| Author |
Message |
Mrbus (152.163.188.227)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 12, 2003 - 8:00 pm: | |
OK everyone, we were all set to leave Minnesota the day after Christmas to make the Florida gathering, but due to a family medical emergency, we are still in Minnesota. Several have commented about the great time, but surely someone must be able to give us an overview, and all the great things that we missed out on. How about it?
Gus Haag |
CoryDaneRTSIIIL (4.17.253.67)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 14, 2003 - 11:22 am: | |
I agree. I was not able to go due to the blood sucking company I work for had me come back to work ONE DAY in the middle of a 5 week vacation so I was unable to attend.
- HOWEVER, I have enjoyed greatly and wait with high anticipation, the chatter that has come on the board about the great time that has been Buss'in 2003. I would love to hear how the whole convention went and the great pictures that were taken (I didn't realize FF had a moustache!)LOL
- I did notice that I have not yet seen any RTS buses out there. I hope to change that next year, all things go the right way. (Long Story)
- Thanks to all that have already given accolades and heaps of good feed back, actually, I have never heard of one get so many good comments, ever.
- And as always, keep on bus'n, and bus safe-cd |
Jack Conrad (Jackconrad) (207.30.189.225)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 14, 2003 - 12:46 pm: | |
OK, here is the story about Bussin' 2003. Buses started arriving on Monday, December, 30. An impromtu New Years Evening Party was rained out as a cold front passed through. The good part is that was the last rain we had until the rally was over.
Luke arrived just in time for the get aquainted party on Friday evening. This party was enjoyed by all. We furnished ice cream to go with the delicious desserts the people brought (converting coaches is not the only thing these people are good at). One particular dessert was a cake that looked like their bus, complete down to the name on the front of their bus.
Saturday AM, after a breakfast of donuts, coffee, tea, and OJ, the panel disscussion began with Luke, Dave & Dennis Gregory, Jock Fugitt, Gene Lewis and George Myers each speaking about their particular area of expertise. The discussion was then opened up for questions from the audiance.
At 1 PM, the flea market/swap meet began with eveyone displaying their "bargains" at their coaches. There were quite a few "good deals".
At 3 PM, Bill Markstaler from Crumption Welding gave a mig welding demostration. This was followed by giving anyone who wanted to try mig welding a opportunity to weld and receive pointers from Bill.
Supper was served at 6 PM. Our Cooks, Alan Baker, Don & Dan Lindstrom, and Jack Fahenstock did a superb job of grilling 320 chicken quarters. This was the juiciest, "fall off the bone", delicious chicken. This was served with baked potatoes, cloe slaw and dinner rolls. Our servers served almost 300 people in 15 minutes. We had ample desserets left from Friday night to finish off the meal.
After supper, we held the drawing for door prizes. 2 people won $100.00 gift certificates to International Bus & Parts, donated by Southern Oregon Diesel. We also gave away gift certicates donated by Camping world and WalMart. Walmart also donated several road atlases. George Myers donated a Bus Conversion Plumbing book, Nick Russell donated 2 subscriptions to Gypsy Journal, Gene Lewis of Infinity coach donated several T shirts, Bussin' 2003 donated 2 folding chairs, and Alan baker donated several shirts & caps with the Bussin' 2003 logo. Alan also donated 3 caps embroideried with the following quote "I beleive in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and FAST FRED. FAST FRED autographed these with "my wife's honest pen". These were auctioned by Gary Saunders and raised $76.00. This will be applied towards next years rally expenses.
At 8 PM, we were entertained by Gary Saunders. Gary was sponsored by Prevost. We want to thank all sponsors for their donations.
On Sunday AM, coaches started pulling out sporadically throughout the day. Several coaches stayed Sunday night. Sunday evening, we finished off the left over chicken, potatoes, cloe slaw, and desserts. Several had work done on their coaches on Monday by Horizon Coach.
I want to thank all my volunteers who made this rally a success. My parking creww parked 130 coaches with no problems and no delays entering. As usal my cooks did a superb job, and my servers kept the serving line moving quickly. Also a BIG THANK YOU to I@n for posting the Bussin' 2003 informationon the BNO website. After all bills are paid, we will have about $300.00 which will donated to 2 local animal rescue facilities that rely on donations to continue their operations. THANK TO EVERYONE FOR MAKING BUSSIN' 2003 A SUCCESS. Jack & Paula Conrad |
Scott Cavanaugh (66.169.172.154)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 14, 2003 - 5:24 pm: | |
Very cool! Wish I could have made it. Maybe next year! I will be rolocating to Charleston SC and it will be closer to drive down for the weekend.
Ok who has the pictures?! I have seen some. To bad we couldn't post them all in one place. |
FAST FRED (209.26.115.1)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 15, 2003 - 5:49 am: | |
ONE thing that seemed to go well was the "DOCUMENT DUMP".
I brought along boxes of old catalogues from many areas ,
Avation , Marine , Yacht ,alternate energy and Manufacturing.
Dumped them out on a table & the folks at this event ,
many who are happy to"Think Outside the Box",
snapped them up like free cash!
A few other converters got into the swing of things &
added a colection of Motor Home ,FMCA, Trailer Life and BC mags to the pile.
Later in the day most seemed to be gone ,
either they were mostly picked up or Jack cleaned the table.
This event seems to specialize in folks doing coaches "There Way "
(only a few BC "Formula SHOEBOX"),
and some wannabees & newbees.
Perhaps others will bring along interesting cataloges from different areas of expertees that relate to alternative coach solutions.
FAST FRED |
Keith-Flx-FL (Keith) (65.33.37.243)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 16, 2003 - 2:50 am: | |
You guys forgot the most important part... almost 130 coaches with owners happy to open them up and show you around. I picked up some great ideas for the interior layout of my coach as well as the pumbing and electric. Everyone has a reason for why they did something and its great to hear different perspectives. We had some fine craftsman at that rally who worked wonders with wood. Did anyone notice the abunance of MCI's?
Being a newbee, I didnt like the pictures of the older coaches I'd looked at, however seeing some of these beauties in real life changed my mind. Some of the classics are really awesome.
Other notes of interest: Fast Fred's ingenious pull out shower (have to see that one to understand it). The Scenic Cruiser with the 600hp Catapillar Engine (passes everything on the road except a truckstop :-). Awesome paint jobs, tails of converting, and best of all, a great bunch of freindly folks with a common interest (disease?) gathered to have fun and swap stories.
Three cheers to Jack, Paula and all the others who made it a great weekend.
BTW.... Who turned off the heat...this is FL! :-) |
Henry R. Bergman, Jr. (Henryofcj) (65.194.145.44)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 18, 2003 - 7:45 pm: | |
Jack;
Thanks for the GREAT post! You made it feel like I had attended!!! Maybe next year I will meet the whole crowd!!! Henry of CJ |
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