| Author |
Message |
R TERRY (207.230.142.240)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 12:05 am: | |
As far as I know – and this has always been my understanding – fathers are supposed to take their kids fishing. How do you grow up right if you don’t go fishing? But I never liked fishing. I like the fish in the water where they belong. I wondered what it would be like to reach out for a Big Mac and get yanked into outer space! However, I think that taking the kids fishing is less about the fish and more about the Quality Time spent together.
So, with that in mind, one of my two sons and I did the Quality Time thing. Over a ten-day period this month, we drove a total of four thousand two hundred miles just to move an old bus 6 blocks. It was nothing like going fishing – it was more like murder. BUT, it was Quality Time all the way!
RJ Long once suggested I sell all of my ratty old buses and buy one nice coach. My mother thought that was a wonderful idea. Everyone I know did too. Yes, it was a wonderfully practical, sensible idea, much more so than say…going fishing. Why I haven’t done that I may never know.
A year ago I bought a 1948 GM 3610. Well, not really. What I bought was a rebuilt engine for my 1950 GM 3704. It just happened to be in a bus and the folks who sold it to me were not about to remove it and ship it anywhere. So in effect, I bought an engine and got a free bus as a bonus.
At first I was ambivalent about that arrangement. I didn’t really want that old piece of junk. Have you ever seen one of those ugly old monsters? Out of curiosity, I made the mistake of asking for a picture of the bus. Oh no, I own THAT thing? Shoot me!
To make matters worse, the contraption was located in the eastern-most tip of Tennessee. It may as well have been in Siberia. The previous owners assured me the bus was roadworthy, that I should have no problem driving it to Arizona. Newly rebuilt engine and transmission, what could go wrong? They drove it all over the place.
Excuse me, but I saw those pictures. It would take a giant leap of faith to believe anything about that bus. This is a bus so nasty that the owners could not sell it at any price. Instead, they sold the engine as if it were a separate item. For the hapless buyer, it just happened to be mounted onto the end of a huge container on wheels.
A year went by, during which the previous owners moved out of state, the bus became the charge of a reluctant neighbor, and vandals, angry with the previous owners for some misgiving, sliced up two of the tires in retribution. Then I found out that the last time the bus was driven, it would only go 30 miles per hour.
Overall, a very sad situation. RJ’s advice kept coming to mind. Get one GOOD bus; let the rest of them go.
Was it time to cut my losses? At this point it might well be cheaper to rebuild the engine in the 3704 than take possession of the bus in Tennessee. The by now unwilling babysitter of the 1948 monstrosity was considering legal action against me for not removing the damn thing. Certified letters began to arrive. Terse ultimatum emails occupied my In Box. It was time to cut bait or fish. What should I do?
Go fish, what else? In other words, start the Quality Time clock and head for Tennessee. There’s a big stinking fish out there and my son and I are going to either rescue it for a new lease on life or cut its head off and feed it to a bear. Whichever way it turns out will be OK because we are doing it together and it’s all Quality Time.
R TERRY |
jim mci-9 (209.240.198.60)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 3:44 am: | |
if your travlels bring you thru houston tex, stop by for a visit.... it'll be fun!!!,,,jim mci-9 |
Geoff (Geoff) (66.238.120.13)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 10:11 am: | |
Instead of trying to drive the bus home how about finding a wrecking yard in the area that can remove the engine/tranny on the cradle for you and junk out the bus? All you would need then is a pickup truck to haul the cradle back. |
David & Lorna Schinske (Davidschinske) (64.24.236.55)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 10:22 am: | |
Hey, It's nice this time of year in TN!
Lorna
Southeastern, TN |
Adam P (64.236.221.6)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 22, 2003 - 3:31 am: | |
Howdy!!! As you my or may not know.... I'm a busnut with out a bus... (I'm the guy that doesn't want a "skoolie!) Anyway, I read your post had had to reply. If only for the reason, that a long time ago I've walked in your sons shoes... Go fishing!!! I don't fish, I don't hunt, but boy would it have been nice to spend quality time with my dad like that as a kid. (now, years later, we get along pretty good, in that grown-up sort of way...) I guess, and I don't know how else to describe it,,, spend that quality time so the kid feels the quality.... Not seeing his dad contorting over 40 foot hunk of non running iron, that he might not even be able to help with... I think that part of the bonding experiance is the act of doing the same thing together, at the same time. Not arriving some where, where there's disappointment and helplessness (from the kids point of view)..... I don't know... I'd say get rid of the ratty buses and get one nice coach!!! I would take that advice..... In the mean time, well, if you were to know me, I'd say let him help you restore HIS future tractor!!!! OK, or a car, or baseball, or you could go "fishing with a camera" Hopefully you know what I mean.... I hope you didn't feel offended, not the intent at all, just think of things from his point of veiw.
AP |
R TERRY (207.230.142.240)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 22, 2003 - 3:50 pm: | |
Good advice!
My son, 15 and going into his second year of high school, told me he was going to take photography this year. As a photographer myself, that was easy for me: I gave him a nice camera outfit for his birthday and lots of dadly instruction (I tried not to be too professional about it).
Needless to say, he took most of the pictures on our trip and we had the utmost quality of Quality Time. We didn't catch any fish, but we got some fine pictures, some suitable for framing, some suitable for class and, hopefully, a good grade.
He's a fine young man and I am very proud of him! To my great relief, he loved the trip, even if was kind of stupid. (Whew!)
R TERRY |
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