ALOHA Papa Bus

Its hard to believe its been a year since we saw Papa Bus. Now when I say Papa Bus I mean Papa and Donna Morgan. We got to spend some quality time with them and Bob, "Bob Of The North" and his wife Marilyn in Quartzsite, AZ last year at the "Q" Bus Rally. Sometimes when you 1st meet someone, you just know you will be friends for life and thats how we felt then and even more so now. About a month ago Christi got a call from Papa Bus that they were heading south from their home in Canada for their yearly vacation to the states. Christi told them that they must be our guests here in St. George, Utah. Papa called me from Az for directions and said they would be here on Thursday. A week ago, Thursday morning, I got a call from a Mark Morgan stating that they were in Lost Wages and they lost the directions to our resort. At this point I had no idea who Mark was and gave him directions like any other guest looking to stay at our resort. Then he said something about the bus running great or making good time in the bus and I realized it was "PAPA BUS". I got off the phone and told Christi they would be here in 3 or so hours. I have to admit I was excited! you know, to see the Bus. That afternoon the roar of a Detroit Diesel came in the drive. Christi said " Papa Bus is here!" I ran out to greet them like a little kid going to the candy store. It was so good to see them. I think Papa was a little taken back when I gave him a Big Hug. Then Donna got one. We had a great visit. We invited them over our house for dinner, we ate in town twice, had coffee and talked every chance we got. I wish Donna was not so hard on our car door handles. She tore one right off the door, handed it to me and said " This handle is Defective!". So I told her from now on I would open the car doors for her as if she were the Queen herself. Papa Bus only stayed for 3 days, Way to short if you ask me! They stopped for coffee and goodbyes on their way north. We talked about next years visit and of putting together a "After Q Rally" here in St. George. Sad to see them go. Its hard to believe its been a year since we saw Papa Bus.

ALOHA Papa Bus, until next year my friends, we will miss you.

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

Pictures are of Papa Bus in front of our home in Leeds, Ut

The Bus Learning Curve at the "Q"

The Bus Learning Curve. It has been an on going thing learning about a bus. All the systems that came with it and all that we have added. That's my job, I have the task to keep this ol' girl rolling down the road. Only thing is I have no training in this bus world. So I say, Thank God For Bus Nuts! I have received a lot of good information off the web, as I have posted here in the past, but there is nothing that compares to hands on instruction from another bus owner. The hard thing is to find one that has the time for bus show and tell. We got to meet a few Bus Nuts at the "Q" Rally, (Quartzsite, AZ), hosted by Larry & Carol Hall. Pappa (Stormcloud) helped me install a small inverter to run the refrigerator as a last resort when there is no power to be had. I told Bob(BOTN)Evans about the brakes feeling a little sluggish and the jakes not working at all! Bob offered to show me how to adjust the brakes when I had the time and he took a look at the jakes. In the very limited time we had, Bob found that the jakes work but were not getting a signal. What ever that meant? We didn't have the time Iwe needed due to the rain, But I did learn a lot. We had a great time at the "Q" and we will go again. All the Best, Michael & Christi See our other Blog;http://michaelhargisshow.blogspot.com/

The Trip, Quartzsite Bus Rally.

The Trip, Quartzsite Bus Rally. We left last Thursday morning in a driving rain from Ramona Canyon RV resort that we manage in Ramona,CA. We rendezvoused with fellow Bus Nuts from the MAK board, Mike and Lisa, aka, Loosenut in east San Diego along Hwy 8. They pulled up in a very nice 30' Neoplan. The rain and wind kept coming as we made our way to El Centro where we had lunch at the famous Mexican restaurant Camachos. We found the service to be a litte slow, the food was good but the portions were small. The waitress actually whined a bit that we didn't order their special; a handmade puffy quesadilla! Not a place to go if you are in a hurry. We waited 10 mins at the counter for the check! At least we had good company in Mike, Lisa and Lisa's mom, Mary Lou. When we pulled up in front of the restaurant, the parking lot was under a foot of water, so we had to park directly in front of the restaurant which is a little small for a 40' bus and toad. As we left, I tried to turn around onto the road but both front tires went on to the shoulder. Mrs. Jones slid in the mud about 10' and settled with her bumper and exit door up against a dirt embankment just missing a large wooden pole. Christi's eyes almost popped out of her head! The bus was blocking the whole road and part of the parking lot and I could see the large field trucks heading our way. I hit the door button but the door only opened 6 inches since it was lodged against the dirt. I pushed it open another 2 inches and squeezed out to frantically unhook the toad and survey the damage. We got the toad off and both bus drivers (rear tires) were still on the pavement. The front end was 18 inches deep in the mud. I got back in the bus, put her in reverse and she muscled right out of the muck. I love my bus! We hooked back up right in the middle of the road! There was no way my tires were getting off the pavement again. Back on I8, the rain and wind kept pounding us. As we went through the Imperial Sand Dunes just west of Yuma, we were sandblasted. The wind blew from the south, mixed with rain and the sand was sticking to everything. We made our turn on Hwy 95 in Yuma and headed north. We stopped for cheap fuel at Barney's Truck Stop. We started fueling and Loosenut pulled in. I asked, "What do you think of this trip so far?" He said, "At least we have lots of good stories to tell!" I think Lisa and Mary Lou are at their wits end it being their 1st long trip in a bus. I bet their last too! LOL We finished fueling and continued North on Hwy 95. The wind had calmed and I could relax a little driving Mrs. Jones. However this was short lived. After about 15 miles the wind and rain began pounding us once again hitting us broadside; but this time out of the east! Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse we had to deal with all the washes that cross the highway. In the desert, the ground saturates quickly and the washes flow. Because it seldom rains in the desert, the State Road Dept. doesn't seem to think there is much of a need to construct bridges or culverts over the washes. Therefore we had to contend with water running across the road. We counted 7 washes that flooded the highway. The depth of the water started at 4 inches and just got deeper and faster as we got closer to the "Q". The last 2 washes we crossed were well over a foot deep. About 5 miles outside of Quartzsite the sky turned black and the clouds were swirling and dumping rain in buckets. We heard a tornado warning had been issued for the area. We pulled into Rice Ranch and parked in the middle of the bus rally grounds. Bob Evans (Bob of the North) met us in the driving rain and proceeded to temporarily lose his hat to a gust of wind. He was all arms & legs running after it! A moment later Larry Hall arrived in his PT Cruiser and advised us to stay there until the rain subsided a bit. We made a run for it to Larry and Carol's bus and waited out the deluge. Good Hugs! Soon the rain stopped and we were able to get parked. Look honey! Look at all the buses! Is that "Pappa Bus?" It's rally time, Oh, Ahhhhhh BUS... All the Best, Michael & Christi See our other Blog;http://michaelhargisshow.blogspot.com/