| Author | Message | ||
| Gary LaBombard (Garylee)
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This is my first bus rally and I have been like a kid in the candy store for the first time. If you did not make it here you have no idea how rewarding it is to be in one area where there is over 150 converted buses to view and google over and I did all day. I am so pooped out but have to say this was one of the best days of my life personally in this entire year. There was no mention of Hurricanes, bad weather or actually nothing negative all day including political problems. Today was nothing but buses and these guys and gals are great. The weather today was just great, about 70ish I think, I was sweating in the direct sun and it was just great to look and dream of my own bus with some of the converted ideas each one of these bus nuts come up with. Some of the great people that post on these BB'ds I finally got to meet and put a face to their name, but upon meeting them it seemed like I knew of them a very long time, but if you talk about making new personal relationships you can not make a mistake going to one of these Rally's. Jack conrad & His Wife and his sponsors did a great job putting on this rally and what a great way for Jack to start his retirement as well with the success of this rally.  I got to meet some of the regular contributers to these bulletin boards, some I cannot remember there full names tonight but will write them down tomorrow to be sure to give them the respect they deserve for allowing me their time to answer any and all of my questions about their conversions and just feeling welcome in every coach I wanted to enter. Names of those that I did meet and remember their names and look forward to contiuance tomorrow on our conversatons and idea sharing about our buses. I had the pleasure to meet: Jack Conrad & his hard working wife and I got to tour his great conversion, the "Orange Blossom Special".  Jim & Pat Shepherd, Jim gave a great seminar on a few of his safety alarm systems & Tire pressure monitors he offers to us all to protect our buses & Pat gave a seminar on Stamping that even kept the interest of my 7 year old granddaughter.  Ace & Susan Rossi, gave me a tour of their Prevost and they have a great vision for their bus and the work he has done is of the quality anyone would wish to get from a professional converter. He was not parked in any "HOLE" and welcomed anyone into his bus with a welcome as if you were a life time friend.  Sonnie Gray & Patti, you talk about a nice guy and sweet lady. After seeing the inside of their bus and all the arrangements Sonnie did to make his wife's mobility around in the bus easier for her quality of life you can see a lot of devotion to detail in anything he has done to his bus. You have to meet this guy and see his bus. Just a little info on his conversion, he reversed the drive wheel location with the Bogie wheel location. The bogie wheel is in the back and mounted even to the outside of the bus equal to the drive wheels. This is really sharp. You have to see the new Cat engine he has stuffed in that engine compartment, talk about going gaga when you see it. The framing is remodified on his bus and designed to accomidate Air Bags for a better ride and a back up suspension system if needed. I can go on and on with what I have seen on his bus and can not wait until tomorrow to see what I missed today. And He is not an engineer!! You wouldn't know it!! He can teach the course.  Bill?? I am embarassed to admit I forgot his last name but will do as I mentioned above and write down all these names tomorrow. When You see Bills bus, with the (Space Shuttle Design) front end you will forget his last name also. I did not get to see inside today but can't wait until tomorrow to do so. I do not know his wife's name right now but she is the one that gave me a personal invitation for my wife and I to take the inside tour tomorrow as we left for our hotel at the end of the day.  After everyone gets relaxed at the end of the day the instruments come out and music is played for fun and enjoyment for anyone wishing to partisipate or listen to. There is some good stuff there to enjoy. There is small camp fires nearly every 30 feet or so, for bus nut friends to just fellowhip until the wee hours of the night. A great Ice Cream social hour with a husband and wife team for live entertainment also was performed in the evening time on the first day. The sounds of generator is very minimal, Rally restrictions make everyone in the areas permitted to use generators manditory to vent the engine exhaust above the bus in the vertical position and the noise is very low and healthy. There is some really innovative fabricating of the exhausts systems for each bus doing so. There was one beautiful Eagle that had dual sparkling chrome engine exhaust stacks on the back of the bus that went up verticaly over the top of the bus. What a site, looks like the bus was doing 70 MPH just sitting there, Shut Off!! I know I am making too long a post here and do not want to lose your interest but you have to consider doing this next time you can even if you do not have a bus to show. I cannot say enough about the wonderful people you will meet and you will wonder, (How come it took so long to find this kind of people in my life)?? It is never too late to enjoy as I have today. Buses were still trickling in when we left to go to our motel to recharge our personal batteries for tomorrow. I have two seminars to put on tomorrow, One seminar of my CD, "Inspection & Repair Guide for Bus Conversions" and another one for the protection of your bus conversions using ("Rust Bullet")primer paint that is superior to 319 other rust preventitive paints manufactured and has the test results to prove it. I am looking forward to introducing myself and my CD about my bus, ("Rustless Money Pit") and hope I may help someone new make better decisions on their bus pre-sale inspection. I apologize for the length of this post, no I don't!! I had the time of my life today and wanted to share it with you and wish you all could experience it like I am. I cannot wait for daylight to come tomorrow and do it all over again. You missed a lot if you did not get to do this. Pictures will be posted in a few days, I have many to share and have to figure out where I will post them. I will notifiy you all in our regular BB'ds and hope you enjoy what you see as much as I did in taking them. I am sure others also will have pictures for you as well. Thanks for reading. Gary LaBombard | ||
| g
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Thanks very much for the details. For those of us on the West/Right coast this detail is appreciated. Look forward to the pictures. Grant mci9 | ||
| Sean Mormelo (Sventvkg)
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I am SOOOO BUMMED that i'm only 2 hours away and I can't come!!!! I got some much needed well paying work for tonight, tomorrow and New Years Eve and need the $$ for my Bus!!!  When is the next big rally you are all going to? I will not miss Bussin next year though... | ||
| Sean Mormelo (Sventvkg)
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Double Post... | ||
| motorcoach1 Rating: N/A |
it's late and i'm going to sleep ....ate 3 icecream sandwisches...mmmm good ps ..is ian and mary there mm | ||
| Ian Giffin (Admin)
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Gary, Your message is NOT too long. Matter of fact, it looks like you only just started!! Email pictures to me, I'll post them in your messages, as above. Take it easy on my server - - if you have an 8 magapixel camera only send one or two pix, but if you can shrink them in your own computer, send as many as you like. Motorcoach1, Ian & Maisie are not there, but we admit that we are still all warm and fuzzy from last year and hope to make next year's. Happy New Year to all y'all down there in Arcadia!! Ian www.busnut.com | ||
| Ian Giffin (Admin)
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This thread's initial message is now updated with pictures from the BNO photo file. Ian www.busnut.com |