From Bus Bumming to Bumming about the Bus

As my old German teacher would say... "It's a sad sad tail, but a tail that must be told." This one is for generator johnnie!

Here's the deal.

I was supposed to move up here and live in an old school bus parked behind my brother's farm house in Kingfield. I had been working pretty hard and wanted to take a winter to bum around in a school bus, do the snow report, and ski before I went to grad school or started on my newest adventure. Basically, I wanted to live the dream of any 23 year old (well maybe not every 23 year old wants to live in a bus but...).

The bus was an old school bus that my brother had converted into a "Skifari" bus about 4 or 5 years ago. He drove it across country with his girlfriend (now wife) and some friends, hitting up ski mountains all along the way. It's incredible, complete with a wood stove, propane heater, gas stove, water system, and solar panels on the top for electricity.

Sadly though, I have hit a few snags.

1) The bus' breaks went
2) Break lines (especially for a bus) are expensive... do you know how many break lines you need? Just think of all the tires.
3) Once the breaks were fixed... there was an oil leak

That is where I stand right now. My brother and I were going to get the bus up here last week from my parents house but... such was not the case. Now, I am faced with a few other issues. I still have to clean the entire thing out, get the oil leak fixed, hook up the propane system, hook up the water system, and also... make sure I do it correctly so it doesn't blow up! In addition... until I get it going... I'm homeless! (Kidding, I'm staying with my brother and could be for a while...)

So, my brother now has some apprehensions about the bus (along with my mom), especially with it being so late in the season.

1) He is scared that, I won't have enough time to set everything up before the snow piles up and I will either freeze to death or explode.
2) it would be all his fault since it was his bus and it was his suggestion!

Talk about trying to live that mistake down. It's not the type of think people laugh about at family dinners:

(Can you picture this conversation happening?)

DAD: Hey Ian, remember when you talked Lizzy into living in your school bus and than it blew up because you hooked up the propane tanks wrong?
IAN: Oh yeah! I thought she was going to fly all the way to Canada the way that thing exploded.
(Laughter around the table.. Grandpa almost chokes on his baked potato he is laughing so hard)
MOM: What great family memories!

( I don't think so... not my family at least... hopefully not anybody's!)

Needless to say... it's gonna get up here... but i may have to postpone living in it for now....................... and for now I'm not bus bumming... I'm more bumming about the bus...

In the mean time though... the skiing is good, the farm house is cool (literally.. it's freezing.. I would have been warmer in a completely cozy, insulated bus), and I can look forward to the bus this spring or summer!

So generator johnnie... there's the bus story!

Lizzy