This was Betty the day before we left. We got 7 or 8 inches of snow, which is pretty rare for our neck of the woods.
Ready to head out. The plan was to leave Monday, camp near the GA/FL border Monday night, then drive the rest of the way Tuesday. Gametime was 6:30 Tuesday night. We were then going to camp in Orlando Tuesday night and drive back Wednesday. In the following pictures are me and my friend Chad, my brother Wes lives in Charlotte and met us in South Carolina on the way down.
Picked up Wes in St. George, SC and kept rolling. Fairly uneventful drive, Betty ran good and the only issue we had was taking 2 hours to go 30 miles during one bad stretch of traffic on I-95. Arrived at the good old KOA to camp, a bit behind schedule but so far so good. You would think heading south during the winter would be a good way to escape the cold, but you would be wrong. The first thing the KOA lady said to us when we walked in was "you boys are gonna freeze your backsides off!" We bought some firewood from them, set up camp, then headed to Applebee's for all-you-can-eat ribettes, cocktails, and warmth (not necessarily in that order).
The debate over stink vs. steam is still on-going...
My sleeping arrangement. I also had a tent heater, my travel companions had tents and blankets. The low that night was 28 or 29 degrees, I woke up in the morning outside of my sleeping bag and was still pretty toasty.
Woke up to a chilly Tuesday morning, packed up, and headed out. We made it to Orlando without issue and pulled into a Home Depot to stock up on propane tanks. I should mention that my bus puts out very little in terms of heat, and also that a leaky fuel filler neck causes gas to drip on the heat exchangers. If you do opt to run the heat the gas fumes are at near lethal levels. So for most of the trip we just ran my Little Buddy tent heater up front and the person in the back had to bundle up. So, grabbed some propane and a hot dog (I find it nearly impossible to not buy a hot dog while at Home Depot or Lowes, regardless of the time of day), went to fire up the bus, and nothing. This used to be a regular occurrence for me until I installed a hot start relay, so I was well versed in crawling under the bus and manually jumping the starter. That trick worked so I figured something was just screwy w/ my relay install and we rode on to the stadium.
Now it was tailgate time, and I love to tailgate. The parking attendants in our lot did a good job of grouping together fans so pretty much everyone on our row were State fans. It was a fairly typical tailgate complete with buffalo wings, beer, and girls in boots. Those are a few of my favorite things.
My brother and I and my super sweet Busch Light cowboy hat. Found that beauty on Ebay. OK, it's not for everyone but I dig it. As a brief aside - when asked over and over why I continue to drink Busch Light despite the fact that I am no longer broke and no longer 18, my answer is always the same. It got me through college and I never turn my back on a good friend. And I like it.
I'm going to start carrying this picture around in my back pocket whenever I sport the Busch Light hat. That way when my wife points out how ridiculous I look I can whip it out and say "Look, it could be worse. I could be this guy."
About a half hour before game-time our friend Chad decided to morph into his alter-ego. Chad has gone by a lot of nicknames throughout the years (Capt. Stubing, Capt. Pegleg, Chief CancerBack, and The Hobo just to name a few), but today it was time for something new and improved. Let me introduce you to Capt. EXTREME!!!. Capt. EXTREME!!! was so named because whenever anyone asked why he was wearing ski goggles in the middle of Florida his answer was always "because I'm EXTREME!!!". Let's take a closer look at this not-so-super Hero in his natural habitat.
The Man. The Myth. The Legend.
This is Capt. EXTREME!!!'s version of bluetooth. "Technology is fo suckas!"
One of Capt. EXTREME!!!'s lesser known super powers - The ability to avoid long port-o-john lines.
And finally off to the game. Despite the fact that our receivers couldn't catch a cold and WV played like a mediocre high school team, the game was pretty fun to watch. We had great seats, especially in the 2nd half after Wes "upgraded" our seats to the 50 yard line. A few pics...
Final score NC State 23 - WVU 7. Betty improved her record to 3-0, let's hope that trend continues next year.
We scrapped the plan to camp out another night due to the cold and decided to head back towards home and stop at a motel. We drove about an hour east and ended up at a Day's Inn. It was delightfully cozy, with few frills and an aroma that can best be described as a mixture of homeless person socks, stewed cabbage, and bottom-of-dumpster juice. But the fridge, TV, and, most importantly, the heat worked so it was OK. Chad and Wes needed to get their grease on so they ran off to the Waffle House while I watched a few episodes of True Blood then called it a night.
Up the next morning staring 8 or 9 hours of driving in the face. As with all road trips, I was amazed at how quickly the time flew by on the way down and how freakishly slow time moved while on the way home. We made it to Savannah, GA, stopped for lunch, and then the fun began. Finished up lunch, back out to the bus, crawl up under her to fire her up, and nothing happens. Jumping the starter is no longer getting it done, and since I have an automatic transmission there is no option to roll and jumpstart it. So the next four hours were spent troubleshooting, acquiring parts, and spending a lot of time in this position...
Final diagnosis, the starter solenoid had gone belly up. Which sucked because I literally have dozens of spare parts on board, but a back-up starter was not one of them. Live and learn I guess, it won't happen to me again. Wes found a local parts store that had the part, caught a ride to the store in a chicken truck (a long story that I don't feel like typing out), we swapped out the part and were back on the road. I understand that a 4 hour delay is part of bus life, but it still sucks and we still had 5 hours to go.
We made it home with no further issues, so all's well that ends well I guess. Overall I give the trip a B+, and I will definitely be going to more bowl games in the future. They have a cooler vibe than a normal home game.
So now Betty is heading into hibernation for a month or two. I'm gonna get it back in the warehouse, drop the engine, and finish up the things I either didn't know to do or didn't want to do the first time around. Here's a partial list off the top of my head, more for my benefit than yours.
Engine Area
--Replace battery tray
--Replace the two injector to rail fuel lines on the right side
--Repair the fuel filler tube
--Clean and paint the engine compartment
--Clean and paint the engine and tin
--Paint the exhaust
--Replace all the FI vacuum lines and hoses
--Install 2nd battery and isolator
--Install CHT guage
Interior
--Work out the table/bed dilemma
--Remove, cover, and properly install the rear wall panels
--Paint interior trim
--Install new radio
--Replace glove box
