Where is Ben?

Goin' vintage... again

So if you keep up with this blog, you know that Ben's vintage bus project is well under way, and while this post isn't about that, it's somewhat related. See, last week we visited the RV Hall of Fame. Yes, you heard that right. There is a hall of fame/museum for RVs and motor homes. And while it sounds uber dorky, it's actually quite cool. 

 

While we were passing through Elkhart, Indiana, we had to make the stop. And our visit there was extra-fun because we happened to cross paths with road-warrior friends while we were there! And this couple happens to travel in the same kind of bus that we do! So it was fun going on this "field trip" with fellow bus-dwellers.

This museum is full of dozens of vintage trailers dating back to the early 1900s. Now what's interesting is that many of these of homes-on-wheels feature much better design than RVs of the past few decades. So it was fun and inspiring to tour them and see how they configured their setups. The vintage bus set-up will be super high tech, but we'd like to incorporate a vintage, art-deco feel to it, so it was great to see these retro road warriors!

I also made a video slide show of the day that you can see HERE. 

More to come!

The bus nuts converge...

In Loudonville, Ohio, to be exact. Because Loudonville, is the town where all Flxible buses were made, back in the day. So it seems to be the obvious place to hold the bi-annual rally, where Flxible owners bring their buses to share progress, talk shop, and learn new conversion techniques. 

Unfortunately, Ben's bus wasn't quite ready for the rally, so we came in the current rig. The sheer amount of knowledge available at this event was mind-boggling. There were people there who knew so much about this kind of bus conversion, and so much about the history of the brand, that Ben was completely in "THE ZONE."  He got so much new info and connections for the current project.

Another standard event at these rallies is the selection of all the new organization officers, and I must say that upon leaving Loudonville, we drove out as the official Web Masters of the Flxible Owners Group.

This would be a good time to recap on the current vintage bus project. Ben's Flxible Starliner is still in California, where the engine and transmission are getting completely reworked and updated. The paint job will probably come next. And the extremely high-tech method he used for choosing the paint color was... wait for it... Solo Cup Red. Yup, you got it. Ya know those red plastic cups everyone uses at parties? That will be the EXACT color of the vintage bus. Anyway, after the paint, will come the interior. More updates on that as things progress, of course!

So on the last day of the rally, it follows tradition that all of the Flxibles line up in downtown Loudonville (a town frozen in time) and parade down Main Street, for all the locals to enjoy. All of the residents of this town either have friends or family who have worked at the plant, or have worked at the plant themselves. They line up their lawn chairs to watch all the old Flexies roll by, and I admit, it was quite a sight to see!

I made a little video that gives a decent recap of the rally here:

Ben's blog was brought to you by Karen (www.the pixeldiaries.com)

 

Summer Already?!?

Time flies when you're having fun roaming the country! This time around, it's Jersey, to Falling Water, to St. Louis, to the Gateway Burn event, and finally, to Minneapolis. And once again... it's Karen here. Someone's gotta keep up with this guy. For me, it's kinda hard not to, bein' co-pilot and all.

So the last time we checked in, we were heading out of Jersey, MINI in tow, en route to the Gateway City. We did make a stop on the way, however. I had never seen Falling Water, the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece... the grand-daddy of modern architecture. We took the 90-minute tour, and man, this place is nothing short of stunning. Organic architecture at its finest. Ben had been there before, but enjoyed it just as much the second time around. 

After leaving PA, we headed to St. Louis for a nomadic rendezvous, and precursor to the Gateway Burn. We did make one more stop on the way there though, in Columbus, Ohio. Ben's buddy, Mike, a fellow "bus nut" has recently started restoring an old Flxible, the same brand as Ben's vintage bus. It was nice to see where he was in the project, and hear about his plans for it.

So finally, it was smooth sailing to St. Louis. Waiting for us there were Chris and Cherie of Technomadia, the ZenNomads, Sam and Tracy, and Barb and Wendy, former nautical nomads. So what do you do in St. Louis?? See the arch, for one! We started the day climbing into the tiny little pods that would carry us to the top of the arch, and at the top, well, we did the normal tourist thing.  

Next stop was the wild and crazy city museum, a massive playground full of jungle gyms that spark every sense. Everywhere you turn, there is something to climb on, crawl through, slide down, etc. And everything inside this museum came directly from the city. Basically, if you grew up thinking that an awesome playground was one akin to the McDonalds Playland, you've been SERIOUSLY deprived.

The best way to describe our time in St. Louis, and especially the City Museum, is with a slide show. I hope this gives a better idea!

So with the Gateway Burn Fast approaching, the nomadic gang created a caravan and drove the 3+ hours to the event's campground. This was a regional burn, a Burning Man event. Smaller, but keeping with the same open-minded, giving mentality. For four days, we were technologically disconnected (not an easy thing for us) but connected in a different way. We spent the time in an open, camp-site type of atmosphere, enjoying each others' company, swimming in the river during the day, and celebrating with the rest of the campers by night. The only negative was that driving out at the end of the event was a bit of a challenge. Watching Ben (in the bus) and Sam (in his RV) driving out of there was something that could have been out of the movie "RV."  The massive hill leading out, mixed with the mud from some of the downpours, meant they had to literally gun it out of there. In my Mini, no big deal... in a bus... well I cringed as I watched them fly up that crazy hill. Seriously... it was movie-worthy.

Next stop: Minneapolis

Ben grew up in Minneapolis, so we had to make a longer visit there. He got to catch up with a lot of friends, and there were some great events going on while we were in town. First off, was the "Back to the Fifties" car show, and if I told you it was gigantic, it would be an understatement. We've never seen so many old cars in our lives. This is definitely an event to see if you're ever in the area in June. One of the highlights, for Ben, was the GM Futureliner bus, one of the few ever made. (he even waited in line to get behind the wheel) 

Ben had his birthday while we were in town, and one of my presents for him was VIP tickets to the St. Paul Beer Fest. Literally dozens of breweries showed up for this, manning their tents and pouring their finest brews. Luckily, there were many hoppy IPAs to be tasted and lots of great music as well!

So again, the best way to describe a place... is with pictures!  Here's another video, summing up our time in the twin cities:

So from here, we're on our way back to Ohio, for a vintage bus rally. Ben is psyched about this, to say the least. These bus guys will contribute a wealth of knowledge to his current project. So I'm sure we'll learn a lot, and have some fun to boot!

Will check in from Ohio....

Hijacking Ben's Blog! (April-June Adventures)

Hiya everyone! I'm sorry to admit, this is not Ben. Karen here, and yes, it's true... I've hijacked his blog. All with the best intentions of course. You see, the last time he updated this blog was nearly two months ago, and more importantly, over a dozen states ago. For someone who covers that much ground, much blogging is in order (in my opinion)!  So since Ben has been busy with a mixture of Photoshop stuff and the vintage bus project, I am officially hijacking. er, I mean stepping in, to give a little update.

The last time Ben checked in, we had just left New Orleans and were en route to Atlanta, where we stayed for a few days to visit friends. We stayed with an amazing pair of photographers, and two of the nicest, most genuine people I've ever met, Eddie Tapp and Judy Host. This was a definite treat for me because, up until now, I have only caught up with them at photography/Photoshop conferences. As it turns out, Atlanta seems to be a hot spot for photographers, so we also paid visits to Zack Arias and Kevin Ames, both incredibly inspiring photographers and instructors. (What's funny is that before I ever met Ben, I was heavily into photography and consider myself a "NAPP junkie" so I had heard of, and learned from a lot of these guys in the past, so it's been interesting getting to really know them. And to be totally honest, they're all just as amazing people as they are photographers.)

 
This shot is from Ben's iPhone, of Judy, Eddie and myself

Another stop in Atlanta was to visit a vintage bus. If you read this blog often, you know that Ben is currently in the middle of "The Vintage Bus Project," which is a complete restoration of his 1963 Flxible Starliner. The bus in Atlanta is also a Flxible, but a different model (known as a Visicoach) which  is based on the same general body style as the one Ben owns. It is in the final stages of restoration, so it was interesting to see what the owner did and how he tackled a lot of the challenges that come with this kind of project. While I find the whole process really interesting and super exciting, I still don't know as much of the detail stuff as Ben does, so I'm sure  he'll give a better rundown of this when he gets back into the blog world (which I'm prodding him to do).


This is the cream and green Visicoach in Atlanta

Another note, that I feel I must mention, is that in the midst of our travels, the iPad was released. Ben was holding out for the 3G model, and it FINALLY arrived while we were in Atlanta. Words cant even express Ben's anticipation and excitement!

The day Ben first set his hands on his brand spankin' new iPad!

After Atlanta we set off for New Jersey. That's where I'm from and was excited to visit the fam for a bit. Plus, Ben had never met the family, so lets just say they were overly eager for us to get there!  We were making pretty good time, until we reached Baltimore, or just north of it. We were rolling up I95 when Ben heard a sound that indicated the bus wasn't feelin' too good. It turns out it was an issue with a front wheel (the meat, not just the tire) and had to be taken care of. To make a long story short (and it was really long and frustrating) we were stuck in Baltimore for two days (though stuck is a bad word - we ended up having fun) before we hit NJ. 

I did a more in-depth post on this HERE

We spent a good two-three weeks in NJ enjoying family time and showing Ben that there was actually more to NJ than Newark (aka the armpit of the universe) and Atlantic City (not much better). So first off, the family fell in love with Ben, which was not surprising at all (since I had done so previously), and wanted us to spend as much time there as possible. Our first NJ excursion was a Mini Cooper rally, which ended up in Cape May, part of the Jersey Shore. (Major note here: I don't watch TV but I understand there is a show about the Jersey Shore and it is an APPALLING and inaccurate representation!). So Ben was used to bus rallies, where a bunch of buses show up and stay in one spot for a few days and the owners talk shop. A MINI rally, on the other hand, is a ROAD rally, where a line of 30-40 Mini's go flying through a route of scenic twisty roads, stopping at fun places. This rally made a stop at the Cape May Lighthouse and a bar/grill on the water.

One of my images from the MINI rally

Ben looking down from the Cape May lighthouse

Unrelated to the rally stuff, this is a light paint image that Ben did for my sister, Laura, on her birthday

I also took Ben to Eastern State Penitentiary, a Philadelphia prison build in the 1700s, and once housed Al Capone. I knew the photo ops there would be right up Ben's alley, with all the withered cells and peeling paint, not to mention the amazing light that flowed in through the skylights! 

A silhouetted shot of Ben at EST

My last "must-visit" spot in NJ was Heritage Vineyards. Wine vineyards in NJ might sound odd to some, but Jersey wine is actually amazing! And Heritage has always been a special place for me. Not only is their wine great, but I feel like it's a home away from home for me. I've been taking their tours and having their wine for years, to the point where the family and staff know me, and have become friendly and familiar faces. I brought Ben to a tasting and winery tour, and the conversation quickly shifted to photography. By the time we left, we had a photo shoot set up with the owners and founders. They wanted something new and unique and the images of Ben's light painting fit the bill. So three days later we showed up for the shoot and Ben did an in-depth light painting session while I did some hdr and natural light shots out in the vineyards. 

 

 

Shown above are two versions of Ben's light painted images from Heritage.

After saying goodbye to my fam and departing NJ, we headed toward a Burning Man-related event called the Gateway Burn, southwest of St. Louis. We'll include details in the next post (since this one is getting too long!) but en route to St.Louis, we hit Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water, which was simply amazing!

I hope this was an ok update on what we've been up to. I've been doing a lot of more frequent blogging myself, so you might find more details on our recent travels at my blog, The Pixel Diaries, here.

Almost to Atlanta

 

We just finished a two night stop in New Orleans, LA. During that time Karen explored the New Orleans Jazz Festival and walked down Bourbon street while I stayed in the bus spending my time updating my Photoshop for Photographers seminar handbook for CS5. Be sure to check out Karen's blog post about her experiences in New Orleans. 

Last night we parkeat an unusual RV park that's located behind a gas station in Alabama. We're parked right next to a lake, with ducks walking around the bus. I was a little scared when we pulled in and saw a "Modem Friendly" sign at the gate! It turns out that they have great Wifi and even have dozens of beers on tap that you can take home by the half or full gallon. 

Today we will continue on to Atlanta where we will hang out for a few days and visit friends.

Vintage Bus Run Shot

I ran into this shot while I was cruising through my photo archives the other day while preparing for my updated seminar tour. This shot was taken in Gay Parita, Missori which was one of my stops on the way back from purchasing the vintage bus. Once the drivetrain has been modernized, the vintage bus should follow almost the full length of Route 66 once more before heading to its birthplace in Loudonville, OH for a vintage bus rally. 

You can click on the photo above to see a larger version. This is not an overly refined image... it was processed in just a few minutes, while my fine-art images take me more like 6-12 hours to complete. 

The Next Few Months

Our near future plans are to explore New Orleans for a few days (Karen has never been there), continue on to Atlanta for just shy of a week to visit the usual suspects (Eddie Tapp, Kevin Ames, Jimmy D and more) and then make our way to New Jersey (near Philly). Karen's parents haven't met me yet (they live in New Jersey, close to Philadelphia) and we plan to swap out my Jeep Liberty for Karen's blue/white Mini Cooper, which should make for a much more enjoyable play car to tow behind the bus. After that, we plan to attend the Gateway Burn in St. Louis (a Burning Man-related event that should reunite some of the folks I hung out with late last year).

In the next 30 days, I'll also be flying to San Francisco, CA and Detroit, MI to present my newly updated Photoshop for Photographers seminar. 

Social Media/Blogging

 

I'm re-engaging in social media by re-commiting to updating this blog (which will be much easier now that I'm traveling on a regular basis). I've decided to start utilizing Twitter for non blog-worthy information (@whereisben) and to keep the sidebar on this blog updated with my upcoming travel plans (@BenWillmore). Not only that, I'm ramping up to post regular photo updates via Flickr using my BenWillmore account (I'm still trying to work out how to get those posts to show up on the sidebar of this TypePad-based blog). Karen and I are also working on utilizing YouTube to post more in-depth video-based updates. The first one being the short vintage bus update I mentioned in an earlier post.

The photo above is of Karen scrubbing my current bus just before we pulled into an RV rally.

Weekend Bonus: Blazing Bloody Mary Recipe

OK... it's the weekend. Time for some fun and relaxation. In that spirit, I present to you my award-winning Blazing Bloody Mary recipe. That's right, this gem took grand prize at the recently held Bartender Wars 2010!

Photoshop CS5!

 

As I'm sure you know, Photoshop CS5 has been announced and should be shipping soon. This time around I've decided to not do an Up to Speed book on CS5. I just had too much going on when dealing with the details of the death of my father, the addition of Karen to my life and the vintage bus project. I just didn't seem to have the book in me. Don't take that to mean that I'm skipping a version of Photoshop though. I've got much going on relating to CS5:

• My Photoshop for Photographers tour has been completely redesigned and now features the following five one-hour sessions: 1) Up to Speed with Photoshop CS5, 2) Advanced Camera Raw, 3) Turbocharged for Speed & Efficiency, 4) Photo Stylings, 5) Finishing Touches. The new seminar topics should start to be used next month in San Francisco. The web site for the event won't be updated until we're sure the handbook has been printed and is ready for the next event. 

• I'm slowly finalizing a set of actions to be released for CS5, but they won't be ready for a few months. 

• Next will be video-based training for CS5. I don't want to reveal too much detail on my plans here since I'm still working on the list of titles that will be produced and who I'll be partnering with for distribution. (please do not send e-mails or phone messages asking questions about this since I have no more to say right now) 

Vintage Bus Micro-Update

 

The vintage bus project is slowly progressing. Since my last update, the interior of the bus has been completely stripped out and a very accurate 3D computer model has been created. That model should allow me to design the interior and decide where all the RV systems will reside. I'm currently researching multiplexing systems (where two wires can send all the control data for things like light switches and systems control features instead of having to have multiple wires for every switch and feature in the rig), high-tech lithium-ion batteries and much more. The amount of research now fills multiple 2 inch thick binders along with hundreds of digital files. This stuff isn't too exciting for the average blog-reader, but should make for an amazingly advanced mobile living platform once the project is complete. You can view a short video that Karen made documenting the progress here.

The photo above is of my "office" while I was creating a 3D computer model of the bus... yes, that's a toilet and a trash can.

Ben is Mobile Once More!

 

I'm no longer hanging in one area and am instead cruising across the US of A. Since my last update, we've driven from San Diego, CA to Houston, TX and here's a list of some of the things we've done:

• Earthquake! Karen and I were parked North of San Diego when the 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Baja, Mexico and was felt as far away as Las Vegas, NV. It simply felt like some pranksters were outside trying to get our attention by rocking the bus. This was my second earthquake and Karen's first. I still have to experience one when in a building that isn't designed to be shaken... the bus doesn't quite count since everything is designed to handle the bumps and tumbles of road life. 

• Flew all over the place: Making stops in Portland, OR, Richmond, VA, Orlando, FL, Kansas City, MO, and Binghampton, NY to spread the Photoshop joy. 

• PhotoshopWorld Orlando: Presented brand-new sessions titled Photoshop Safety Measures, Hacking Photoshop, and Light Painting for Fun & Profit. I should be presenting seminar sessions again during PhotoshopWorld Las Vegas in September.

• Electronic House Expo: I was excited to attend this event which happened to be happening at the same time and at the same location as PhotoshopWorld in Orlando. That's where I learned all about how to control various vintage bus systems via an iPhone and how to radically simplify the wiring required to transmit audio/video and other systems.

• iPad: Apple's new iPad was released on April 3rd and I had one delivered direct to the bus. It was a surprise gift for Karen (and an excuse for allow me to play with one before the 3G version that I ordered for myself ships at the end of this month). 

• Bisbee Arizona: On our way East toward Texas, we went a little bit out of our way to visit a place that I've had on my "must see" list for a few years. The main attraction was the Shady Dell Vintage Trailer Park where you can find over a dozen restored trailers from the 1920-50's that you can stay in just like lodging at a motel. Karen had more time to take photographs than I did while we were in Bisbee and she's posted some on her blog. 

• Marfa Texas: After making a brief stop in El Paso, TX, we continued on to Marfa Texas where we found a tiny Prada store in the middle of nowhere. I mean there was nothing else in sight for miles! Karen has done a nice post about our experiences in Marfa on her blog. 

• NuRVers Rally: The reason we were heading to Texas was to attend an RV rally of fellow full-timer's who work on the road. This group is known as the NuRVers. They're generally a group of young folks who live and work while traveling. That's quite a change from most RV rallys where 98.6% of the people seem to be retired and gray-haired. This was an absolute blast and I even won "Bartender Wars" with my "Blazing Bloody Mary" recipe. For more on the rally, check out the Happy Janssens coverage of the event.

Blog Reactivation

 

Howdy! 

I know my posting to this blog has been beyond sporadic. I've been cooped up with a few major projects going while hanging out in San Diego, CA for the winter. Blog-wise, it's felt like I've been hibernating. The vintage bus project has dominated my time for the last few months... doing research on semi-flexible solar panels, overly high-tech home automation systems, night vision cameras and much more. 

I'll be ramping up my blogging starting this week... look for one post a day minimum!

The image above was shot while traveling across Texas... it's an abandoned truck stop and was captured using my iPhone. 

Back from SE Asia with Girlfriend

My SE Asia trip was amazing. I explored Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Burma on this trip. I shot so many photographs that both my external and internal storage ended up being full. I even had to trash the Lightroom catalog I had to make extra room and came home with two additional compact flash cards full. I'll post photos as I get around to processing them and will eventually add a new gallery to my photography web site. Here's a brief summary of what I've been up to since my last update:

Father Passed Away

My dad Nate passed away while I was in SE Asia. He had a heart attack during breakfast and went pretty quickly. He had been slowly degrading and withering away to just flesh and bones, so it wasn't completely unexpected, but it sure felt odd to be so far away when it happened. 

Consumer Electronics Show

This year's CES show happened to take place in Las Vegas (where the bus was parked) and started a day after I landed from my Asia trip. It was a good time to explore and try to find the right audio/visual and home control systems for the vintage bus project. 

Vintage Bus Rally

Soon after returning to the states I spent just shy of a week attending a vintage bus rally. Unfortunately, my vintage bus was not ready to be driven so I ended up taking my more modern rig. It was really good to catch up with people I had seen at previous rallies and to get ideas about how to setup my new rig. 

Girlfriend Living on the Bus!

My girlfriend Karen has moved on to the bus to live full-time! She loves to travel, hates winter weather and has a job that she can do anywhere that she can find a net connection. She flew from New Jersey to Florida to meet up with me while I was teaching at the Fotofusion conference, afterward we flew together to California and she moved into the bus. She claims to be OK with the idea of downsizing to a vintage bus and has seen it in person. You can find out more about Karen on her blog.

Book Writing in San Diego

I'll be spending the next month or two in the greater San Diego area while I progress on writing a new book. I'm not ready to reveal any details about the book yet, but should have more to tell you before the end of March. 

Bus update and ID Page

I posted a short update to fill you in on what's up with the vintage bus project. I've found that I've acquired a lot of information about vintage buses during my search for the perfect bus, so I attempted to get some of it down on a web page so that other people who might be shopping for a similar vehicle might find the information to be useful.

Trying out Google Latitude

You might notice that there are two "Ben's Location" maps on the left sidebar of the site. That's because I'm experimenting with Google Latitude and simply haven't figured out if I like it better than the system I had been using. The new setup has the potential of displaying my past locations and can alert me when friends travel near my location. 

I know I haven't updated this site in a while. The combination of my father's death, my girlfriend moving onto the bus, a new book project and intense vintage bus project research has made it so my brain was too busy to even think about it. I have been making posts to Twitter though and they can be found on the left sidebar of this site. 

Heading to Asia & Bus Update

Tomorrow morning I'll be boarding a flight to Asia to teach a 14 day workshop. After that, I'll have three weeks off to explore other areas which will include Thailand and possibly India.  

Quick Bus Project Update: Today I purchased an RV that had been in an accident to use as a donor vehicle for the vintage bus project. I'll end up transplanting the engine, transmission, rear end, brakes and electronic systems from this rig into my vintage bus. That will give me a low-mile modern drivetrain that should be just right for the vehicle. I also acquired a 7.5KW diesel generator today. I hope I will return to find progress on this project.

I will return to the states on January 6th.  

Multiple Interviews and Big Trip Planning

I appeared on Deke McClelland's Martini Hour podcast during PhotoshopWorld along with Photoshop Wow guy Jack Davis.  

I also was a guest on Bert Monroy's PixelPerfect Video Podcast where I discussed a technique for removing artifacts produced by extreme camera raw adjustments.

I'm spending this week getting ready for a five week trip to Asia. I should be spending time in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and possibly many other areas. I'll try to find time to update this blog while I'm out, but I don't plan on being overly distracted by trying to find a net connection.

New Galleries on my Photography Web Site

I just added some images to my TheBestofBen.com site. You'll find new images in the following galleries:

• Route 66
• Cadillac Ranch
• Lightpainting

Enjoy!

Vintage Bus Delivered via Freight

  

My vintage bus was delivered to its temporary home yesterday (where it will be re-powered and have the brakes and other systems upgraded). It arrived via semi truck and took over two hours (driver claims 4.5) to unload! Why so long? Well, the bus has a very long overhang behind the rear wheels and there are a few water tanks that extend slightly below the body in the middle of the bus. If it goes down too steep of a ramp, then either area can run-aground. 
 

The pic above was taken on maybe our third attempt. Each time we'd pile up more wood and ramps to try to make the angle less steep.

 

We'd also end up digging in an attempt to prevent the trailer hitch from scraping too much. 

In the end, you can see all the wood and ramps we ended up using. It was a good thing that this setup worked without scraping anything since the bus was put in reverse a few seconds after it was started and ended up going down the ramp with zero brake power because the air pressure didn't have time to build up yet. The bus doesn't have modern spring brakes which would have stayed engaged until enough pressure had built up to allow them to be released. My friend Charlie who was at the wheel joking said something like "I'm just going to gun it and get this over with"... the next thing I knew, it looked like he did exactly that! He came out of the bus with a white face and was a bit shooken up since he was expecting to go very slow with the brakes on the entire time. 

The next step in the vintage bus project is to locate the right engine/transmission combo. I'm currently searching for a Cummins ISL 425HP with Allison six speed automatic. I hope to find a low milage one for a good price out of a wrecked RV.

Vintage Bus Run Ends in Amarillo, TX

An update since my last post: On Tuesday, I drove from Sayre, OK to Amarillo, TX and ended up having some bus problems. The bus was simply lacking power and didn't want to have its RPMs go up all that high. I first broke down within yards of Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo. I made a call to a diesel road-side assistance company and they came out with fuel filters that seemed to fix the problem, so I continued on my way toward California. 

During the time I was in Texas, I took photos of the bus in front of same nice restored gas stations in Shamrock, TX as shown below... right after taking the first shot, and odd rooster car drove by, which I had to capture with my iPhone (that's what all these photos are from).

 

A few hours later, after crossing into New Mexico, I noticed that it was very difficult to make it up hills with any kind of speed. I finally hit a rather steep hill and had to continuously downshift until I ended up in 1st gear and even then, the engine didn't have enough power to pull me over the hill, so I had to shut it down and call for assistance. At this point I was quite a ways away from any major city. 

My AAA service was only setup for normal cars and didn't cover RVs, but I paid $250 to upgrade it to RV status (that would have cost me only $53 if I didn't need service the same day). With AAA, you get up to 100 miles of towing. Amarillo was 97 miles from where I broke down! I knew I wanted to head to Amarillo since I knew I could fly out of that spot without any problems. That tow job would have cost me over $1000 bucks if I hadn't done it through AAA!

I'm sure my lack of power issue could have be resolved after spending many hours with a qualified diesel mechanic, but it was getting close to 1am and the temp was falling fast. I just didn't have a bunch of time to deal with details since I had already lost half of my day trying to get the fuel filters changed out. In the end, I decided to park the vintage bus in Amarillo and have it freighted the rest of the way to California. I have found a company that can accommodate my needs in that area and they should be picking up the bus within the next 24 hours. 

I have since flown from Amarillo to San Diego and am hanging out in my current bus.

I'm not overly bummed or anything... I was happy that the vintage bus made it as far as it did since it had it's original engine and transmission. I plan to replace the engine with one that has more than twice the power and will also install a six speed automatic transmission. Let me know if you know of a economical source for a Cummins ISL 425HP engine and Allison World transmission... that's my current quest. 

Note: All the photos shown in this post are from my iPhone.

Paris Springs, MO to Sayer, OK

Well today my goal was to make it all the way to Texas and I'm sad to say that it wasn't meant to be. Instead, I've made it to Sayre, OK which is a total of 22.8 miles from the Texas border. I would have made it to my desired destination if it wasn't for me going a bit too quickly when programming my GPS. I entered "Shamrock", which is the city I wanted to end up in, but I didn't realize that it was still set to search in Oklahoma. Needless to say, Shamrock, OK is a five and a half hour drive from where I am right now. Unfortunately, I made it almost 40 miles in that direction before I realized that it wasn't sending me in the right direction. I have to backtrack and by the time I got back to Sayre, I saw a mini city of RV's at the local Flying J's Truck stop that were parked in an area away from all the idling trucks and so I caved and called it a night.

I spent most of today driving with a few stops to take photos of the vintage bus in front of various old train stations and gas stations. 

St. Louis, MO to Paris Springs, MO

After posting yesterday's update, I decided to drive a bit more. I ended up driving for about an hour and a half and spent the night in Cuba, MO. I didn't actually get to sleep until after 3am. That made for a late start today. 

Just outside of Cuba is Bob's Gasoline Alley where I was greeted by a car club and had free lunch: 

Just down the road from there is the world's largest rocking chair:

For the rest of the day, I drove only 153 miles and ended up at Paris Springs, MO. This included some rather steep hills where the 1963 engine only allowed me to budge over them at around 35 mph at full throttle. I'm parked just inside the gate of the Gay Parita Sinclair gas station... I caught the owner right as he was locking up for the night: 

Here's an image of the same place from my real camera that I took last year:

Tomorrow, I want to get an early start (that means before noon) and make my way as close to Shamrock, TX as is humanly possible.

Note: All the photos shown above were taken with my iPhone