There is a fresh coat of new ideas on the bus, and much of the painting was finished today. There are still some spots that need work, but thanks to all the folks who showed up today, Anne Marie looks great. Also, many thanks to Ashley and Tom who made the awesome mural […]
There is a fresh coat of new ideas on the bus, and much of the painting was finished today. There are still some spots that need work, but thanks to all the folks who showed up today, Anne Marie looks great. Also, many thanks to Ashley and Tom who made the awesome mural above. There are loads of pictures on Flickr, from both Ned and myself. There’s also nearly an hour of video for me to edit, so at some point we will see something of that.
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The Finished Whale, originally uploaded by somjuan.
I powerwashed the bus today, so we would be able to paint things on it. Dan took the lead and painted this huge whale on the top of […]
The Finished Whale, originally uploaded by somjuan.
I powerwashed the bus today, so we would be able to paint things on it. Dan took the lead and painted this huge whale on the top of the bus. It is around 9 feet from end to end, and really looks awesome in person.
If it is raining tomorrow, you can still come by to plan, or make stencils. Sunday is supposed to be gorgeous.
Today was an surprisingly productive day, considering the time we put into it. Mike, Ned and Dan came by and we cut up and sanded the wood we bought for the bunks. As always, there are some pictures on Flickr, and one absolutely thrilling video of sawing. We’ll be doing more tomorrow, […]
Today was an surprisingly productive day, considering the time we put into it. Mike, Ned and Dan came by and we cut up and sanded the wood we bought for the bunks. As always, there are some pictures on Flickr, and one absolutely thrilling video of sawing. We’ll be doing more tomorrow, on both the bunks and the benches. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll be done with both of those by the end of this weekend.
In case you’re around, free to do things, and interested, I could use your help every day from tomorrow to Sunday (this includes painting). Rain isn’t an issue (except for painting). Just give me a call or drop by if you can help.
Alright, so here’s the status for the summer. In the next few weeks we’ll be building the interior (very rough, but the hard stuff will be out of the way). After that, on August 16th (its a Saturday) we will paint the bus. You’re invited. Everyone is.
Bring paint. I don’t […]
Alright, so here’s the status for the summer. In the next few weeks we’ll be building the interior (very rough, but the hard stuff will be out of the way). After that, on August 16th (its a Saturday) we will paint the bus. You’re invited. Everyone is.
Bring paint. I don’t have enough paint, so bring some if you plan on using any. I recommend spray paint, just because it’ll be easier, but if you’re bringing other kinds of paint, bring whatever you’ll need along with you. One big thing is to make sure the paint you bring is meant for exterior use.
There is no real plan for the paint job. Paint what you want. Look at what the person next to you is doing, and work off of that. The only restriction is that we can’t have anything blatantly illegal or offensive. I want to be able to get in to places, and I don’t want to get pulled over any more often than we already will.
If you want to drop by on Friday and help wash the bus, feel free to. Bring girls in bikinis. If it rains or something on Saturday we’ll just paint on Sunday. Hope to see you there!
So I posted a thing on Craigslist about free bus seats, to see if I could get rid of them (the fact that they only have legs on one side make them hard to sell). One dude just came by to get a couple for his dorm room, and a couple people are popping […]
So I posted a thing on Craigslist about free bus seats, to see if I could get rid of them (the fact that they only have legs on one side make them hard to sell). One dude just came by to get a couple for his dorm room, and a couple people are popping by later to grab some more. Now is your chance, if you want one. Tell your friends, or anyone who’ll listen. Once this bus is empty, we can get working again.
Here’s something I can’t post on the JWT blog:
I was talking to someone about this project recently and describing all of the modifications to the bus, and how we’d be getting along once we’re actually on the trip, and they commented how “green” the whole thing seemed. And they’re right, its a very environmentally friendly project. But that isn’t the point.
Environmentally friendly and practical are starting to mirror each other. Life on the road is practical by necessity. You cannot bring much with you, you cannot generate much waste, you have fewer resources to work with, and because of this you are forced to be practical.
I couldn’t do this trip on diesel fuel, because I could never afford it (the cost getting back from MN was high enough). If I could go across the country on free diesel, I probably would. As it is, we’ll be using cooking oil – for practical reasons, not environmental ones.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against the environmental movement, but there are people out there who know and care far more than I do. We’re not trying to promote anything, we’re just doing what works. This is a roadtrip without agenda.
Or at least I wish it could be. It seems sponsors don’t want to jump on anything unless it has a purpose. So what is most likely to happen is I’ll put up a friendly facade until we get what we need, and then dispense with the crap. I’m not looking to preach to anyone.
I’m not sure why, but this summer I’ve seen more websites pop up about people’s trips. I don’t know if more people are traveling or if more people are blogging, but there are a lot of websites up about people in motion. Some folks are traveling in their cars/vans, living in them as […]
I’m not sure why, but this summer I’ve seen more websites pop up about people’s trips. I don’t know if more people are traveling or if more people are blogging, but there are a lot of websites up about people in motion. Some folks are traveling in their cars/vans, living in them as they go. Some are traveling by bike, or on foot. Then there are the larger scale trips that have a decent sized number of people on them, and have been going for years (BioTour, Big Green Bus, etc).
I’ve added links to many of these sites on our links page, and I suggest you check them out.
They’re pretty interesting, and I’m certain you’ll find at least one that you’ll keep up with.
Maybe more of these blogs are popping up because there is a growing interest in this type of project. I know that nearly everyone I’ve talked to about the Juan Way Tour was immediately interested in the idea, having thought about doing something similar. I wonder what’s causing the interest.
What a good day. I woke up this morning to an email from a guy running the diesel program at Cheney Tech in Mansfield – he offered their services in getting the bus operational (both maintenance wise and the veggie conversion). Then about a dozen people showed up downtown to terrorize the populace as ninjas. We went from crosswalk to crosswalk, one cluster of ninjas on each side of the street. When the crosswalk changed to WALK, be bolted out into the center of the street, and fought the other group/anyone around us. Once it changed back to DON’T WALK, we ran back to one side or another. We went up Main St. and Washington St., and even managed to get some other folks to join in. Good stuff.
A basic floor plan I sketched up. I’ve been musing with a bunch of ideas for a while, and I think this is the most all-purpose plan. The backs of the benches can span across the walkway between the two to make decent sized beds. The dinettes will also fold down to […]
A basic floor plan I sketched up. I’ve been musing with a bunch of ideas for a while, and I think this is the most all-purpose plan. The backs of the benches can span across the walkway between the two to make decent sized beds. The dinettes will also fold down to create the bottom bunk. And the recliner will stretch out over the stairs when you recline.
We cleaned a bunch of the rugs we got out of Weslyan’s dumpsters today. Turns out there is a lot of hair in rugs. But in any case, they should be ready for use in the bus, whenever we get around to that. I’ll be posting stuff about the floor plan soon. […]
We cleaned a bunch of the rugs we got out of Weslyan’s dumpsters today. Turns out there is a lot of hair in rugs. But in any case, they should be ready for use in the bus, whenever we get around to that. I’ll be posting stuff about the floor plan soon. The bus will be able to sleep 8 people in beds (12 if we use the floor). The overflow folks (or really, whoever wants to) can sleep in a tent or on the roof.