Captain’s log Friday the 13th – Embarking day

Its 7:30 central standard time is Missouri, about 2 hours out of Kansas City. Despite popular the belief the Club-House is going strong, moving, if not fast, steady. A steady 55 mph, if we are going down hill, and the wind is blowing behind us, but we are moving. And honestly, this is really awesome way to travel. I am laying here on the couch, Mercedes is making up some PB&Js in the kitchen, Farmer is passed out in the bunks after driving all day and Alex wandering around with a nose bleed. Its been nice.

The past 48 hours have been a blur, I honestly have no idea how we actually got out and on the road. Lets see if I can re-cap some of the events.

Wednesday: Fites and Alex after spending the night in the Club House drill some holes in the floor of the bus. Trip to the junk yard for metal scrap to make railings below the bus, only went to work for half a day and still rocked out a 20 page grant proposal (not sure how, but I was on a roll). Wednesday night the bus was packed, people making curtains, people under the bus putting up railings, Fites dad even came and helped Dave with the Bar. We were all out working on the bus till about 2am. I had definitely hit exhaustion point, I can’t remember most of it. Got up early to go into work to finish up all the loose ends by noon. Went and picked up Farner’s truck and began to load up all the old bus seats that were piled up buy the bus for the past 6 weeks to the junk yard. After 3 loads to get them all, we made $70 for it… not too shabby. As if we weren’t dirty enough Mercedes and I began trying to remove all the trash that had accumulated around the bus, and it was NASTY! I would like to take this time to truly appreciate the garbage collection system and everyone who works as part of it – thank you. Mercedes and I then made our first trip to home depot to try and pick up all the odds and ends needed to get everything left on the bus done.

*Now you must understand that at this point everyone helping with the bus has been putting in long hours every night for the past week. Everyone has been juggling school, work, moving, and getting this bus ready and we are all WELL past exhaustion phase. You can see it in people’s eyes as it takes most of us a good minute to process a simple question. Mercedes was helping me to function.

Trip 1 to hope depot: forgot the cap to the water tank (had been reminded by Farmer and myself about 8 times not to forget it when I when to hope depot so I could get right sizes). We got 2 out of 3 straps needed to attach tanks below the bus instead of just getting a 4 pack. We met David in the plumbing section (a home depot worker who would become our best friend last night) and explained our situation with the bus.

*note: our situation was this, we were LEAVING on the bus in about 13 hours and were about to START the pluming for the toilet, grey water from the sink and fresh water to the sink, neither Mercedes or I have ANY plumbing experience

Peter laughed at us and asked about sizes and what all we would need, we just shrugged our shoulders and Peter laughed some more. We bought other stuff we knew we needed and at check out told the girl at the registry we would be back.

We went to petsmart next because we needed a pump, so we bought a 50 galllon aquarium pump hopping it would be strong enough.

Trip 2 to home depot: we knew we needed tubing for the pump to and from the tanks, So we bought some and some hose claps (david helped us again) and at the register the same lady laughed at us for already coming back a 2^nd time. She didn’t think we would be back that quick.

Then we went back to the bus were Sean and Michael Neal had cleaned the bus, organized and were starting to use painter’s tape to prepare for the 2^nd layer of paint. Found out that a bunch of the things we bought at Home Depot Sean had already bought, he had tried to tell me about this but alas I had left my phone in my car and I was still rocking Farmer’s truck. But Mercedes and I set up the tanks, the tubing and the pumps and alas – the pump though try it might was not strong enough to create the head needed to go from the tank to the sink. So, back to home depot.

Trip 3 to the depot of the home. I had gotten so exhausted that my roommate Caroline forced Mint Chocolate Ice cream into me to give me a little bit of sugar, and Mercedes drove, because I was way past a safe driving point. We went first to the return counter at Home Depot and were laughing like idiots, causing a scene, Mercedes was even tap dancing. The lady at the return desk asked what we were doing, and like the sass Mercedes is she replied “Shopping” the lady’s only response was “what are you guys working on? I hope its not plumbing.” And Mercedes and I lost it, delirium had completely set in. We went off in search of strong pumps at hope depot and who should we run into but none other than David, our best friend. We told David our dilemma and he said we should look into pond pumps, they might be stronger. We had also once again, forgotten the tank cap, bummer. But we had measured the sink and were ready to purchase draining pipes, David told us how it would work and we spent a lot of time trying to get the connections right. All this while Mercedes was tap dancing and meeting other random people at Home Depot, like Peter, he tried to help, but was kinda arrogant. So back to the bus, but first we stopped and returned the Petsmart pump.

At the bus, people had started to arrive (by now it was 7pm) and the bus was hopping. Everyone trying to get the Club House finished before our 4am planned departure time. Mercedes and I hooked up the sink drainage and the tank below and besides not have necessary adhesive it actually worked. This helped us have some hope that we could really get this done.

We even attached the grey water tank below the bus as well as the pisser tank. But alas, the pump did not have an inlet pipe, it was a submersible pump, a submersible pump that would not fit in the hole in the tank. Even with using Andrew ancient Asian magic could not get the pump in the hole, though try me might. FRUSTRATION! At about 8:30 pm we knew we would have to take another trip to hope depot. Finding out it closed at 10pm rather than 9pm calmed us a bit. I said some goodbyes to some very close friends that I have NO idea when I will see again. But at this point I was so physically, mentally and emotionally tired that I felt raw trying to say my goodbyes. To those of you who stopped by last night to say goodbye, I love you very much and I am sorry if I was distracted in our goodbye, yall have meant the world to me these past 6 years in Atlanta, been my family, and I am really going to miss you.

9:00pm, 7 hours before the bus leaves, 4^th trip to Hope depot of the night. We had a lot more stuff from the bus to return, and as we walked up the return lady just laughed. We had a list of supplies still needed at the bus, which she took form us and started writing down every isle where that item would be found. Including the bottle of Sangria that was desperately needed, that should told us we could find next door at Greens Package Store.

*note, by this point do to our ridiculousness and this being out 4^th time to hope depot in 8 hours every worker in the store new us and was giving us a hard time.

Sadly, David’s shift was over and he wasn’t there to help us. Peter tried… he just made us feel dumb. But we decided we should try a hand pump, figured out all the connections and were excited about this option. We also bought the rest of the straps for the water tanks as well as PVC glue to finish the connections. At check out, the register lady couldn’t find the bar code for the pump, so just let us have it for free, that was nice, and we laughed even more.

Now back to the bus. Even more people were at the Club House. Someone made the comment that it felt like the last hour in a Junk Yard Wars episode. Everyone running around hectically trying to finish their projects. People were screwing in furniture, finishing the pantry and the bar, painting the bus, Caroline was decorating random pieces of scrap wood, trying to figure out a bathroom door, the last walls were put up, ruggers were trying to cut holes, couch surfers figuring out how to attach the basketball hoop to the back of the bus, trying to get the electricity wired properly from the alternator, to the batteries to the inverter to the bus circuit.

*note next time when retrofitting a bus, mark which wires are positive and which are negative BEFORE removing the batteries.

Radhika was so kind to bring dinner to those of us who were so out of it, had forgotten to eat food all day. THANK YOU! Dinner helped revive some sense into us, some. Mercedes and Lara disappeared. Davin taught me how to work the ratchet straps to better attach all the tanks under the bus. Then we realized that the cage that some of my ME buddies drunkenly designed and installed to hole the extra batteries had some design flaws that needed to be fixed. But with Dave and Sean’s help we knocked that out real quick. A huge thanks to Michael Neal for his help, and his gift of Gateraid and snacks for out trip too. After figuring out the electricity and only getting shocked once, farmer headed home around midnight to sleep so he could take the first driving shift in the morning. I got really delirious again and went inside the house for water to find Caroline, Lara and Mercedes cooking lots of baked goods for our trip (Gosh how I love my roommate). My other roommate Annie also before bed had taken all my clothes and made piles for me to help with my packing (yes 4 hours before departure and I had yet to begin to move out of my house). They gave me lots of water and Mercedes and I went back out to rig up the hand pump with all the tubing and it kinda worked… kinda because the pump caused too much suction for the soft hose to handle and it closed in on its self. But, we know it will work, we just need stiffer tubing.

And somewhere around 1 am, the end was in sight. Everyone was finishing up their projects. It actually was all pretty much done. Surprisingly, all that was left was loading our stuff on to the bus and cleaning up. So I went inside to START packing my life away. I was covered in dirt form head to toe, looked like a miner with my head lamp still on my head. I jumped in the shower, felt worlds better and started packing. Those not heading home that night found there way into the Bungalow (my home for the past 6 months) and started helping me pack or just hanging out a bit. I had to make decisions about what all I could give away because I was leaving Atlanta for as for as I know forever. The bus is going to drop me off in Yellow stone where I will work for 4 weeks this summer, then I fly home to Houston from there to see the fam and then July 12^th head to Chile. It was hard, but I can proudly say that almost everything I own now fits into just a couple bags and a box Caroline is going to ship to Texas for me… not too shabby. As I stayed up packing with Fites and Mercedes and Caroline, Alex and Sean came into shower and passed out for the hour before we would leave. About 3:45 am we started loading what we could onto the Club- House. At 4am we tried to wake the boys up… they were completely incoherent. Sean tried to form sentences, even tried to call Farmer but all that came out was mumbling and an occasional English word. Kyle came to see us off before his trip to the airport. And we got goodbyes from Caroline and Fites as they went to bed. We pack up the bus, tried to store stuff safely to not bump around, cleaned up everything that was left in the parking lot and at 5am the bus engine successfully roared to life. As we tried to back it out we realized the left tail light wasn’t working. We checked the bulb, and the fuse, but to no avail, we said forget it, lets go get gas. I had to drive my car to Nashville to meet Richard who was buying Billy (my car) from me. So Mercedes jumped in with me and we followed the bus out of Atlanta. Besides the basketball goal, which was really only held in place by 1 good screw, flopping around like a dead fish and an excess strap coming lose. There really was no problems, besides the max speed of 55 mph, and the awful smell of exhaust filling my car. At a gas station an hour outside of Atlanta, my car stopped following and took off to Nashville, none other than Landers Plaza of the Southwestern company. After not sleeping for a ridiculously long time, Mercedes and I decided she would drive first, while I slept and we would switch. It was a rough drive for both, trying to keep ourselves awake while we were at the wheel. But we go there safe, got to see some really good friend before they leave for their summer internship and the Club House picked us up. We were on the road for good now.

Sleep. That’s what most of us did while Andrew drove us straight through. Somewhere around Saint Louis City we saw the Gateway to the West, the famous Arches and we all woke up and took pictures. We switched drivers, put on some Tom Petty jams and all just enjoyed the open road.

The temperature is dropping, and the excitement of what’s to come is setting in as we catch up on sleep. The bus IS STILL GOING STRONG. All looks good, and dinner at the Cracker Barrel is in site. What a trip!