Cushions and pillows

Jill:

For the curtain and cushion fabric I bought outdoor fabric from Jo-Ann's at a half price sale. I found some of the camping fabric there too, the other I bought at Fabric.com, all on sale, (is there any other way?).   On the bottom of the cushions I used gray marine vinyl (also on sale at Jo-Ann's).  I purchased a heavy outdoor thread for extra strength.






The bench/mattress covers are sewn with an envelope end, just like the pillows, so they can be removed easily for washing. It bunched a bit, which I am not pleased with, but it works quite well, so it will do.

This mattress that Jigs is sitting on here, actually goes on the floor to make use of the lower bunk and the floor space for comfortable sleeping when we have all six of us.

Mozey makes himself at home.

 The foldout bed was harder to cover. Though it came with it's own cover, that one is a bit thin and catches snags. So, to prolong it's life I wanted to cover it. I bought a couch cover but it was all the wrong shape. Since I can't return it, I am considering how to re sew it to work. For now this flannel sheet is doing just fine, though a bit too unfitted for long term,  and it fits nicely when folded out as well.

The envelope end works well with the pillows, not as good on the mattresses.

Mozey The Prince has found his pillow, after checking out 

each and every one.

Table seating for six

Jill:  Seating 6. Yes it can be done. We comfortably ate breakfast in here and played games when it was raining. We are pleased at how well this worked out.

The table is an aluminum folding camp table. I made a bag to protect it and protect the other surfaces from scratching from the aluminum edges. The bottom has some of the curtain fabric on it to make it extra sturdy.

A Place for Everything and Everything in it's Place

 "A place for everything and everything in it's place", is apparently an essential idea for a small place and she who packed it knows where it is. So now it's labeled so everyone knows! On school days all the kids had their back packs and came on with them and off with them, so no storage needed. Family camping is really different. Lots of things need to live on the bus, so I am starting to feel like a storage unit. Or maybe a little tiny home!!! How cool is that!

Jill: This is a view under the kitchen counter. There we store the fridge, water, pots and pans and some food, table, and the potty too, but only when driving. The drawer holds kitchen utensils for cooking and pot holders, hooks that hang up wet things over the counter, and various other items to keep handy.
 The table is in the gray bag which is in front of the drawer unit. I will make fabric panels for this area once the fabric that matches the curtains is back in stock.

In the photo you can see the canvas bags under the bottom bunk. Each person has their own bag. Everything they want to take on the trip goes in there. Everything. They are pretty spacious and we could fit clothes in there for about a 5 day trip. The dirty laundry goes in a a pillow case in the bag. Keep your stuff contained. (Jigs is posing for the photo).





My dad has the coolest stuff! These white plastic coated wire racks were reclaimed out of another project and they are a perfect fit. Dave was able to screw them to the bus interior without any problem and use straps to hold them steady. We did learn that they do a fair bit of shaking on a washboard dirt road! But, no damage was done and all held tight. Whew!  I bought matching grey baskets at Big Lots and the wire ones were gifts at Christmas.



Baskets with permanent contents are labeled with tags cut from old flour sacks and tied with ribbon from the basement stash, bought on clearance at some time or another. I used the fun stitching on my sewing machine and wrote the words with fabric markers and sharpies.       

• Fire: matches, lighter sticks, citronella candle, etc.    
• Pets: Dog food, water container, leashes, bowls. 
• First-Aid and Fix-It: everything to fix minor things on people, and inside the bus. 
• Light: lanterns, flash lights, night lights, magnetic light, batteries. 
• Wash cloths and towels
• Toiletry: everyone's tooth brushes, soap, combs, etc. 
• Paper Goods: plates, napkins, cups, utensils, table cloth, trash bags, etc.   
• Snacks: camping makes you hungry and if you don't want all the groceries rummaged through you had better label a snack basket! 
• The remaining baskets are for the lighter weight food stuffs.   

 Over the sink is a hanging wire basket rack I found at Good will. Perfect for the things needed at the sink and cleaning items used daily.

 At the Goodwill I also found these pillow covers (below right). There are three. I was just making plans to sew up some like this to house the interior curtains and found these that match so well. A change of button and we are good to go. Below left you can see the door curtain inside the bag. So cool! When something can have a dual use that is even better, curtain storage doubles as extra lounge pillows.  I am always excited when I find just what I was looking for at the thrift store.
The shams in the photo on the right behind the pillow cover bags are also a thrift store find. Since everyone likes to lounge on the beds while driving we needed a few more pillows and I had used all the camping fabric. These are a great match.

 This brown, plastic set of drawers is under the kitchen counter. They house family sized pot, frying pan, kettle, griddle and cutting board. There is plenty of space to keep heavier food stuffs. When that is not enough the extra can go in a tub under one of the benches.
                        

We thought that the drawers may open during driving so I invented a way to keep them shut. More use of Christmas string light clips and para-cord. Those things are so very handy!


All in all, it works really well. Longer trips would require laundry and grocery stops, but that would be expected anyway.

Bare bones: Benches and beds and counter

Well, here I am in Colorado and things are thawing out. I mean the snow and the air. The feelings between me, the bus, and the family seem to be thawing too. Well the kids have always been great. And boy am I glad for the kids! I really did miss kids. Dave and Jill seem to be getting over the buyers remorse too, so that's promising. Really, I am hoping to live a little longer and now that I lost my seats I am not really sure what life is going to have in store for me. Jill has this drawing she keeps bringing in to show Dave and he keeps marking all over it and then measuring my ribs and floor. No clue what they are up to, but it must be good. I can feel it. Hey, maybe you'd be interested in what they are doing! Here, I'll let them tell you. 

(The pictures below are of a later time when more was finished. If we can find any of the actual process I will replace them. I don't think there are any. We never thought we would do a blog until people started asking to see it and how we did this or that. So, it is what it is.)


Jill:
I had a design all ready to go when Dave sent me the dimensions from California, so I just tweaked a few things. When we walked through measuring and imagining after the floor was in we changed a few things. Well, maybe quite a few things. There was no way we were fitting 6 people in here to sleep. We are going for a basic camping vehicle, not a live-in-mobile, or even a motor home. So, out went the potty into a port-a-tent. It can move in when we don't need the sleeping space. Sad, but kids do grow up and move out. The first leaves this fall for college, so we are feeling that reality right now. 

On an online site I belong to someone was selling a counter top with a center drawer. It seemed like a good fit for the bus counter and it cost less than buying the parts to build one. So, I bought it. Ends up Dave had to cut off one end and move a leg, but it works out well. I like the drawer. (There were some real issues with that which I will tell you about later). 

We had the idea of using some under bed drawers we have had in storage for a long time for under the front benches. But, then we thought about the long camp chairs we like to sit in around the fire. Where would we put those? Out went the drawer idea. The two benches that line the walls of the front of the bus are boxes with top opening lids. Inside one we can put the camp chairs, the port-a-tent and other supplies we will get out and set up when we make camp. In the other there is storage for items we need occasionally. That same side houses the two 12 v car batteries Dave uses to run the fridge and water pump and lights. (He has another post on that!)

My dad has had the opportunity to collect some cool and useful items along the way and he is generous with them. When he got in on the plans he offered some of these treasures. Two of which are WWII stretchers that Dave handily converted into a bunk bed along one side of the back of the bus across from the kitchen counter. The top also doubles as storage for the sleeping bags whenever not in use. 

So there are the bare bones of the project. 

A Touch of Remorse and Homescickness

So MUCH snow! I had never seen snow before nor been so very cold. I was feeling all my energy sap out of me.  Homesick? Yes, I think so. Who wouldn't pine away for Hawaii when stuck in snow drift after snow drift. I'm pretty sure Dave was feeling something unpleasant too. He kept using the term "Buyers Remorse". Whatever that means. Was he homesick too? No, he lives here, he is used to snow. I bet he was wishing he bought a beach side cottage instead of an old bus. Running the snow blower week after week will do that to a man I hear. Maybe they can tell you more about what that means.

Every time Dave went to start the bus we had battery issues. So a new battery was purchased. That too seemed to go bad right away. Dave resorted to taking the battery out and putting it on a charger in the garage. He put the battery back in whenever we wanted to use it. This seemed to solve the problem temporarily, but that was a big pain. Having driven from CA to CO and having had no issues, we were at a loss as to why this was happening. Good engine. Also, the tires were really bad. It snowed so much that it took months for us to get it out enough to where Dave could take it for tires. These things gave Dave the "buyers remorse" feelings. Plus it was February, a rather cold and brown month here. He resolved to go by the school bus lot and ask their mechanics some questions once he could get the bus out. We had the bus, so we were going to have to make the best of it.

Internal surgery- removing the bus seats and replacing the floor

 It is COLD in Colorado. Well, until the sun comes out and starts to melt the drifts away. When the drifts finally melted away from my sides and the air was not exactly freezing, but not so warm either, Dave began internal surgery on me. Well, that is to say, he took the seats and flooring out.  I wasn't all together sure what was happening to me, so I am going to turn it over to Jill and Dave to explain.

The bolts holding the seats in were rusted and so Dave had to cut them out. There were a lot of sparks and dust and it smelled really bad, metal and old humidity smells with dust and dirt. Everyone had to wear masks when they were helping. Finally all the seats were out. Grandpa Jerry came and hauled them away for scrap.

 Next to go was half the flooring. Some rust and rot had set in from the humidity in Hawaii. Dave is very resourceful and he knew how to get rid of the rot and rust.  He used Rustoleum jelly and primer. Cutting and ripping out the floor was tough, fortunately only half of it needed to go. It was replaced with very thin plywood, left over from other projects. The other half we left.

After the floor was out we cleaned up inside. Simple Green and for the tough greasy areas we used Krud Kutter. When that was done and the weather was warm enough the whole family painted the inside walls and ceiling a bright white. Rustoleum oil based paint for tractors, etc. Comes in Bright White, Fire-engine Red, Kelly Green, Royal Blue, Black and School Bus Yellow. 1 gal. cans from Home Depot.

 Next came the flooring! First the re claimed rubber mats. you know the kind that you put under foot in a shop. This is a good insulation, sound barrier and stabilizer. Plus it was free.  Over that went wood laminate snap together flooring. Home Depot clearance .49 cents a foot!

You can also see in the picture the pink insulation foam board that they glued to the walls under the windows. This also was left over from other projects.


Looking Good!

What's in a Name?

So my new family names everything. Since I have never had a name before I guess that was pretty cool of them to give me one. But, Hubert.....?

They were throwing around some names for me. Jill suggsted Prairie Schooner (you know like covered wagon days). Mixed reception on that one, so she tried again. Daisy? No one jumped on that. What about a Minion name she suggested, after all I am yellow. Nope. The kids are NOT riding around in a Minion mobile. Why? They suggested tie dying me and painting flower chains and sayings and cartoons all over me. Mom said NO! Really, she said it like that. I guess she feels strongly about that. But, a Minion is better? She still likes Prairie Schooner.

Then one day Olivia had a special lemonade bottle. It looked like this.
















After that everyone started calling me Hubert and that got shortened to Huey.  I am NOT a lemon, but I must be just as cute as that winking lemon on the bottle, because the name stuck. 
Jill: I still think Prairie Schooner would have been a good name.)