Great Expectations

I don't know what kind of flower this is but it's a bush that is used for landscaping all over Phoenix.

We went to Phoenix this morning to get horse feed. While we were there we went over to Cabela's and I got a pair of slippers and a shirt, both out of the discount room. With coupons and promotions, I got the slippers for nothing. Then we went back to Gordon Biersch for lunch, and beer for me. Great place. It was 109 degrees when we left Phoenix. Back here it was 95.

This is the bus that we are getting ready for the trip. It is a 1997 MCI bus with a Cummins M11 engine. It has air ride suspension and lots of power, or so I'm told. Right now it is a shell. Nearly all of the seats have been stripped out of it as well as the overhead compartments. At this point we are gathering the components to upfit for the journey. We have a very nice Dometic two fridge that runs on propane. The fridge will be hoisted up and slid through one of the windows to get it inside the bus. All of the windows are also escape hatches and they each can open and swing up like the one in the picture.

 

You can also see some of a couch that is going in. Here is another shot. It folds out to make a bed.

Then we have three bowl stainless steel sink. We're all set for cleaning salmon.

In what I thought was a clever move, we have this Husky roll around tool cabinet to serve as kitchen storage. I assume it will be modified somewhat. There may wind up being two of them.

The bus came with a toilet built in that looks something like the ones in an airplane but it has no valve on the bottom so it's basicly a stainless steel outhouse. We've got a low profile RV toilet to mount over the hole where the seat would go to convert it into something more reasonable. It works better than it sounds. There is also another full size RV toilet that will located in the bath/shower area to be built amidships. We will also have a tub and shower.

The bus has been modified with a combination tank that holds 100 gallons of fresh water, 100 gallons of gray water and 35 gallons of black water. It rests in one of the bottom storage compartments and is currently being plumbed in.

Another modification has been the installation of a cabinet in another underneath compartment that will hold 2 30 lb. propane cylinders, much like you would find on a travel trailer. The fridge actually uses very little propane so we can expect to run it continuously on propane for the whole trip on just one tank.

Since the main AC is driven from the engine, we needed a source of cool for the times when the engine was not running. We have a Coleman Duotherm 15,000 btu unit to be installed in the roof.

A lot of the design is being done on the fly so I don't have details about the whole layout. There will probably be two couches because we need to seat eight people. We also need a place to sleep and one full size bed platform will be built and at least one set of bunks but after that more sleeping room has to be developed. I think I'm getting the couch but if that has to serve as seating during the day, it looks like napping will be tough.

Of course we will also need a way to cook but that riddle is yet to be solved. Plywood has been bought for walls and platforms but no sawdust yet. I'll report on other aspects of the build in a future post.