Hey Johnboy,you being a mountain man and working on the retirement plan I would of thought the dangly bits would of shrunk up abit or was the tide in really high over there on there thrones???:eek::eek::eek:
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Hey Johnboy,you being a mountain man and working on the retirement plan I would of thought the dangly bits would of shrunk up abit or was the tide in really high over there on there thrones???:eek::eek::eek:
This is a great story, Johnboy. I'm glad you got to meet what many of us consider the "real" America, some of the folks in the Heartland. Many of us have our roots in that area, and I can imagine the reception you got.
Your tale got me to thinking about school bus riding in rural america, and wondering if it was the same in other parts of the world. I thought about the busses we rode, and whatever became of them; surely gone to the scrapper, of course. So you have a true piece of history; maybe not world shaking, but more important for what it represents. I thought about the old late forties White based bus that we rode forty miles to school, or sometimes the early fifties International; that was back in the mid to late fifties, same time frame your bus is from. The driver lived near the far end of the route, and kept the bus at his/her house overnight, picked up the first kid very early in the morning, and headed east up the valley, gathering kids from five to eight different small towns and communities. We had to be at the general store, a mile walk, by no later than 0545; by the time I got dropped off after football practice after school, it was onto 1830 or 1900. Our regular route was one of three similar ones, and it was always a bit of fun rivalry between the three busses when they all came to the main highway at the same time. The kids that got picked up from that point on, the next twenty miles to school never knew just which bus would stop for them - usually the first one in the parade, then they would "leap frog", and the next one would gather the next bunch, and so on. The bus that took the athletes home after practice was one of the three, and they rotated the busses so the drivers all could get their turn in the bucket, so to speak; the other two would have to spread the load of the three morning busses between the two going home in the afternoon. All in all, a very interesting way of life, and one that still exists in some rare parts of our country even today.
Oh, yeah!! I want to know who you're callin' a kid, thank you very much. :p My white whiskers and gray hair usually get me the "old guy" title. :3dSMILE:
Thanks Rrumbler, the 'Heartland' folks we met were truly amazing and genuine people.
Here in New Zealand we have a preconceived idea of America and Americans; gleaned from television shows and the movies...and it's not really very complimentary...you come across as loud, brash, and, very often, stupid.
The reality is quite different.
We found the average American to be a thoughtful, kind, and caring sort of bloke.
It was actually humbling that total strangers would go out of their way to make us feel welcome and to help in any way they could...something we just didn't expect.
You're an amazing bunch of people; and I'm very pleased to have met you.
Thank-you.
The tide in their 'thrones' is really really high.
Where we have three to four inches of water in the bottom, their water level is three to four inches from the top.
So if you're not used to it, yes; your dangly bits do take a swim.
Gross.
Where we use perhaps a half a gallon per flush, they would use about four.
So, when you flush, the water level rises before it subsides.
Gross.
There's an outfit over there called 'Loves' that has shops all over the place.
It was in one of these places I struck a toilet that was somehow flushed by a pressure switch under the seat...so if you wriggled a bit it flushed automatically.
Disconcerting.
An experience you don't want to go through.
I didn't enjoy it.
So well said and so true thank you John. Sadly that is /was my thoughts of America and it's people until I found this site and became friends with so many of you people. We seem to get only what the gossiped magazines tell us and that is mostly how screwed up the rich and so called famous people are resulting in me tarring everybody with the same brush,sorry..
Johnboy,
Thank you for the heartfelt comments about your trip. Having grown up in SW Missouri on the border with both Arkansas and Oklahoma it makes me feel proud that your experience with the real people of America was a good experience. Unfortunately I believe that we all too often form judgements from what we see in the biased news or worse, on prime time TV.
Also, your observations on "high tide" in our "loos" made me laugh! The auto flush mechanisms can indeed be a surprise if you move the wrong way - they are triggered by an infra red proxmity switch, and the idea is that as you rise to depart the throne the flush happens automatically. Sorry you got surprised by Lowe's auto flushes :LOL:
My first real experience with Americans,was in the mid eighties,in the South Island,on holiday..We met up with a hard case retired/semi retired bunch from[if my memory serves me well]the Sun Valley Caravan Club,probably Arizona..they were cruising the country in hired RVs,and having a ball..Real neat people,wish we could have spent more time with them,,,and then a few days later,the other side of the American tourist...dont go there...:eek:
Next time Was in 1991,when I spent three weeks in California,with a brief trip to Las Vegas,and back to LA..All real nice folks,and I hope we can scrape some cash together soon,so Lynda and I can do another trip..This time,it will be well OUT of L.A...Wanna see the real side of your great[big]country..
Yeah,your dunnies scared me too,,I thought there must have been a blockage..Stood back from the pan and yelled out for my friend...Oyy,your dunnies blocked..:LOL::LOL:
Thanks for that observation John, I think we don't always appreciate how pervasive an image our misdirected (as a nation) adulation for celebrity causes. We suffer from widely broadcast images such as this:
Given your recent discovery of the "real" American spirit you might enjoy an astute British citizens observations. You can access each streaming commentary by clicking the "permalink" at the bottom of each Monday through Friday segment:
http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/
Wow!
Astute indeed!
And quite thought provoking.
I didn't watch them all, but that Daniel Hannan sure dribbled a bib-full.
The cliche "those who ignore history are doomed to re-live it" springs to mind.
We see the centralisation of power happening here in God's Own Country too; with the power moving from the people to the faceless, nameless, cloned 'suits' of bureaucracy.
A few years back I took the Dept. of Conservation, Forest and Bird Society, and the South Taranaki District Council to court; they were jointly proposing legislation that I felt usurped their powers/mandate.
The most terrifying time of my life...here was I, a poor dumb peasant from the bush, facing a bevy of lawyers whose hourly rate was more than my monthly drawings.
But I beat them!
One up for the little guy!
They knew the theory, but I was well versed in the practical aspects of the argument...I compared them to eunuchs in a harem...they knew how it was done, saw it done every day; but were totally incapable of doing it.
So nil bastardo carborundum.
Don't let them grind you down.
Robin, my advice (for what it's worth,) would be to fly direct to the East coast, hire a small two-berth camper, (less parking hassles than with a bigger one,) and meander your way back across to the West coast; avoiding the large cities where ever possible.
I found the cities claustraphobic due to the sheer height of the buildings.
(Mind you, I get that in NZ too...you get that when you've lived in the bush as long as I have...:LOL:)
And a GPS is a must-have.
The place is HUGE!
Just remembered this thread and thought I should add to it now the bus is getting closer to Certification.
I've got quite a few photos, but don't know how to:
a) load them into my computer,
and
b) how to load them into this thread.
Can some pooter buff give a dumb-ass peasant from the bush a detailed blow-by-blow step-by-step analysis of how to work this white-man's-magic?
Thanks.
.
For whatever reason, I missed this thread but have 'picked' it up since. I enjoyed your 'visit' with the 'Okies' - and they like many (most?) other small communities here in the US really are the way we are. And many American tourists - well that's another story because even though they might come across as brash and loud, really aren't always that way - many are out of the US for the first time and it's excitement and lack of knowledge of the local ways. When my wife and I travel internationally, usually Europe, we try to blend and so far have been complemented. And plotting murder of shrieking small children - during my working life, spent about as much time in an airplane going to places with strange names as behind my desk - and am lucky to not be in jail.
Get those photos posted - as well as plot another trip to the US:D
I think Robin should drive out to "El Rancho Rosie" and do it for you.................what are friends for??!! And he'd make it into next month's news letter..............he'd be a star!
I'd offer to have you send them to me and I'd post them for you, but if you don't know how to download from the camera.................:eek:
Johnboy,
If they're still on your camera, the camera should have had an accessory cable that connects the camera port to a USB for connecting to the computer. Once you connect the cable turn the camera "On" and your computer will sense "New Equipment" and should then come up with an import screen. Once there select (browse) the location on your computer where you want the pictures to reside, select any other options (like deleting the pictures from the camera once loaded?), and hit "Import", "Go" or "Start" as applicable. That should get them all on your computer, in the folder you chose.
The photos were in the camera, but the card (is that what it's called?) got full.
(There was a lot of other stuff in there too, events/runs/parties we'd been to.)
So we went to Warehouse and printed them off so as to put them into albums.
So I've got photos, but not on the camera.
And I'm not pooter literate...I can type on the thing, but anything more complex than that has me bamboozled.
Hey; I don't know if they go shiny-side up or shiny-side down in the scanner even!
Bob; I think you've got a great idea...get the Barnes out here to show me the way.
How 'bout it Robin?
I'll even give you lunch...if you can stand the thought of Vegemite and limp lettuce sandwiches!
I'm gonna be in Wellington for the next few days, but will give you a ring when we get back...if that's okay?
.
No probs,Johnny..Keep ya limp lettuce,pal..Will have the vegemite though..Vogel's sandwich loaf,a toaster and some vegemite..Kool...I had heard,that your pooter skills were not quite up to mine..At least,I dont get sawdust and bark and pigfern in my keyboard when I log on any more..But Lynda still has to help me with some things,that keep changing..You just fire that ol pooter up,John,,get a good head of steam up,and call us..See what we can do..
The first thing I learned when I went to Australia on a fishing trip with western outdoors news was when you go into a resturant and order be sure to tell them to hold the vegemite the put that stuff on every thing and it's absolutely gross. johnboy I some howe ended up with about 3 of the sim card readers you just plug it into a usb port plug the sim card in it and down load the pictures if you p/m me your address I'll send you one. as for posting to C.H.R. can't help you there I still haven't figured that out myself.....ted
Mr. ted Sir, you're a very generous man.
Vegemite (and Marmite, a similar product,) are both yeast extracts and peculiar to the Antipodes; we're used to them, grew up with them, and (by and large,) relish them.
But I can understand, because of their very distinct flavour, someone who hasn't had them before would/could find them revolting...an 'acquired' taste you might say.
It has been said of them that "too much spoils the flavour".
And that's very true...the merest smidgen will suffice; particularly to an 'uneducated' palate.
.
I don't always get 'sawdust and bark and pigfern' in my keyboard when I log on...I have been known to sometimes clean up a wee bit...hey: I even have a bath at least once a year whether I need it or not...I mean, let's face it; only dirty people wash.
So will give you a Bell later to arrange a time/date for you to be my 'Knight in Shining Armani' and come to my aid...(or is 'Pierre Cardigan' more your style?)
:D :D :D
.
Thanks Lynda!
Here's some photos of the bus...posted today with Mr and Mrs lamin8r's help.
The body with right-hand door filled, sshe's now sitting on a 2000 Chev lwb chassis.
http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_0004.jpg
The bus's snout...with all hairline cracks repaired, the nose was actually the most time consuming job done on the body...the rust in the body was pretty well all just surface rust...nothing major.
Also a new hand-made front bumper.
http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/..._0002-Copy.jpg
400 ci Vortec motor with 5 sp manual box installed.
http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_0003.jpg
Side skirts replaced and back guards filled to accomadate 16" rims.
http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_0001.jpg
.
That is one cool old bus. Are you putting a double entry door over on the left front, mimicking the original which you've filled?
" Here's some photos of the bus...posted today with Mr and Mrs lamin8r's help."
A Special Thank You to Mr & Mrs Lamin8r!! :):D:)
The bus is looking great and it's amazing the journey it's already taken you guys on!
Nice progress!!!
Now, was Lynda able to teach you how to do that yourself?:D
For a mountain boy,he's a relatively fast learner,Bob..I noticed,that he didnt get any sawdust in the keyboard when he ''logged''on yesterday.:LOL: and by the time we had driven back home(near enough to an hour),he had gone back in,and written between the pix,,so I would say that Lynda's instructions were good,,and she sent him a loooooooong e mail last night on the ''doings''of it all..Stand by,,she has created a monster..:LOL:
That bus is looking good John. I believe you are doing the interior out as a mobile home so do you intend to blank out any of the windows to have a shower / toilet room etc.. But then again, I suppose a hammock slung across the bus is all one needs and a fire outside to heat the tucker and billy.;)
We could have left the bus left-hand-drive, but because we drive on the left-hand side of the road, that would have meant that access to and exit from it would have been on the right hand side, i.e. the 'traffic' side.
A tad too dangerous to my way of thinking.
So the door was moved to the left side, and the steering wheel/pedals etc. moved to the right.
That, in itself, was a major task.
Willie Roach (of Eagle Automotive, a company that specialises in right-hand-drive conversions,) was a tremendous help to us in achieving this.
He could have said "Nah, shove off, I've spent forty years learning my craft, I'm not going to let you pick my brains," but he didn't.
He told me to wander through his workshop and take as many photos as I wanted, and if we got stuck he was only a phone-call away.
He even sourced and supplied the right-hand steering box for me at 'mate's rates', and gave very explicit insructions about how to mount it.
A top man.
We've had a lot of help from a lot of people over the last eighteen months or so, as a f'rinstance, I took the steering wheel (a poor sorry-looking object, all battered, faded, and chipped,) to a mate, Ray Inwood, who totally rebuilt it to a thing of beauty.
"How much Ray?"
"Forget it."
Mofo, (Jerry Stutterd,) gave me the air-horns.
Bryan Cresswell gave me the driving lights.
Murray Harrison gave me the twelve-foot whip aerial.
Ian Scott gave me six of the sixteen inch rims I needed.
Barracuda, (Justin Hanson,) gave great assistance with the Certification process. (not yet complete.)
And of course Lynda and Robin Barnes who drove an hour each way to show me how to drive my pooter.
And there's many more who have given help and advice.
You don't realise how many good friends you have until you need help.
Humbling really.
All good.
Thanks. It's much appreciated.
.
The bus is still a long way away from completion, there's the Certification process to finish, then the interior to br fitted, (yep, complete with shower and toilet facilities,) and then it has to be painted.
It will be in its original yellow livery with a black band through it, and "Billings Ind Dist No 4" signwritten on it.
Plus the logo of the "Billings Bulldogs" (the Billings' softball team,) on its butt.
Then we're gonna drive the wheels off it!
We're retired now; so it's going to be our 'Home Away From Home' all over New Zealand.
.
realy cool idea and use for old school bus
Well Lynda's not here today, but she did send me a page full of instructions last night as to what I should do, so I had a go.
Here's the result:
Hopefully it's a shot of the front of the bus with the original 454 in it, showing the two steering boxes and the flat-head Ford engine mounts I dug out as body mounts for the front clip to sit on.
(Hopefully!)
http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_0005.jpg
Whew!
(Big sigh of relief!)
That took me about two hours and left me all shaky!
The idea behind retaining the original steering box was Willie Roach's, two boxes interconnected increases the amount of oil flow at any one time; so if you're reversing at an idle there's still plenty of flow and you've got fingertip steering.
.
Great idea johnboy
Thank-you Hank, yeah; I thought so too.
It also made setting up the geometry of the steering that much easier.
All the glass is in now, and all the wiring for the 'mechanical' side of it is complete.
The front seats too have to be repositioned...we had it sussed, with swivelling seats I'd got from 'Pick a Part', (out of a Japanese 'people-mover',) but they had only a lap-belt.
After we'd bought and installed them the LVVTA (Low Volume Vehicle Technical Association, the Assoc. that is responsible for Certification of all 'scratch-built' cars in N.Z.) changed the rules, and I had to replace them with seats that have a lap/diagonal belt, and also has an engineers report stating that they're capable of withstanding a crushing force of 5g's.
That little exercise made me swallow a bit...(She Who Must Be Obeyed reckons I've got gorse in my pockets...'cos I'm so reluctant to put my hands in them...) so $1500 each later...for the two front seats, $3000 in total...we have the seats.
And they're legal.
And it's just soooo close!
.
Can you help me understand the working relationship of the two steering boxes? You have the input shaft on the right side, looking from back to front. How are the two boxes interconnected such that it reduces the steering forces, and are both boxes connected via pitman arms?
I should have finished those engineering classes
Sussed...Sorted.;).Dont know where the saying came from,,but it works with some people..And yes,,some of the certification rules and regs leave a lot to be desired,,but you cant do much about it..''They''are trying to protect us from ourselves,,and some of the ''engineers''are a bunch of ..d***s,who work on theory,,and have expensive habits,,so they screw some people long and hard..For the record,,there is about 35 pages of seats,seatbelts,and seat and seatbelt anchorages in the ''book''that we build our cars to..:eek::eek:Yes,,I think they saw johnboy get into his car,on the way to where he got screwed..
Thanks for the explanation! I remembered the word Sussed in the WHo song "We're not gonna take it"... And it appears your authorities have your hot rodders the same!
The two steering boxes are inter-connected both mechanically and hydraulically.
Willie's idea is that you're not increasing pressure; but there is a larger volume available to facilitate steering at low revs.
Changing vehicles from left to right-hand drive is all he does, and he does it extremely successfully; he must have about twenty top tradesmen working for him, and he's done many thousands of conversions over the last twenty years.
Here's a link to his website:
Eagle Automotive Ltd - THE BUSINESS
I can't yet answer if it does in fact work, I won't know until such time as we can fire it up and road test it; but to me, logic says it will.
And knowing Willie, (Robin can affirm this,) if he says it will then it will.
.