August 8th 2003
August 8th we picked up our bus and drove it about 300 miles home... I had
never driven a bus or anything else the size of this beast in my life. For
the first hour or so of the drive home I was petrified. Nothing was in a
standard place. No gear shift, just a small innocent looking metal switch
that read "forward, neutral and reverse". The switch looked like
something you'd find on an old fashioned coffee maker. The turn signals
were buttons that you pushed on the floor. One for left and the other for
right. I found out why on my very first corner... It takes both
hands and a lot of wheel turning just to get this baby to think about turning. My
very first corner was probably the hardest corner that I have had to take with
the bus so far. It was a small rural road that intersected with another
one at quite a bit less than 90 degrees. In order to make the turn I had
to switch to the opposite lane and start my turn after I was well out into the
intersection. I kept turning the wheel and for a moment I thought that I
was going to go into the ditch on the far side of the road. My view of the
ditch was quite clear as it appeared almost directly below the window.
Because the front wheels are actually behind the drivers seat, it's an eerie
feeling to not be able to see the bus turning in front of you like in a
car. You kind of "sweep" through the turn... Anyway, after the
first corner I decided to take the back road to the interstate instead of
getting right on. My face was flush and my hands were shaking. What
was I thinking when I bought this thing? I had 300 miles to go
still... I took the back roads for a little while and managed to get the
steering down pretty good. Once I got up the nerve to hit the highway I spent
the first 1/2 hour looking for a place to get diesel. Most of the gas
stations that I saw I didn't think I could get into and out of with the
bus. It was too early for me to navigate a tight space yet, so I kept my
eyes out for a truck stop style gas station. I had no idea how much gas
was in the bus. There is no fuel gauge, so I assumed that the tank was
probably empty. I finally found a truck stop and pulled up to one of the
diesel pumps. I had been given the location of the fuel tank by the
previous owner, but I had some apprehension about filling it. I
couldn't figure out how to turn on the pump... It was some kind of
commercial pump that required a special card. I went inside and asked for
instructions and a few minutes later a gentlemen came out to give me a
hand. I expalined to him that I didn't know what the heck I was doing, so
he offered some basic tips... The pump I had chosen turned out to be a
high volume pump - it could crank out 10 gallons of diesel in the time that it
usually took to get 1. At about 12 gallons a geyser of diesel foam shot
out the tank and all over my arm. I was told that the tank could hold 100
gallons of fuel and I found it hard to believe that it was full, so I kept
trying to fill it as slowly as possible. Well, the slowest the pump would
go was almost as fast as full speed, so I managed to foam my arm a couple more
times before I decided that either it was full or I was doing something very
wrong... I decided to stop for gas again at regular gas station where I
could use a standard pump. I figured I could make it at least an hour or
so on whatever was actually in the tank anyway... After a few rest stops to
catch my breath and relax I felt pretty comfortable in the driver's seat.
There were a few times that I felt uncomfortable, but I felt that I could handle
the interstate without any problem by the end of the first hour. We stopped
several more times to relax and stretch. We had lunch in the bus at one of
the rest stops and I was beginning to feel at home driving the bus. I had
finally managed to get the seat adjusted right and other than the ache in both
my arms from gripping the steering wheel too tight for the first hour, it was
very comfortable to drive and ride in. Both my daughters wanted to ride in the
bus on the way home, but I just didn't want any distractions while I was
learning and I didn't feel safe enough to have them loose in the bus. Just
outside of Eugene (our home town) I stopped at a rest area to plan my route
home. I knew that there were a few corners on the way home that I just
might not be able to make it through, so I called my friend Alan and asked for
some advise. He thought of a spot about a mile from my home where we saw
trucks parked quite often, so we planned the route and he offered to meet me
there to check out the bus and help me get it parked. We made it to the spot
without any problem. We checked out the bus again and disconnected the
battery. There was no way to lock the door and all you need to do is turn
a knob and push a button to start the bus (there are no keys at all), so we
reluctantly left it parked there hoping that nothing would happen before we
moved it the next day.
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