9 am and started to cut in the stove top. I installed Christi's capt. chair. Phil, "Our Phil guy", showed up and installed the 6250 watt Coleman genny with a slide he made from old bed rails. Then we ran a 50 amp yellow cord from the genny to the back bay so we can plug in while underway. It will do until our big Onan gets rebuilt.

Christi picked up her pantry doors at

Cate's Hill trailer sales for $20 bucks on Friday so we laid out the face and Jeff put it together. I ran the rear roof air 12/2 wire. Smoked my good bit, Rats! Then Jeff started to frame the bedroom closet and Phil started on moving the air brake button. Where it is located made it hard to get in and out of the drivers seat, so Phil moved and modified

the housing to sit in a better place. He cut the housing with a hand grinder and then welded it together with my new Mig welder, (It's coming with us. A singer with a welder, Look out!) We had to pull out the spare tire to get to it. Good time for an inspection of the tire and the compartment.

They look good but dirty. Hmm, I wonder what Christi is doing? Hehe. Next we laid out the flat screen TV mount. To the salvage pile we go. We used the HD chair and upper compartment mounting aluminum rails. Jeff did a good job on this one. We saved a bundle! Also, the plumber Jack Jackson of Straight Flush Plumbing came over and lined out the water, waste & gas systems. I will cut holes in the AM so he can start running lines.

P.S. from Christi: Jared, (my son), and I spent the morning at Walmart, Lowe's and Home Depot buying parts for Mrs. Jones. When we got home I found an injured Michael with a paper towel wrapped around his thumb. He managed to take a chunk out of it when the drill gun slipped. Poor baby! So I found the bag balm and a large bandage and sent him back to work. We only have 3 weeks, you know.I had planned to get back to making Mrs. Jones pretty inside, (painting, yippee!), but soon found the rig was overrun with 3 sweaty, dirty males. Too much testosterone for me. I went in the nice cool house and did paperwork all afternoon. Aaaah.

All the Best, Michael & Christi See our other Blog;http://michaelhargisshow.blogspot.com/

Pooper, Pooper, No More Pooper (michael)

Pooper, Pooper, No More Pooper I was not going to worry about the Head in the rear of the bus. I've read all the horror stories on the boards and I again, didn't want to do it. I told myself that we did not have time and I would remove it when we got on the road and I had some down time. It started to eat at my brain last night. I woke up, walked out to Mrs. Jones and thought," I'm going to call Jeff again!" He came over at 1pm. I showed him the task at hand and without hesitation, he went for his tools and got to work. I didn't tell him all the stories I read on line. I just showed him where all the brackets were then I stood back and helped out when I was needed. Man, it worked like a charm. 3 hours later and just a little sweat and dirt and the tank was sitting on the ground next to Mrs. Jones. Life is good! I have more space!

All the Best, Michael & Christi See our other Blog;http://michaelhargisshow.blogspot.com/

Propane Compartment (michael)

Propane Compartment

Another thing I was dreading doing to Mrs. Jones is the propane compartment. It's funny to me that I have all this knowledge and experience in building, but somethings I would just rather not do. Like PROPANE COMPARTMENTS. Now just because I don't want to do something, does not mean I don't have to do it. Christi makes me. She said, "An electric stove top costs too much and I would rather have gas". As you men know by now, Mama gets what Mama wants and Mama wants gas. So I said "Fine". I went out to Mrs. Jones, picked up my cell phone and called Jeff. I told him of the wants and needs of Mrs. Jones. He arrived and we went to work. I sent Jeff over to the thrift store with a grinder to remove an LP bottle base for an old trailer, while I pulled all the material we will need out of the salvage pile. Soon we had padded aluminum sheets and aluminum angle stock. Mmmm, salvage. It was pretty easy to do. Don't know what all the fuss was about. We put the base and bottles in the bay below the cook top. We traced the footprint on the floor and found that we could use the floor supports as the top framing. We set the angle aluminum on the bay floor and affixed them with self-tappers. Then the padded aluminum sheet stock for the walls also screwed in place. Then caulked all the seams. Set the base. Cut the drains and placed louvers over them. I found some rubber seals and fit them so the bay door would fit tight when closed. Nice! I will run the line to the cooktop later. Thanks Jeff. What are you doing tomorrow?

All the Best, Michael & Christi See our other Blog;http://michaelhargisshow.blogspot.com/

New Post on the MAK Board (michael)

New Post on the MAK Board

I was on the Boards today and came across this post;

new guy how do you do these?

I am certain I don't know enough to know what I don't know! Some place there must be info on how to convert a bus, what kind of cost to do so, the best kind of bus to use or maybe the concerns and challenges using a particular bus. I am not interested in reinventing the wheel on every decision to be made. What are the values of these buses before and after? I know tough question. I see many advertised/ebay never see any selling prices? Just a start. Go ahead and answer these and those questions I have not thought of yet. many thanks

I went to work and could not stop thinking about this question. I remember when I was asking this question just 5 months ago before we got Mrs. Jones.

My Answer:

Well, bja1234,

First, welcome to the madness. I say that because that is what was said to me. New Years Eve/ New Years 2009 I couldn't sleep after a show. I got on the net and LSS "I want a Bus. Well, I got one and my wife and I are converting it. We don't have money But, we do have exp. in building and are working. That said, I believe that getting a bus has brought immense joy into our lives. The sense of accomplishment, meeting great people and working side by side with the one I love is priceless. We are Blogging the story of our "Change of Life, Bus, Event" Here is the link; http://singinglandcruiser.blogspot.com/ . We have sold our house and hitting the road. All the Best, M&C

It's funny that sometimes it takes someone to ask a question out of the Blue for you to realize just how happy you are!

All the Best, Michael & Christi See our other Blog;http://michaelhargisshow.blogspot.com/