July 20th
2004
Well, it's been ages it seems since I updated the web site. I'm
still getting a lot of email with questions about the bus and our
adventure. I've been meaning to post something on the web site,
but I'm not exactly how to bring an adventure like ours to a
close. I mean life is a continuous adventure, so there are new
projects and trials to keep us somewhat busy...
I do think it's worth passing on what has happened over the past few
weeks and what we're up to at the moment.
The bus finally sold to a couple from South Dakota. It sold for
about $10,000.00. I figure that we sold it for about 1/2 of what
we had into it just in parts. I can't complain too much. We
could have done worse and it made transferring ownership a lot easier
knowing that the new owners were going to get a decent deal out of
it. They left here about a week ago. We have not heard
anything from them about their journey. They were headed for a
mechanic just outside of Sacramento to get the transmission leak fixed
and have it looked over for any other items that could be dealt with
while they were at a place that has all of the parts for that bus.
I imagine that they made it fine and that the bus is probably done being
worked on by now. I'm not sure if we'll ever hear anything more
about it...
Becky got a job through a temp agency pretty much right away.
She has been a stay at home mom ever since Erika was born. Becky
really wanted to go back to work, so I said I would watch over the kids
and try to find a job where I could work from home part of the time
while she got back to building her career. It lasted for a couple
of weeks before I got a contract job offer we could not refuse.
After some discussion back and forth, Becky decided to quit her new job
and stay home so I could dedicate my time to fulfilling the
contract. I stand to make $5,800.00 by August 10th if I can
complete the work on time and it might lead into other contract
referrals if all goes well. I am getting to work from home and
choose my schedule for the most part (although it's been 10-14 hour
days, so there's not much left to choose from) <grin>.
We've moved into an apartment <sigh> that was not too expensive
for the area. The bills have started coming in, so it feels just
like "home" again <sarcastic grin>. The girls are
in swimming lessons and looking for dancing or gymnastics classes to
keep them entertained during the day. Becky is going stir-crazy
and trying to find things to do. It's not enough for her to run
her own home business, she wants something more to do, so we're talking
about advertising and expanding her business to the next level so she'll
have more to do now that I'm pretty much tied up working all of the
time.
 |
Becky and the girls seem pretty happy to have some
extra room to maneuver. The girls took the master bedroom
and Becky and I are in the smaller one. I'm not sure how
that came about, but so far it seems to be working out OK for
the most part. |
 |
The girls caught some tadpoles at the river on our
last backpacking/camping trip on Redwood Creek. Some of
them have turned into full fledged frogs now. They're
about the size of a dime now and living in the aquarium that we
kept alive in the bus. I only put it here because it has
been a source of inspiration for me... I am working toward
something and watching those little frogs overcome each little
challenge keeps things in perspective. |
Well, that's all for now. We're all fine and working toward our
next goal. I'm swamped with work until at least the middle of
August. The girls will be going to school some time shortly after
that. I think Becky has decided to go to work part time once that
happens. I think that will do her some good. She doesn't
seem satisfied with her current situation. I keep telling her
"At least when we were living in the bus you didn't seem so
bored..." She gives me a pretty strange look every time - I'm
not sure yet what it means...
I would like to write a book about the bus adventure at some
point. There's a lot we learned from what we have done and I want
to make sure that everything gets written down somewhere before it all
fades into memory and gets blurry. Who knows - maybe someday it
will make it into a book store or something. If so, I think I'd
use any money made from selling it to start another bus project, but
don't let Becky hear me say that <lauging>. |
