Eagles International Forum

Thanks Don , You answered all my ? and that information will help a great deal. And yes I have been looking around at different lites. I agree with you 100% on not doing it cheap.

I try to follow the old addage of ( You never have the time to do right the first time but we always have time to do it OVER

Thanks Don

The November Index is up at Creative Endeavors, if you are surfing around and want to check it out, here is the link: http://boxcarokie.com/2010/11/01/november-index-2010/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BCO

Owning a bus makes life a little bit more interesting and somewhat better. It affords me the luxury of being able to get out and away from all those things in life that manage to drag me down.  It takes my mind off this ugly rash in my left armpit and the nation’s economy.  I have no Late Breaking ... Live ... Local Headlines to contend with, no cable bill, no sorry political viewpoint to consider on my television.  I have no user screen name or password retrieval issues to face this day ... I am fine with the world.

Strangely I find myself riding a gentle wave of adventure this day. I have the road calling to me and some free time to answer up.  Don't get me wrong, life in El Reno, Oklahoma is good.  But on the whole, at least today, I find that I would rather be somewhere else, somewhere far, far away.
Read the rest of this great post at: http://boxcarokie.com/2010/12/01/fortunate-pilgrim/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BCO

BCO, always enjoy your posts and kind of missed them the past few weeks.

I would like to suggest that your last two posts would be better placed in the Eagles Travel Tales forum. That will keep your wonderful project thread a bit more focused.

Jim

rv_safetyman wrote:BCO, always enjoy your posts and kind of missed them the past few weeks.

I would like to suggest that your last two posts would be better placed in the Eagles Travel Tales forum. That will keep your wonderful project thread a bit more focused.

Jim

Good point. Thank you for your input and positive response. I have for the most part stopped posting over here. The majority of my time and my efforts are devoted to Creative Endeavors which is where I hang out on most days. I shut my other website down (Okiebuslover.com) as time restraints came into play, and it was grinding me down trying to take care of all three. Still I have managed to post here almost 500 times since 2009, writing and story telling is what I do best. The rest of it is just fluff.

In my opinion what this board needs is an “Off Topic” thread. A place where a person could put up a brief summary or an invite, such as the case here.

It also needs more input from the ladies, which believe it or not, are an vital part of any bus project. That is my two cents on it.

The reason I stuck it here, because this is my thread and I just naturally assumed it would be the best place for my stuff. Those that like it or appreciate it, will find it, those that do not, can pass and move on.

For the most part, our bus is finished, we have finally reached a point where it is wash, wax & shine. The majority of my time now concerns mechanical issues and trip planning. Fortunately, the rough stuff is behind us, and now we are just enjoying the fruits of our labor. This doesn’t mean it is finished by any means, but right now it is in the piddling stage and that is about it. As I truly believe we never reach a place where we can truly say “it is done.”

Thanks again for your input.

BCO

BoxcarOkie wrote:[The reason I stuck this here, because this is my thread and I just naturally assumed it would be the best place for my stuff. Those that like it or appreciate it, will find it, those that do not, can pass and move on. BCO

Car Toter
Been an interesting year, some of it good and some of it not so good. One of the things that I discovered this year is the fact that I do not like pulling a toad. I have several reasons for this, and I will attempt to explain.

1. I don’t like messing with the tow bar, safety cables, all the associated tie downs and hooks, it is also heavy and has to be stored somewhere when not in use.
2. Backing up. It is almost impossible to back the thing up with the tow car behind it. Sure it can move several feet, but often that is not enough.
3. Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING gets dirty back there, and you get dirty when you have to mess with it.
4. The toad itself, takes a horrible beating being towed down the road.
5. Tow cars are required by law (in 48 states) to have some kind of braking device, which I don't use or currently own. They cost over a grand and the fine is $500 or more if you are caught without it.

So the wife and I, we discussed it a little over coffee at Denny’s and decided to find a suitable trailer and build up a car toter. Winter time in Oklahoma being what it is, always leads to some kind of mind numbing boredom issue with me anyway. So we got into the hunt for a suitable candidate for a car hauling trailer.

As I already owned three trailers, I got some pretty good trade equity going for me, so this kind of made it all feasible from a monetary standpoint.

In the Oklahoma City area several could be located, in various lengths and condition (used). The bad thing about a trailer is that “it keeps it value rather well” (in some cases better than a used automobile) and they can go for a premium.
To pull the HHR we needed a trailer about 20’ long, found several with #3500 axles, but finally settled for one with #5200's. We felt the #3500 could possibly not be enough and lead to overload issues. You can find trailers locally with different door configurations also, most will be with double doors, if you are fortunate you can find a drop door model. This would be ideal.
Then all you have to do is write the check, pull the sucker home and then “DS” it a little and Walla, one handy dandy car toter. It works well for me, and like Mama say, “It keeps him out of the beer joints.”

So that is what I asked Santa for this year, a trailer to haul the toad in. What I got was a new jacket for me and the Mrs.
Watch for some shots of the trailer later on this spring ... It should be a Star of the Boulevard ... At least that is what we are shooting for. *

Merry Christmas!

Don Smith
[aka:BCO]

*Paul, what was the name of the outfit in Missouri that has the used RV stuff? I am looking for a stacker washer/dryer combo.

Don, good addition to your project pages. Hope the trailer shows up soon.

I think it will take a bit of trial "fitting" to make sure your hitch is the correct height so that the trailer is level when loaded. This is very important if the trailer has rubber torsion springs.

You asked about used RV parts in MO. When we went to Christy Hick's rally in Carthage, we visited this place:

http://www.colawrvsalvage.com/

Huge place and fun to visit.

Washer and dryers types are an often debated subject on RV sites. Just about everything I read and been told by folks who have had them, are that the RV combo units have very marginal performance. They only accept small loads and take forever to dry. The primary name is Splendide. Conversely, almost everyone who has installed a stacked apartment type system are really pleased (we use the apartment stack system and love it).

Jim

rv_safetyman wrote:Don, good addition to your project pages. Hope the trailer shows up soon.

I think it will take a bit of trial "fitting" to make sure your hitch is the correct height so that the trailer is level when loaded. This is very important if the trailer has rubber torsion springs.

You asked about used RV parts in MO. When we went to Christy Hick's rally in Carthage, we visited this place:

http://www.colawrvsalvage.com/

Huge place and fun to visit.

Washer and dryers types are an often debated subject on RV sites. Just about everything I read and been told by folks who have had them, are that the RV combo units have very marginal performance. They only accept small loads and take forever to dry. The primary name is Splendide. Conversely, almost everyone who has installed a stacked apartment type system are really pleased (we use the apartment stack system and love it).

Jim

Thanks for the advice Jim, I will take it into consideration. Right now, I am just kind of shopping around for a good deal on a unit, figure we could mount it in the front of the trailer. Yoko doesn't like to use campground facilities, which I don't agree with. Have met some very interesting folks in the laundry room from time to time.

Appreciate your taking the time to respond.

Don Smith
[aka:BCO]

Don, interesting approach - washer/dryer in the trailer. I would think that you will face some logistics issues (plumbing and electrical). Once you get past that, it should be a neat addition.

Since you folks are not on the road full time, the Splendide might work. However, do a bunch of research. Lots of folks have swapped out their Splendide for an apartment stacked unit.

Pat is one of the folks who can't stand laundromats. We found that doing laundry in the bus is a real convenience. It lets us do the wash without having to load everything up and spend a bunch of time in what we consider a "grungy" place. RV laundromats are not as bad a public locations. However, it seems that we always ended up at the public places. Stretching the term "interesting" to the folks there was beyond our definition of the word .

The front load apartment washers are very water efficient. We run ours off the 12V pump (we never hook up to the campground water supply). Dryer is more of a challenge. It is 220V and we must have 50amp service or run the generator. Has not been a big deal.

Jim

rv_safetyman wrote:Don, interesting approach - washer/dryer in the trailer. I would think that you will face some logistics issues (plumbing and electrical). Once you get past that, it should be a neat addition.

Pat is one of the folks who can't stand laundromats. We found that doing laundry in the bus is a real convenience. It lets us do the wash without having to load everything up and spend a bunch of time in what we consider a "grungy" place. RV laundromats are not as bad a public locations.

Jim

Right now it is in the “I am thinking about it stage Jim” and not much more than that. It does (as you have already pointed out) present some logistic problems and I have be honest with you, plumbing is not my best talent. But it would be a nice thing to have.

On the same token, I thought the very same thing about Sat.TV on the road and all that, and we seldom use it. We have for example made 18 to 21 day trips and never turned on the televisions at all.

Gonna look for something along the lines of an appliance of this nature. Kind of hinges on cost too, cost is always a factor these days.
Research is always an admirable trait in bus people (or any other kind of people for that matter) and I highly recommend it. When things screw up (and things WILL SCREW UP bet your last Ben Franklin on that) I always think to myself ...... “I should’a done more research .... when it all starts unraveling, this is not the time to be checking things out.

One of the most profound things that ever happened to me in my entire life, happened in a laundrymat in Mississippi. I wrote about it in December of 2008 and it is entitled “Deep In Mississippi” If you want to read about it, you can find it here: http://boxcarokie.com/2008/12/06/deep-in-mississippi/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; It is down around the middle of the page. (I am sorry but I don’t know how to do the proper link thing.)

Don Smith
[aka:BCO]