Ohio to Chattanooga – Bus Rallies and Bus Maintenance

After leaving Michigan we took a slow meander on our own to the next bus rally in Ohio.

Dayton, OH

While it wasn’t the most direct route to New Paris, OH – we wanted to stop at the USAF Museum in Dayton. So we got an early start from Sterling State Park just north of Toledo and headed that way.  We got in a bit later than we intended, leaving us only about 3 hours to explore the museum before they closed. But we had a great time.

We arrived just in time to catch to 2pm bus over to the Presidential and Experimental hanger – which was absolutely fascinating. We climbed around on many of the former Air Force 1s, including the jet where President Johnson was sworn in after Kennedy was shot. It was kinda eerie standing in that exact spot.

The rest of the museum was amazing, and we did manage to get a skim of all of the hangers. We’ll definitely need to plan a longer visit on a future pass through and spend more time.

Since we didn’t need hook-ups and wouldn’t be getting in early enough to enjoy a campground – we opted to overnight at the nearby Wal*Mart.  We don’t do this too often in our travels, maybe just a few times a year. Not because we’re necessarily opposed to it or feel it’s unsafe, but mainly because we like enjoying our prefect spots – the view, a hike or exploring.

But if we’re just basically making miles and overnighting as we pass through, parking somewhere for free is right fine by us.

We picked a spot on the side of the lot, next to a grassy field. And before we knew it we were circled by a dozen black cats. Folks at the store told us it’s a family of cats that the everyone feeds.  We got some shopping done, grabbed dinner at a restaurant in the parking lot, rented a movie from the onsite RedBox and settled in for the night. Sometimes it is nice to have all those conveniences right out your front door. This Wal*Mart closes around midnight, making it extraordinarily quiet overnight. We rested more peaceful than at many parks we’ve stayed at.

Converted Coach Rally – New Paris, OH

While at the Mid Michigan Bus Rally up in Clio we learned of a rally that a group was heading to next – a bus conversion pre-rally for the big FMCA rally in Indianapolis.  With a week to spare and nothing really pending on our calendar, we decided to stop in.

Another great group of folks.  It was held at the Natural Springs RV Resort in New Paris, OH. When we booked our reservations we asked for a scenic spot, and got one with a huge pond side backyard. It was lovely.

This rally was more organized than the last with planned tours and events, and catered meals.  We went on a tour of a local museum and the Kitchen Aid factory, which were both mildly entertaining.  All and all, the less expensive more casual style rally might be more our style. (Note to anyone organizing such an event: pre-publish the planned menu so those with food restrictions can better plan their meals. A simple way to appease vegetarians:  leave the meat bits out of the otherwise vegetable side dishes! Bacon is not a vegetable.)

One night at dinner, we were talking with our table mates and they asked what our seminar in the morning was going to be on. We thought they were joking. But turns out, we had somehow been put on the schedule without volunteering or having been asked. Thankfully we come prepared and enjoy presenting, but it would have been nice to have been at least pre-informed.

So on Friday morning we did our Lithium Ion Battery talk, and on a last minute whim I decided to see if I could figure out using Ustream to live broadcast it to the internet. We put out a last minute invitation to join us on Facebook, and had 15 folks tune in.

You can watch the recorded version here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/24929277.  Jump ahead in about 20 minutes to go directly to the talk, unless you want a tour of  the rally first. Excuse the low quality amateur nature of it; it was totally ad hoc, on my iPad using AT&T data.

Folks seemed to really appreciate the Ustream experience and it was fun for us, so we may try doing more in the future as we have time and bandwidth. Perhaps some impromptu Q&A sessions, or even prepared talks on a subject? Let us know what you’d like to join us for.

Bus Maintenance in Chattanooga, TN

We seriously considered following along to the FMCA Rally in Indianapolis, and delaying our arrival to Chattanooga. Looking at the weather forecasts however, boondocking in 90+ degree weather became unappealing.  And the side trip would have cut into our planned bus maintenance time at Choo Choo Express Garage. We had a big list of stuff we wanted to do, and wanted to leave plenty of time in case there were problems found.

So we left the New Paris rally Saturday early afternoon and did a two day drive down to Chattanooga, pulling into Choo Choo on Sunday evening.  Choo Choo is also where our friend Ben’s vintage bus is currently sitting at, so we finally got to meet the Creative Cruiser in person! We would have never imagined our first meeting would be without Ben & Karen, as it was their in progress project that inspired us on the vintage bus thing to begin with.  Check the recent updates out on their project blog for the very riveting and emotionally draining saga Ben has encountered this year.

Caution: bus mechanical geekery ahead

Our mechanic, Joel, got started early on Monday and has been going non-stop working on our list. There’s of course the regular maintenance – changing the oil (engine and differential), all the filters, lubing the chassis and adjusting the brakes.

We had also grown concerned as our engine mounted oil pressure gauge has always read on the low side – about 35 PSI while at full RPM. Other 4106 owners were reporting 45-55 PSI. So we definitely wanted that checked out.  Joel hooked his gauge into the system and clocked a healthy 55 psi. Whew, just our gauge.

We also knew we had an o-ring that needed replacing on the steering assist, as it was leaking again.  And from our last visit to Choo Choo, we knew we needed to eventually replace the right side rear leveling valve – so we tracked down that part and got it installed.  And last visit revealed a crushed suspension u-joint that has now lead to the bushings on the opposing link arm assembly to show premature wear, so that’s all been replaced and back to new.

While doing our general inspection, a leak between the transmission and the drive shaft was spotted. Thankfully early before any damage was done. So thank goodness we didn’t cut our maintenance stop short. It’s a relatively common leak when the gasket ages, but a ‘whopper’ to get at according to Joel. It’s fixed now, along with custom engineering a support arm & air bag for the transmission – a recommendation we received from several other 4106 owners with the automatic conversion.

Joel and Chris also worked on our generator to get it better adjusted to give us higher voltage, which will hopefully help with the continued overheating issues we’ve had.

Joel completed the work with a thorough engine steam cleaning so that we can better spot new leaks. All and all, our Zephyr girl is doing great. Since our last visit to Choo Choo back in October, in 73oo+ miles she’s only slobbered about 3.5 gallons of oil, which is considered quite good for a Detroit Diesel.

Other pending projects we had on our list was replacing the cracked left side exhaust manifold – the temporary weld a prior owner had done on it coming undone. Not a major problem, but something we do need to address. We couldn’t find one here, so we’ll be on the hunt for it.

And we had also inquired about getting ‘the rack run’ at the suggestion of other bus folks we’ve met over the past weeks, which is adjusting and fine tuning all the injectors.  Turns out that’s a job than Joel wasn’t comfortable with, considering he’d have to meticulously work around our Jack brake.  So we’ll save that for a later date, especially considering Zephyr is showing no visible or audible evidence of problems.  But we have been noticing a drop in fuel economy (now down to 6.6, where it was closer to 7.5 when we got the bus), and Choo Choo says we could gain 1-3 mpg in efficiency by running the rack. We’ll see if we get an improvement by just having the maintenance above done, and running some of their suggested fuel additives to clean & lube the injectors.

We love Choo Choo Express Garage – awesome people, great shop rates ($55/hr) and they continue to treat us and our bus right. And we especially love that Joel is happy to take us in the pit with him and teach us as we go along. We come away every visit understanding our systems more. Oh, and did we mention they really get us bus conversion folks, and have no problem with us sleeping in our bus and tossing us some power while work is being done.  Of course that means our mornings generally start with a fluorescent sunrise and someone screwing around under our bed.

I just want to note.. I could not have written the above paragraphs (and understood them) a little over a year ago! Wow, what a year of learning about buses will do to the knowledge base. I think I’m ready for a ‘Bus Babe’ shirt.  *grin*

This time of year we would normally be at Burning Man, and this week is our 5 year anniversary of our commitment ceremony. We vowed to renew our commitment every prime numbered year, preferably at the burn.  Instead, we’ve been sleeping in a bus garage over a pit for the week. Oh, so romantic – but we couldn’t be happier (or better lubed).

We have been watching streamed video cameras from the playa, and hope all our friends who did go are having the time of their life!

What’s Next?

We arrived to our gracious host’s place in Atlanta last evening, and Zephyr drove like a dream – so much more of a stable ride.  After quite a bit of tricky maneuvering, compounded by the switch to the headlights giving out once we turned down the driveway, we got settled in. It seems since the last time we were here our house has grown?  Go figure.

We’ll be attending a huge sci-fi convention called Dragon*Con this weekend. I used to attend this annually before I met Chris with my gang of friends, so I’m looking forward to sharing it with him.

From there, we’ll be heading over to the Savannah area to visit with some dear friends next weekend.

And then it’s down to Florida, where we’ll be at least through the first of next year. My dad’s treatments continue on, and I really want to be closer to my folks during this time. Besides that, we have a lot of business transition to take care of so my dad can retire and fully embrace the life he’s fighting for. We’ll likely be bouncing around Central Florida a bit – Melbourne, Orlando, Tampa and maybe down into the keys.

And we’ve just made reservations for the month of January to join several other NuRVers in Cedar Key – which should be a blast. If you’re making your way to Florida this winter, consider joining the party!