Well my friend had money burning a hole in his pocket and I
had been asking him when he was going to be a proud bus owner over the past 6 months or so, so he finally took the
plunge. He knew nothing of buses, but had become addicted the first time he rode in my Binz. He
hysterically laughed the entire ride. The blinkers went on and he busted out laughing. I shifted a gear and he
busted out laughing. Everything about the bus he thought was quirky and funny, said he felt like he
was riding in a tank. At the end of the ride his only response was "I want one." After that,
all his working hours were spent on the internet and drawing up buses on the 'bus
selecta'. After he was
serious about buying, of course he couldn't find anything he wanted, so he flew us up to WA on the drop
of a dime as soon as he saw the ad for his "perfect bus".
We flew up to Spokane Washington Saturday morning and got there around 11am.
Right off the bat things went downhill. Delta airlines had lost my suitcase. You know, the one
that was crammed full of nothing except tons of MY tools? The one we needed to make it from WA back to AZ
with an unknown bus? The one with my winter coat, the flashlight, the ground tarp, the sockets,
the wrenches etc? So we sat around at the airport waiting for the next flight which didn't come until
4:30 that afternoon. Still no luggage. Did you know they never scan those tags that they attach to
your suitcase? Only gets scanned if it goes unclaimed, and they don't scan it when they load it on
the plane. Which means I don't know if it even ever got in the plane, or if its in Germany right now.
Decided to leave the airport with the seller and went to Wal-Mart to buy supplies (tools etc). $200
later in Stanley tools, and 3 pairs of socks (which were of no help, damn Idaho weather) a jacket
and etc, we were off. My friend loved the truck so we took off in it. It was a 61 sc with
safaris, straight axle rear with bug tranny,1776 w/kadrons, flipped spindles,
newly recovered humpback seat,
etc. He drove it around the block and said that was the bus he wanted, despite all the things I
mentioned wrong with it (He plans to have me fix everything if you know what I mean).
The owner then
began pulling the license plates off. Great, have to drive across 3 or 4 states with no plates??
We took off and not too long into the trip I realized this truck was as bouncy as a trampoline. No
shocks underneath, heh this should be fun!. We made our way thru Idaho late on schedule. Snow began
and the temp dropped rapidly. We got off the highway on "a shortcut" the locals
pointed out on the map, and headed down on a backroad in the direction of Idaho falls
through our 'virtual hell
on earth' as it would soon become to be called.
We soon found ourselves on some mountain range, climbing up
and down hills at 20 mph sliding all over the road, a place where snowplows never bother to go and the snow was
pouring down. Not a car in sight. 4 hours later we made it out of the mountain drive onto some lower
flatter roads, when we saw the "deer ahead" sign. And that's when it began. An elk shot out
from the road straight towards the side of the bus and just skimmed past the back of the bumper. I slowed down
to about 10mph and was just putting along the road. Elk were everywhere jumping out and running
alongside of us then randomly darting out, cutting me off and forcing me to brake and steer to the
opposite side of the road. I looked back and saw about 6 or 7 of em' just hangin out in the road
behind us in the moonlight. If it weren't -3000 degrees outside I woulda climbed out and got the
camera out.
Damn it was so cold.
The next morning we were out on some Idaho highway, and the
wind was blowing the snow so hard across the road, looked like a solid white fog across the road. I was
running about 45 while everyone else flew by at 80-90mph. We went under a bridge and when
we came out the other side, I was fishtailing 4 or 5 times, fighting it. Finally went around 180 and slid off the
road into a bottomless snow pit that divides the highways. Something tells me the low
profile tires weren't snow friendly. Looked around to see 6 or 7 other cars slid off the road as well with
the owners talkin on phones, so we held tight waiting for help to arrive. A two tone bay window owner
rolled by, didn't smile, wave, or flip us off. Just cruised on by slow, looking at us with a
straight face. Gotta love those fat chicks. Cop shows up and ask us where were from and where we are going and finishes the
questions with "So how much DOPE does she have in er'???" I reply in a
pissed off tone: "Uhhh - none?" and he
laughs and says "suuuuuree" and drives away. He goes to all the other cars and talks to them and in the meantime
the tow truck had shown up. The cop pulls up again and tells the truck driver "Be sure to
pull this truck out of the snow first, cause we need to get all the dope out of there!!!"
I can't make this stuff up, true story. Then the two
tow drivers and the cop bust up laughing.... wtf?? the cop takes off again and we hand the tow driver a
$50 and just take off. That Idaho cop seemed like he was already high, he didn't need more (no we didn't
have any). Damn it was so cold. We hit up a Walmart and bought one of those propane heaters. I
think that actually saved my life that weekend. It did light my shoe on fire and part of my pants
after laying on it trying to sleep, but it was sure worth it. Later that night we got off the interstate in search of a
Denny's and we took a wrong turn into a parking lot. My friend was driving and the carb linkage was a little sticky
for some reason (the owner had it rigged up as well). Anyway he came to a super steep drive and
tapped the gas and it revved up and shot him down the drive and BAM heard a loud bang that
didn't sound friendly. We made our way over to Denny's and go to get out.....but we cant. Turns out there
was
only one bolt in each side of the bumper brackets and the impact had pushed the bumper so the ends
were up and blocking both doors! So were stuck in the bus trying to get out, and my friend starts
trying to convince me to go head first out of the safari- hell no! It was soooo damn cold at this
point I was rapidly considering it. The people in Denny's just stared out the window even though my
friend was waving for them to come and help us. Nobody dared come out there. A group of guys
pulled up and pushed the bumper down. My friend spent the next 30 minutes diggin snow out from under it
in the wet parking lot trying to remove the bumper. Luckily there was no damage. How do you people
live in the snow?
Blows my mind.
There was some serious celebration going on when we left Idaho.
Don't think I'll ever step foot back in that state. Going through Utah was pretty uneventful and not as cold,
but we did get pulled over on the way out. Cop wanted to know why we didn't have plates. He also asked
me what kind of vehicle it was. Obviously you Utah guys don't drive your buses enough! He
did let us go, but not without threats of impounding it and etc. Lost a grey hubcap in Utah on the
interstate. So keep an eye out in your travels thru there =) At a local gas station I pulled up and a
drifter was standing there and said "Hey! that used to be a German car!" I questioned him
about the usage of the words "used to be" and he replied" Yah it used to be German,
before you lowered it!" Ha-ha. After he was done
talkin shit, he walked off and as we drove out, there he was thumbin for a ride! hah.... nope.
Decided we didn't want to risk more snow covered roads so we made our way over
to Vegas then cut back thru to AZ. Had to cross the Hoover damn though which is heavily
guarded. I pull up to the security checkpoint and the "dark
skinned" guy in front of us in a small white compact nice car gets pulled
to the side and they start tearing his car apart. gutting the trunk, the inside,
all being thrown on the ground. We pull up to the line and I'm all nervous. The
guard shines his light on me then in the bed and says "Go on ahead, have
fun!" hahah. We were probably the most suspicious people he has seen in a
while. But he sent us thru the turnstile with a smile, and turned us loose
inside.
Once we hit AZ it was smooth sailing and the roads were all
smooth, what a difference! Speed kicked up to 75 no problem, safaris wide open, jackets came off. What a
different world! I find it funny that absolutely nothing went wrong with the bus (besides the fact that
every control in the cabin was adjusted wrong, clutch, brakes, steering, etc) but that everything
else possible went wrong! Oh yah, noticed it has mcode 362, and it was not a 12v bus and does not
have seatbelt mounting points. So looks like there is more then one meaning for 362 as well.
All in all it was about 1700 miles / 47 hours to drive home which was about
double what we had planned.. Some guy near my friends house already wants to buy the truck, but I doubt he'll sell it
after his recent experience. He definitely got jumped into the hobby on that
one!
-Wade
Update: This bus was traded away.