Happy New Year!

This year went so fast, it's hard to believe another decade has come and gone. Even though we had a few pitfalls this past year, it was all meant to make us stronger. It's amazing how doors close and others open, you just have to knock and open them!

We are looking forward to this new year approaching, as it will be the beginning of new adventures and opportunities.

We pray that all of you have a safe and amazing New Year!

Becky & Paul

Our New Fridge

Was delivered on Chistmas Eve day, a Whirlpool apartment size. Lowes delivered and set it in the hole, what service! The guys who brought it took a picture as they had never delivered to a bus before. With the blizzard we were having I didn't expect it to be delivered. We are very happy with our choice of color, it blends right in with our interior very nice. Our freezer compartment is much larger, so much in fact we bought three tubs of Blue Bell ice cream! At 9.7 cu ft compared to the 7.5 with the Norcold and at the same size, it gives us more storage capacity. I'll trim it out today and get our pantry re-installed. What a great Christmas gift, there is a God! Of course we knew that already because we celebrated Christ's birth yesterday!

Snow Covered Eagle

Here's a shot of our snow covered Eagle. I'm sure glad we are able to stay warm and cozy, cause it's darn cold out there.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

That is one of my favorite songs by Bing Crosby!

It was 70 yesterday and now we have this! So much for global warming huh!

What a way to spend Christmas Eve, and our new fridge is to be delivered shortly.

Hope everyone stays warm and cozy!

Merry Christmas!

Wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Hope you have safe and happy travels where ever you are!

Becky & Paul

Norcold 841 Died

The refer we bought used in 05 died the other day. I spent several hours troubleshooting resetting the circuit board, and waiting for the "no co" code to appear. I reset it 3 times and decided to yank it out and turn it upside down as was suggested by several bus nuts. Prior to that I wanted to make sure the bus was level, remove the top vent cover and check for any obstruction. I didn't smell or notice anything wrong.

While I was sliding it out I notcied the smell of ammonia, this was not a good sign. The cost of a new cooling system is over $600, and then to install it which is quite a process from what I read. We decided to chuck it and buy a new electric. So the search was on!

After countless hours on the puter we found one that would slide right into the hole without too much modification. We chose a 9,5 cu ft Whirlpool at Lowes for $359.10 delivered in silver. I hop in our car and drive over to take a look, didn't have one in stock but could have one in 6 or 7 days. This is starting to raise my blood pressure a little. I really like to see something before I commit to buy, call it crazy, but I only want to do this once.

The Norcold is 7.5 cu ft, so this increases our storage capacity and it's brand new! Going all electric just makes sense to us. We're on a pole most of the time anyway, and while traveling I can fire up the genset when needed.

Which leads us to the next conclusion, we're removing our propane two burner cooktop that we've never used. Going to purchase a three burner 120v electric cooktop which will do just fine. We might be able to get that next month, hopefully.

Now all I have to do is sell our two 40# propane bottles with regulator and yank out the few feet of black pipe. This will also open up some valuable bay space and give us room to store more junk....err..stuff!

Bus Conversion Magazine Centerfold Article

We were asked to put together some information for an article in the January 2010 issue of Bus Conversion Magazine. I was real hesitant to do that as I felt the bus wasn't finished, especially the exterior. They talked me into it saying they want to promote unfinished coaches, hoping to draw some interest.

Becky and I drove to Albany TX for a photo shoot a couple of weeks ago, the weather was perfect. We decided to use the Courthouse as a backdrop. Not sure how much of it will be seen, but we thought it was a good idea.

Miss January 2010, kinda has a nice ring to it don't ya think! LOL

Valance Construction

I used 1" x 10" pine and nailed a 1" half round on the edges to soften them up. The material rolled over the edges real nice. After laying out the fabric so the design would fit we added some batting as cushion in between the fabric and the wood.

I cut the boards so the seam would be dead center between the windows on each side. The boards ended up being around 55" long, two on each side.

I used some aluminum heat duct tape to aide in the reflection of the light. Which turned out to be a good idea, it really made a difference.

I guess I should mention, we installed one fluorescent single tube fixture above each window.

Here is the pattern Becky found. We bought enough to do the valances and also a quilt for our queen bed. I'll also use some material to cover the two doors that access storage behind the headboard.

Then the bedroom will be close to being finished, or so we think!

Valance with Route 66 Theme

Just thought I would share what we finished today on the passenger side, we'll complete the driver side tomorrow.

I've been so busy with school that it has been hard to find the time for anything else.

I'll post more pictures later this weekend showing how it all went together.