I have to admit, I was expecting far worse. Here lately I have been swimming in some deep water over in Off Topic and I figured I would be up to my ears in it here, but pleasantly find, it is not so. This is what it is all supposed to be about, the free and open exhange of information. Kudo’s for a job well done boys.
Put my response in one reply.
Yea! Those right handers. I thought I missed but felt a thump and behold I clipped a telephone pole just enough to dent the cargo door and crush some of the cargo floor in just in front of the passenger side rear wheel. Not a cheap fix. I now look at what is out there already built and look at what I have invested in mine and I am not even done. Who new things would tank. But then again I am doing it the way we want not buying someone elses taste. Pink interior !! No way.Have not done any structural damage in a long time. Cracker Barrel seems to get me all the time, they have a tendency to get a little bit skinny when I am in there. Took out a stop sign with a truck once, and there was a guy on here that nailed a fire extinguisher in SF a couple of years ago.
Thanks for your reply,
BCO
Re: MAKE ME AN OFFER
« Reply #3 on: Today at 04:14:32 AM »
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Your article does ring true to some of my thoughts. My brother got me into this hobby (then sold his lol). I really enjoy working on and driving the bus, but it hasn't been a big hit with the family... not as much as I would have hoped. I had dreams of using it more than we do. I worry about it deteriating while i am not using it. ... and the storage cost are adding up.
I need ot learn how to RV correctly...At least you have a villain to blame it on (your brother) I am the dumba** that got myself into this predicament, no one to blame but myself. The thing that surprises me the most is standing there in the fuel line at the Flyin’ Hooker and easily handing over 5 fresh Dead Presidents and thinking nothing of it. I mean, jeeze Louise, I can remember working a long time in the rain for cash like that. Now I just fork it over like it is nothing.
Thanks for your comment,
BCO
Re: MAKE ME AN OFFER
« Reply #4 on: Today at 07:25:06 AM »
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Hmmmm..........Exactly more or less what I woke up thinking this morning as I contemplate my next post here on the board. Would my life be a lot simpler without this old bus?? Not sure. But for now on to the next repair!
Cheers
TM[/color][/i]
Having been in this for quite sometime, I often find myself wondering who, what, where, when and why of it all? And like most of you, there are no easy answers. There are cheaper ways to travel and certainly we have all thought about doing it over, I am not sure if I would (on the second go around) go with a bus. But then again, this is my third bus.
Thank you for your insight on the subject,
BCO
Re: MAKE ME AN OFFER
« Reply #5 on: Today at 08:04:24 AM »
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Quote from: scanzel on Today at 03:40:30 AM
Yea! Those right handers. I thought I missed but felt a thump and behold I clipped a telephone pole just enough to dent the cargo door and crush some of the cargo floor in just in front of the passenger side rear wheel. Not a cheap fix. I now look at what is out there already built and look at what I have invested in mine and I am not even done. Who new things would tank. But then again I am doing it the way we want not buying someone elses taste. Pink interior !! No way.
That's the advantage of having a Flxible bus, it just slithers around the corners.And it is only what? 36ft bumper to bumper, is that right? Definitely a plus especially if you are in some of the National Parks that were designed for vech. of the fifties and before.
Thanks for checking in
BCO
Re: MAKE ME AN OFFER
« Reply #6 on: Today at 08:15:11 AM »
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Now, Oke, you're puttin' up all these posts about a rational view, about good sense, about looking at costs/depreciation/value, etc. If I started thinkin' that way, I'd be out of the bus biddnizz and I'd have to reevaluate my whole life. I think I'm gonna go find a crisp breakfast beer and lie down in a dark room for a bit.I just like to add to the mix every now and then, make it interesting. Point out the sublime and the ridiculous, this practice unfortunately will often not bring out the best in people. But what the hey? You chum the waters you just naturally gotta expect a shark or two to show up, right?
Breakfast beer? ... Uh, pass.
BCO
Re: MAKE ME AN OFFER
« Reply #7 on: Today at 08:19:20 AM »
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Hi All, if you don't want to sell it when its shinny and working good, then you have an emotional attachment to it,like a 57 t-bird or fixing up your first car. If you want to get rid of it when she's not working right, its an emotional attachment, like a son or daughter in puberty, or a wife in menopause. You think, " I can't take this anymore", but in fact your just blowing off steam. When you really want to get rid of things, is when you have a nonemotional detachment to it & don't care about the out come one way or another. Got rid of a girlfriend that way once. Having an attachment to an inanimate object is not wrong, as long as you get pleasure out of it once in awhile or pride in your work., lvmci...Now this one I found interesting, “the emotional attachment” angle, never really stopped to consider that. It could very well be true, when you stop to think of how it is that each and everyone of us (myself included here) give the beast a name.
My favorite all time name for a bus was “Driving Miss Lazy” I always got a kick out of that.
Re: MAKE ME AN OFFER
« Reply #8 on: Today at 08:49:30 AM »
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BCO, from this and other posts I would gather that, in spite of the humor, the thought that you would rather not have the bus at present is always in the picture. I feel the same way. We really do not use it enough to shake that thought. It does seem that I literally work on it more than drive it; most of that work being totally non-essential. That is not to say I would not be working on something anyway. When my bus was visiting Don in Bakersfield for a year, I worked on some metal projects that others politely call "art". They are installed around the property. If all of my work incentive was not used up on the bus, the property would be covered with similar projects at a lesser cost. Of course, that assumes that they would not be in MoMA. On the other hand, some could say that having the bus at least keeps my "creativity" confined to one relatively small place rather than polluting the whole environment with eye sores.You know Lin, I would be less than candid if I did not agree with you.
It is often at best “a love/hate relationship” and that is fact. I suppose in a way I miss the trips to Montana in the summertime (we did that every year for seven years) and wandering around the country, putting down the miles. We are down to about 5K per year (did a little over that this year, in four trips or outtings) and that kind of sucks.
I can learn from your experience, last year for instance, I dug and built a pond in the rear of my property. Unfortunatly, it did not hold water very long (needs a liner) so now I have this huge hole in the yard, and then it is about the same width and length as a bus .... and uh .... I will be back.
Thanks,
BCO
Re: MAKE ME AN OFFER
« Reply #9 on: Today at 09:06:30 AM »
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Since most of us own forty year old buses, depreciation is a mute question. What's another five years on top of forty? We have now entered the world of the "collector" vehicle.
I know a guy who puts his money in expensive rare collector cars when the economy goes south. He says it's a better bet than anything else. You only need one buyer someday down the road. They will only appreciate and have a better return than the stock market. From the way he lives, I think he might be right.
Things will turn around, they always do.
Don and Cary
Well I surely hope you are right, kind of like that old coon hunting story, where the guy is way up in the tree with this very angry coon, and he tells his partner, “Shoot! Shoot up here amongst us!” and his partner says to him, “Naw, I caint do that, I might hit ya’s.” And the partner replies, “Well shoot anyway, ONE of us needs some relief!”
Thanks to all of you for your replies to the post and your well written comments.
BCO