I think I mentioned in a previous post how I'd come across a fellow bus converter after answering a question on a US bus conversion resource (www.skoolie.net) and then found out that he'd bought a bus from the very same guy I had! After being out of town for 3 weeks, I finally got round to getting round to his bus and meeting up. Sam and his pal Johnny were right in the middle of draining coolant out of the heating pipes that run from the engine in the back of the bus to the front heater and windshield demister when I turned up.
It was Sam's bus, bought with his missus for themselves and young family. Johnny had been roped into helping out. Both Brits, it was good to be with just fellow countrymen for the first time in a while.
Sam's bus was a Thomas but very similar to my Bluebird being a 40' flat-fronted, rear-engined model and, bizarrely, bus no. 0095 (mine's 0094) - it just gets weirder. They'd just got the seats pulled out and the floor stripped down to clean metal and some rust. Nothing major but needing some thought and work and we discussed best strategies for that. Mine's 4 years older and from the same area, Sooke on Vancouver Island, so am hoping that Bluebirds were made of better steel - mine seemed to be less rusty on the underside to my memory.
I didn't stay too long cos I had things to do and it was clear that progress was slow so I didn't want to slow them any further and left them to it with a promise to be back to give them a hand if they needed it.
I also nipped up the hill to see Robert at his machine shop where I'd arranged to park the bus to have the metalwork done to check that he was still happy to accommodate me. He was and we had a brief chat about my current change of plan to do most of the work in Mexico this winter and just get the bus ready to drive down by then, complete with rear rack and trailer hitch to carry my motorcycle and haul my trailer that I'll be getting him to fabricate and install.
The plan is coming together! This weekend is an Air Brakes Training course at the local college - 3 days of training and testing before sitting an official ICBC exam next week. That completed I'll be able to go collect the bus and drive it back!
Report on the training coming soon.
Ciao for now
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