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Rolling Joy One Year Anniversary

ROLLING JOY 2.0

 

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

Wow! 

Year in review: Parked the entire year in Chiefland, Florida. A small rural town where the only delivery services are Walmart and one pizza shop. And no one wears masks because, according to the locals, “the government is trying to control us and make us afraid with all that made up stuff about Covid.”

So I spent the year staying far from people except for Eliana, a great college queer who assisted me once a week. 

Sunrise at Campground #1

Both my campgrounds had great views. The first one was on 40 flat acres so the sunrises and sunsets were amazing. There was always a breeze even though there was no shade. Lots of birds flying overhead, especially raptors.

The second campground, a small Skoolie compound, is surrounded by multiple varieties of thin oak trees. 

Canopy of oak trees surround bus and sheds. 

Here the wildlife is up-close. A tree next to the bus has a knot about 10 feeet high that houses squirrel families. The squirrels here are skinny compared to city ones. Mostly because they run (never walk) all the time and jump long distances between trees. Quite a show!

Squirrel climbing into home aka knot hole in the oak tree

One of the folks here keeps a bird list. I hear lots of them but mostly only see the giant (to me) red cardinals. Don’t know why I thought cardinals were the size of finches but I was wrong. How does a bright red bird blend in so easily to the tress?

Red cardinal hidden among a branch lying on a metal roofed shed

This part of Florida is full of egrets, herons and cranes. The small ranches of 20 cattle have egrets standing beside the cattle making a striking dark/light contrast of interdependent species. Seeing a flock of cranes flying overhead in formation took my breath away the first time I saw it.

My days on the bus are easily filled with Zoom meetings, FaceTime chats and projects including returning to writing my first novel. This might not sound like much but as I approach my 2 year anniversary of having Covid, the long term effects remain. I have significant fatigue often accompanied by brain fog. 

The upside is that my previously overworked brain is now calmer and more easily entertained. 

BIG NEWS - DOWNSIZING (again)

I am selling the bus. After living in it I realized it’s too big for me and I don’t like driving it. All my planning created a bus that is great for a wheelchair but not for MY body in a wheelchair. So it’s time for a change.  

BUS SALE information:  https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/2001-Blue-Bird-SCHOOL-BUS-5018425614

White high top E-350 van. 

Van interior facing rear

Van interior facing front

I bought a Ford Econoline E-350 van with a raised roof. It’s got low mileage especially for 2011, runs great and will be easy to convert for living.

My current plan is to do the basics (bed, toilet, power, etc.) so I can go to Quartzite, Arizona as soon as possible. Quartzite is where the nomads (people living full time on the road) go for the winter. 

Once in Quartzite I will hook up with the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous / Homes on Wheels Alliance folks and add solar and plumbing to the van.

I’m really looking forward to being mobile and to have a more nimble vehicle for traveling and camping.

THANK YOU for all the support that makes these journeys possible.

Newbie Surprises

These first few months on the bus flew by. I kept intending to write a blog post to keep you all updated but there were so many surprises  

There’s an expression in many cultures but I’ve heard it as “people plan and God laughs.” I’m one of those people that thinks that because I have a plan that’s what will actually happen. Of course my carefully made plan never happens. So instead of saying I encountered some problems so I’ve decided to tell you that I encountered some surprises.

THE GLORIOUS BED

One of my biggest indulgences for this adventure is my first brand new mattress. With new pillows and comforters from IKEA I am supremely comfortable and warm every night.

OH, THE VIEWS

One of the things I love most about school buses is the abundance of windows. Here are a few morning views. 

I’m in a flat 20 acre field that’s surrounded by mature trees at the edge. I ling passenger side faces south and I watch the sun rise from my left and set on my right. Every day is a beautiful visual adventure.

SURPRISE!

The number of things that have broken surprised even pessimistic me. A few of the things that broke: chair, wheelchair, toilet, hot water heater. With each problem my health got worse. So having a fabulous bed is wonderful since I’m spending most of my time in it.

RAINBOWS 

I made some minor improvements this week that are providing visual joy and practical storage. The visual joy comes from a window film that makes rainbow patterns inside the bus while providing visual protection from people walking by. 

Translucent laser cut window film in the lower half of the bus window. Beyond the window other RVs and a blue sky are visible.

The window film has laser cuts that make beautiful rainbow designs on the inside of the bus

I added shelves above the windows over the bed and kitchen  

12 inch deep Wood shelf supported by L shaped brackets above the bus windows

DOORS 

The two large bus doors, the wheelchair door on the side of the bus and the emergency escape door on the back of the bus are easy to open from outside but were impossible to open from the inside. We created a system with just a simple piece of piping that pivots up and down to get the wheelchair door open. A rope secures it so that it cannot open too far. 

A piece of galvanized pipe extends from inside the bus and slides onto open hooks on the bus side door. Yellow para cord rope prevents the door from flying too far open.

HANGING HANDCYCLE

Another challenge with getting the Firefly hand cycle, which weighs 30 pounds, in and out of the bus. Up until now I’ve been lifting it from the 4 foot bottom of the bus. But we found a place to mount it inside the front door with a pulley.  The system is surprisingly easy and effective.

The fire fly hand cycle is held up by yellow para cord rope that goes through a pulley at the top of the door frame and comes down to a cleat inside the door. UM

 HORIZONTAL LIFE

 I’m spending my days more horizontal than I planned. I learned there’s a lot I can do from bed including learning to use Apple‘s new voice control system, which although far inferior to Dragon dictate, is far better than Apple‘s typical dictation system. I’m enjoying short phone calls and FaceTime with friends, doing a little bit of writing every week mostly on my Library novel, and as always doing more reading and enjoying retirement.

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Crossing the US

 On November 9th I finally got on the road. David drove me from West Coast to East Coast in six days.

Dry scrub landscape NV 

Snow on the ground near Flagstaff  AZ

One of my favorite photos is in Texas. A huge building with a large sign “Shelton Fireworks”. 

Over the wide entrance doors is a huge banner “No Smoking”. The need for the big banner made me ponder if the customers understand what they are buying and how they work.

I was surprised at my internal joy when I first saw the Gulf of Mexico in Mobile, Alabama.

Green long grasses form the Gulf shoreline. Alabama

A lone sailboat anchored in the Gulf. Alabama

The water levels in the Georgia landscape made a dance with the low lying around. One minute I’d see water on the surface in a field and 100 yards later it would only be ground. Up and down the dance went all the way across the state.

Wooded area   Georgia 

Our destination is in North Central Florida. The land is flat, having been cleared for crops previously, and the 20+ acres are surrounded by tall mature trees. The sunrises are amazing.

Stunning orange yellow sky sunrise behind tall straight mature trees

Blue Outside, Crane inside

 Three HUGE changes to the bus.

The outside is BLUE!!!!    The inside is white.  The bathtub crane and hoist are installed.

Rolling Joy bus with new paint.
Bus top is bright white and the body is marine blue.
A black band caps the bottom edge.

She looks great! I love the color.

When you paint a school bus you have 2 choices - tractor paint or rust-prevention paint. Tractor paint lasts longer and was designed for metal. But the choices are very limited. It's colors like Caterpillar Yellow and John Deere green.

18 tractor paint colors

Luckily they make one blue paint - Ford Blue (aka New Ford/Holland Blue) which is now covering Rolling Joy. I love being in or near water. So riding around in a blue bus really suits me.

I want to preserve the school bus history of Rolling Joy so I left a tiny area on the front original. 

Front of the bus shows a rectangle of the original school bus yellow
color with the words "Blue Bird" in silver surrounded by blue paint.

I painted the inside of the bus a bright white but left the ceiling the original tawny metal. I will be adding decorations - particularly on the outside of the tub. Here's a first look at the new interior colors amid the mess of ongoing renovations.

View of the bus from the front looking to the back.
The wood is all painted white and gleams off the off-white metal ceiling.

The amazing Samantha the Welder took on the complicated project of modifying an existing crane. She had to find pipe that is not made in the U.S. and then create a taller crane. She added holes for locking the crane so it doesn't spin around. She replaced the hand-crank hoist with an electric one - and built a new base for the hoist and a new roller end to thread the cable. You can find her on Instagram.

The vertical column of the crane is bolted to the floor between the tub and kitchen counter.
The horizontal arm is topped by an electric hoist with a steel cable and closing clip.

 
Just have to get it all hooked up to the electrical system so we can test it. I can't wait to have my first bath in over a decade. It's getting closer.

First Rolling Joy Bus walk thru

 When I bought the school bus it was a dirty empty shell. Previous owners removed the bench seats and floor rivets. They left bits of wood and supplies.

Then the conversion folks installed insulation, ceiling fans and lots of built-ins.  Access: I added a voiceover description of what is shown in the bus. There are also captions. Hit the 'autocaption' option to see the captions (I edited them). If the video does not run for you, then here's the Youtube link

We're almost done painting. Still to be done: Adapt and weld the pickup truck crane and add the electric hoist to get me out of the tub and off the floor. Figure out what to do with the driver's side rear wheel well where the rust is barely holding the wheel rubber bumper on. Create storage. And oh so much more.

Making the Bed from one side only

 For some of us making the bed, specifically changing the sheets is impossible. I can pull everything off the mattress. But I cannot get it back on.

I decided to solve that problem. With the coronavirus, I want to limit my exposure so I don't want people coming into the bus. I'll gladly visit outside at a 6 foot distance.

After a lot of thought and design revisions here is what I plan to change my sheets.

BUILT IN

The design requires eye bolts at regular intervals on 3 sides of the bed (the 4th side is open to me). Since the base of the bed is plywood, I have a solid surface for the long side. On the short sides I don't have access to the base because the mattress is up against the walls so I put the eye bolts just below the height of the mattress. 

The other materials are strong thin rope. I am using paracord with different colors on the long and short sides. I placed carabiner's (like the ones you put on your keys but a bit stronger) along the paracord between the eye bolts. I do not lock them in place because I want to be able to move  them as needed.

The "Long Side Taut" drawing shows the red paracord rope going THROUGH the 4 eyebolts on the long side of the bed. But it goes AROUND the eye bolts on the short sides of the bed.

"Short Side Taut" shows the green paracord rope going through the eye bolts on the short end of the bed.

After the paracord rope was threaded through the eye bolts, I added carabiners between each eye bolt. The carabiners are shown as black rectangles. 

CHANGING THE SHEETS

In this drawing I am using the long side and the left short side to hold the blue sheet. This means that my head is going to lay on the right short side. On a skoolie (converted school bus) it's necessary to be able to sleep with my head at either end.

I can make both the long and short sides loose by releasing the tension on them. Then I can pull the sheet all the way across the bed to the open long side.

To prevent ripping the sheets, I bought king size sheets for my queen size bed. Then I folded over the edge on the long side and one short side. I inserted a piece of duck cotton for added strength. Then I sewed button holes where I want the carabiners to be attached. 

I decided not to use grommets for 2 reasons. I don't want anything metal near my body when the air is cold. And even though they are small, I didn't want to roll over and have cold metal waking me up. I also didn't want the noise of metal grommets against the metal carabiner. 

When I want to put the sheet back in place, I just tighten the paracord -- long side first then the short side.

I plan to use the carabiners to attach the mattress pad, bottom sheet, top sheet and duvet cover. I will use all the carabiners for the mattress pad and bottom sheet but only a few carabiners for the top sheet and, when needed, duvet cover.

Fingers are crossed that this will work as well as I planned.