Green bus in the brambles....

Green bus in the brambles...

In an attempt to not give up on the dream of driving with the kids and exploring the US and Central America, I spoke to the owner of the shop I took Arty to and asked his advice.  After much wrangling and diagnostics it was determined that Arty could not be brought back without much work and money into a frame that was worth it.  I spoke to the owner of the shop and asked if he knew where I could get a mechancally sound and solid replacement.  Turns out they were an international dealer and had sold buses for years.  His brother had a bus that he would talk to me about.  

I was introduced to a green bus in the backyard among the weeds.  She had been sitting there for over 6 years.  The co-owner brother had saved this bus from a group of 7 they used to service from a company in Canada.  The company had spent $50K fixing the motors and transmissions on this bus.  All of the buses were sent up to Canada but did not pass some inspection or paperwork.  With only 40,000 miles on the rebuilt motor/trannies they were sent back to the US and sold off.  The green bus in the field was the best one and he kept it for himself to rennovate.  Unfortunately, his wife passed and the bus sat ever since.
I liked the bus immediately.  The chasis was stainless steel and the mechanicals were solid.  We dickered a bit and settled on $9000 to include a full front to back service and new tires.  The tires alone are worth about $1800 so I gave him $2000 down and said I would pay the rest off later when I sold my house.  I felt very good about the decsion and excited by the potential and had direct uses for it.  I wanted to use it to move my things back to  South Dakota.  The interior was huge and could hold my things from my property in Washington and my apartment in Brookings. 

The hope was that if my ex and I fixed things up, cool we had a bigger, safer, and better bus to build upon.  The shell was all there and as I said before the mechanicals were good.  If things did not work out I could fix it up for myself or use it to move my things to Boston where my kids now reside.

Not only was the bus in the brambles but so was my life.  My company logo and name include brambles as a reminder of what can be created out of the briar.  Oddly enough the color green (my favorite), the ease of finding it, and the brambles were all good signs for me to move forward.  It felt right and appropriate.