Preparing for Departure

Ooooo-ooo: prudy new tires and wheels!!



Annnd....we got our first tag! Thanks for nothing "husk."

My fellow Americans, I ask you: When will we stop selling fatty sharpies to rouge middle schoolers?

Anyway, we're going to paint it over (white) and paint all our lovely "chrome" (read: sheet metal) accents to match at the same time. We want to get it done today before we leave in an effort to make the bus less scary-looking.



In addition to getting new tires, we took the bus to Schweitzer's automotive to get the rear differential oil level checked and also have someone look at the transmission. It was acting weird...maybe?...we weren't sure so we thought it might be prudent to have someone look at it. The rear diff thing was Spencer's idea. The guys at Shweitzer's turned out to be very cool. The rear diff was fine (we could have checked it ourselves....oh well...just trying to be cautious this first time around) and the tranny was fine except some anonymous idiot (me) over-filled the fluid. Good to know. =)

Enough about other people messing with our bus. Back to us monkeys. In addition to painting those less desirable parts of our bus today, we are also going to replace our hood support wire. You can see in the pic here that its just hanging on by a thread...


Yesterday we replaced our engine temp gauge. Here's the broken one:


Here's the back of it...turns out that the wire coming into the bottom of it isn't a wire at all...its a tiny tube....filled with ether?!....that can be really nasty if you cut into it. (Thanks for letting me know, friendly Knechts guy!) Guess who came ::this close:: to cutting into it before she knew better? Just goes to show...if you don't know...don't cut it.


Here's where that ether tube connects into the back of the engine.


So we bought a replacement gauge at Knechts. The tube and the gauge are all one thing - they can't be disconnected from one another. That means we had to replace the whole thing.

We struggled for a while to try to get that bushing on the engine undone but eventually gave up...goddamn it was tight and in a *&^%ed up spot...and we didn't have the right sized wrench...(note to self: get complete wrench set NOW) ...luckily there happened to be a house guest staying with Julia's mom who not only had the right wrench but was also stronger than us. Yay.

But once it was installed, we weren't sure if it was working. Rev the engine as we might, it wasn't moving.

So we took the bus up over the hill out to Lane Community College...it's sort of a pseudo-freeway to get out there so that was good practice. We topped out at about 30 mph going up that hill. (Seriously.) I see a lot of driving-in-the-slow-lane-with-my-hazards-on in my future.

We also got to test out the lower gears. Don't ask me why they designed it like this but it's a stretch to reach the gear shifter from the driver's seat. I felt lucky to have such a competent co-pilot next to me because Julia was shifting gears for me like a pro. (Don't forget, its an automatic, folks!)

Lo and behold, sometime during the drive the engine temp gauge sprung to life. We were hovering around 180 degrees the whole time which seems good to me.

So once the sketchy parts of our bus are painted over and that little wire is replaced, we'll be good to go. I finally caved to the pressure and agreed to get a pre-paid cellphone for emergencies. (I hold it 3 feet away from me and use it with the speakerphone on....and keep it turned off the rest of the time...you know they can't prove it's dangerous....but they can't prove its safe either!) Also on our to-do list: clean the garage (total disaster area), sort out our tools, load up extra stuff we need to take down to CA for storage, clean cockpit (its covered in a good layer of grease/dust), install the bike rack thingy on the back of the bus, buy a decent CA/Oregon atlas and go food shopping.

Our estimated time of departure from Eugene is tomorrow or the next day depending on how fast we can get our stuff together.

Exciting!

A quick word from Julia: We're planning on driving east from Eugene on Hwy 58 and then hook up with hwy 97 so that we can check out Eastern Oregon a bit on the way down (and avoid some of the intense mountain passes on the I-5). That route hooks back up to the 5 around Weed. We want to take our time and do a little tripping around, so if anyone knows of any cool spots to stop on the way down we'd love to hear about it! This will be our first experience taking the rig on the road, finding places to park over night, and hopefully even doing some nature boondocking. Let us know if you have any tips! thanks.

Out and About

So, after battening down the hatches, we moved the bus out of what we have lovingly called "the hole."

This is a view from the hole...looking down the 90 degree bend in the driveway and out onto the street, where we have temporarily parked the bus.


As some of you know, this is what happened last time I tried to drive up this driveway:




(Note: Our fellow bus friend, Spencer, deserves a shout-out for his heroic manuevering skills that got us out of the hole in one piece this time around. Thanks Spencer!)

After taking her out of the hole, we went straight to Green Eye Automotive in Eugene, OR to have them give us an estimate for doing the veggie conversion. Spent the night. Turns out the dude who owns it sucks. Not only was he trying to rip us off ($3,900?!?!?!?!?????) but he made a point of being a flaming asshole to us while he did it. It was very disappointing to see so little respect for the ladies at such a "progressive" and "enviornmentally friendly" local business. F you, Clark! We're keeping our money and we decided to do it our own goddamn selves. And speaking of bullshit: before we drive it down to CA, we are going to need a new vent cap for the composting toilet. We discovered the hard way that driving with a vent open in 360 degrees causes a back draft. Imagine that...

So yeah, the new plan is to get new wheels and tires ($2200...yikes!) tomorrow at Wyatt's and leave Eugene and make it to CA on regular old evil diesel. It's not ideal. Truth is, we don't have the time or place to convert it here and we've got friends who are interested in helping down in CA so that would make it more fun/educational.

In other news, turns out the stovepipe industry is trying to poison you. After spending a lot of time last winter wondering "what's that other smell?" when I lit up my wood stove, a family friend (thanks, Greg!) let us know that they've recently started painting black stove pipe with nasty paint that releases noxious fumes when it gets hot. Real intelligent. When Greg was installing his wood stove, he spent a day calling around to find what he called "blue pipe" (the old school, non-noxious stuff that got replaced with black pipe) and was unable to find it anywhere. He settled for black pipe and spent an afternoon going over his new pipe with his propane torch to try to do its nasty thing before he put it in his house. After that, the smell went away.

We didn't think we could have enough patience to go over every inch with our torch so we decided to have a bonfire.




We left the pipes in there for a couple hours and made sure that every part of them glowed red by moving them around with sticks every now and then. Boonie, our spiritual leader/kitty also participated.


In still other news, the water mains up the street broke and created a river for a couple hours underneath our bus. Thank goodness for wheel chocks. Never thought I would see water move an asphalt street up 5 inches in the air or see an asphalt water volcano. It was pretty awesome. We also got to see a pageant of the city's International trucks in action. Very exciting.



Tomorrow: new wheels and tires! Bye-bye split rims.

adventures in making the bus SECURE...and cute

So lately we've been securing the bus for MOVEMENT!

That means lots of this:
And this:


We also had yet another leaking incident. Same wall, different spot. Can't tell where or why but I can tell you that I caulkled the crap out of the left-hand side of my bus.

See each of those rivet lines? Well, there's caulk in them now.


We also finalized my sewing space!!


Can you believe I paired down my lace collection to just TWO tiny drawers? This down from 2 garbage-bags-full.


My treadle is secured with tie down points screwed into the floor joists and 2 tie downs through the cast iron base for driving. We had to choose our points wisely so that we didn't bend the base or put any undue pressure on sensitive parts of the cabinet. There's also a length of 2x2 on its side inbetween the two feet that rest along the wall. That should keep it from moving side-to-side (or from the bus' point of view, forwards and backwards).


Here is is with both tables open! A seamstress' dream. It's more room than most of us have to sew in "real" homes. I have an old cutting board to put on top of the opening in the treadle in case I want to put my electric machine or serger there instead.


I converted the 2nd sewing table (the plain one - NOT my redeye singer) into a storage cabinet. I found it - with old (*&#ed machine and all - on the sidewalk. Took it home, trashed the machine, put a false floor in it and now it's a table/cabinet. I have room for 2 baskets of notions underneath my thread holder!

We also made the wall opposite the sewing space GORGEOUS. Fabric on the right, coats, shoes and bags on the left:


From another angle:

Close-up of the purdy shoe holder I made in my new sewing space:


What it all looks like in context:


I also used my new sewing space to make cover-up curtains for the shelves. I think it makes it feel more tidy and organized. Out of sight, out of mind.


Here's another random DIY attempt of late: banjo case. Think fake velvet + cardboard + staples + old cushion insides + old towel + guerrilla tape + bent aluminum ribs + brads + webbing (for hinges) + ribbon (for closures)....the outside is even uglier than the inside but, hey, it works!


I'll leave you with a glam/bikerdyke shot of me next to our stowed table:

New Wrap Skirts at Patchwork Underground!

Quick plug for the biz: I posted a ton of brand new, super-cute wrap skirts today!

Check them out here: http://www.patchworkunderground.com/skirts.html

Let me know what you think of the new site layout, too. I added a bunch of thumbnails to make everything easier to navigate. Hope you like it. =) Stay tuned for a new and improved gallery page.

Wishing you the best in late summer fun!

Shelves, walls and doors

We've been busy bees these last few summer-end days. Getting out and working on the bus has felt really great after talking for weeks about the projects we want to get done but never having the time to do them. Every new thing we complete truly feels like a giant step towards getting our bus mobile. We've been focusing most of our energy on tying up loose ends, creating places to store all our "stuff" and securing everything for the coming earthquake of trundling down the road. We're gearing up to move to a new spot in Eugene hopefully within a few weeks.

In other news, we've been getting a chance to work on some exciting side-projects lately. Erin is writing a how-to article for Threads Magazine and she's also been working with Ecobuilding Collaborative of Oregon on a fiber-related research and design project. I've been doing some work with this website called The Point, dabbling in the world of online social network organizing - you can see my two campaigns on the bottom of our links, feel free to join if you're interested!

On to the pictures:


Here is part of our unfinished new wall. Drop dead gorgeous, right? =) We took out the three windows behind the wood stove and closet to help with keeping the bus cool/warm. Sheet metal on the outside again with our fancy recycled denim insulation and a moisture barrier. Then plywood. We'll put up more wonderboard before we use the stove.


Here's our new living room shelf.


Detail of our new securement for our main shelf. When we're driving, we'll put bungee cords up between these eyelets to keep all the stuff in. We have these funny metal grids we can weave into the bungees at certain spots, too. See all those sideways books? We'll put a metal grid over stuff like that to keep it from sliding inbetween the bungees. Erin wants to make some curtains to go over the shelves so that we don't have to look at piles of stuff all the time.


Framed in kitchen shelf!! We've been wanting this one for a long time. You don't realize how much of a difference it makes to actually have somewhere to put your things. We haven't decided how we want to finish it yet. Bungees? Doors? Hmmm....We have been wanting to invest in wooden plates and bowls for a while so that we don't have to worry about ceramic breaking. Yet to come.


Another angle of the kitchen cabinet.




The full "range hood" effect - we still need to replace the fan with a quieter one (ours sounds like an airplane taking off) and also install some mechanism for closing it off. We eventually want to decorate the heat shield....metal cutouts? Flowers? Circles? Decorative grille? Flames?


Our new bi-fold bathroom door that we got from Bring Recycling. The old one didn't work out too well because it was hollow, so the hinges didn't actually stay on. This one's solid wood and pretty classy. We even recessed the hinges into the wall. Oooo-ooo.


Interior view of our newly re-vamped bathroom. We put those cute shelves up (more shelves!) and fixed the whole composting chamber section (not shown). We basically had to re-do the whole thing. We took out the false floor that used to be there and lowered the buckets/trays to sit on the floor. That way, there was enough clearance for the whole funnel & fittings & hose apparatus for the diverter. Yay! Works a lot better. We ended up taking a gallon milk jug and cutting the bottom off, flipping it around, cutting off the handle and sealing off the hole and super gluing it onto a PVC coupler. Works good.

Summer Reflections

Julia here. Not much has changed physically to our home-on-wheels since our last post, but now we are starting to experience more of the intangible dimensions of our adventure. What has occupied our days of late is working, saving money, and trying to find a new spot to park our bus. Erin has been busting out new products for the Saturday Market and online (a whole other mental conundrum we've been wrestling with is trying to figure out which directions and how far to take this business). I've been working in the shipping warehouse at mountain rose herbs to make some extra money. It seems to be taking up all my time - a hard thing on these summer days. Working a physical, full-time job is trying, but definitely a learning experience.

To our suprise, it's been super tricky finding an affordable, formal new spot for our bus. Even though we are not 100% finished with our lady, we feel it's about time to get out into the world with her! We have found many wonderful folks who would be happy to have us park on their rural property - this is actually a dream come true, but not quite for this phase of our process, especially with gas commute costs. We've been trying to find a spot in town for now, but haven't had too many hits - maybe Eugene is already inundated with buses? Just the other day, however, a fellow crafter offered his place to us which is just about perfect for our needs right now! We are very excited to make the move.

We also almost have enough cash to get new wheels and tires and our veg-conversion! It is pretty crazy to us how our bus plan has gotten so entangled with the global energy crisis. When we started this project about a year ago, we had always intended to do WVO for economic/environmental reasons, but now it is an absolutely necessary factor for us. We just can't afford to move her otherwise! When we started, tire prices weren't nearly as much as they are now (truck tires are made out of synthetic petroleum-based rubber...who knew?). AND, when we first started, diesel was cheaper than gas! This one is a real crack up to me. It is somewhat disconcerting to be embarking on an adventure so entangled with the whole fuel issue, but I am still confident we can make it work and also hopefully educate about the issue along the way.

On a another note, lately we have both been feeling the draw of Portland. Our plan as of late is to head up there in a couple of months to see what that fair city has to offer us. CA seems too overwhelming and expensive, Eugene is too boring, small and economically broken. Portland seems to be right there in the middle in terms of diversity, community, economic opportunity and all those other good things. In the mean time, we are gearing up to fully enjoy the Oregon Country Fair with all our friends and family in a couple of weeks! Yay!

In terms of day to day bus-life, we are learning more fully the meaning of weather-proofing. In the winter-spring it was a struggle to keep her warm, but now we are faced with a whole new set of issues given these past few 95 degree days. We haven't fully dealt with our window screen situation so we've been living her mostly shut up during the heat of the day to avoid wasp infestations while we're at our respective work situations. Lessen #1: never leave a stick of butter out on your wood stove when your bus turns into an oven if you don't want melted butter all over your floor, etc. Yuck.

Erin's going to work on some new shelves and cabinets over the next while which will definitely help. Other tasks on the list: fix the grey water tank, finish the composting toilet, put down the hardwood floors, make her travel worthy, and hit the road!

Toward the fun!

-julia

Bus life and other oddities

Here's what the bus looks like these days. We're living in it! Still haven't finished the bathroom plumbing but everything else is good to go.


Here's the lovely J with the freshwater fill hose we made. We used the polyethylene stuff they use for ice-makers in lieu of garden hoses (lead) or RV fill hoses (vinyl...SMELLS BAD...need I say more?) Here's a close-up....


Icebox in action! It works better with 2 ice blocks...in 90 degree heat we had to get new ice every other day. Fun bike rides!

Here's the table we made! We bought the laminated maple from our friendly lumber discounters. We got the legs at Bring recycling. We finished it with 2 coats of Bioshield Hard Oil. We want to do a 3rd coat but haven't gotten around to it. There won't always be blocks of wood underneath the legs! We propped them up because we haven't put the wood floor down yet. We also plan on getting small little feet for the bottom of the legs.

The table folds up so that it can be stowed along the wall, over the windows. This way friends can throw down sleeping bags in the space it normally takes up. Here's the hinges and the splash guard we made to go over the electrical bay.

And now, stuff that doesn't have to do with our bus......

Yay, I (Erin) got a banjo!


We learned how to silkscreen. We've been selling silkscreened panties and patches at the Saturday Market and they're going like hot cakes......It's so nice to try out a new craft for a change..........



This one says "I'm an Obama Mama".....ok so I'm more of a Kucinich woman myself....but hey....if it sells, it sells. =)


In other news. We had a failed vacation. We rented 2 nights in a fire lookout cabin called Bald Knob in the Siskyou-Rogue National forest for our 4th year anniversary. We drive up these BLM dirt roads for hours through miles of clear cut and get there to find that the lookout has a propane leak. So we drive back down the mountain and try to find a ranger at 4:30pm on Memorial Day. We found Ernie. He tells us to go home because nothing can be done that day. SO we decide to rough it and "car camp"....like...without a tent, in the car. We made this structure with the random Saturday Market stuff we had in the car:

Smokey Tarp

In the morning, after trying to sleep in the car, we opened our trunk to find that two mice had eaten their way through all the food we brought and crapped on our clothes. Sure made me miss my housebus. We went home.

But first we went to Powers, Oregon!!!

Broke omni bus of Powers, OR.

Camo skoolie with companion semi and shuttle just outside Powers, OR. Wow. We were very impressed by this collection.


Cool old buildings. Powers is an OLD railroad town built around the logging industry. We met a lady who said her Grandpa logged with horses. We met 2 ladies who said their dads were moonshiners. This was a really cool town.


Diner where we had breakfast.


Someone moved into the old school house and turned it into a home.

We also went to the Pioneer House in Powers, OR but we forgot to take a picture. We walked down to City Hall (which is also the Library and the Police and Fire station) and Elizabeth opened it up for us special. She said no one had been in there all winter. They had an awesome collection of all the old things from the townspeople. We really got a good sense of the history of the area and Oregon in general.

May not seem too exciting but checking out Powers, OR was the by far the best part of our vacation.

Totally worth a visit if you're in the area!