The previous installment is:
The Early Years
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Photo 8:
Here we see Grace during an outing at Joshua Tree National Monument in California. Someone is enjoying the sun and desert solitude on the back porch. This must have been at least an overnight outing, as the stove pipe is installed, a fixture that is always removed during travel.
This photo typifies the apperance of the bus when I first met Prakash in 1976. The bus is freshly painted in Earth colors, with the Thunder Chicken icons painted on each side. The skylight has been installed (rectangular object on roof), ram's horns above the cab, a good-sized tool box affixed to the front bumper to hold the hydraulic jack and other implements.
Photo 9:
At some point, Prakash decided to add on to the front of the bus. I never did ask him if this was the plan from the beginning, or if the concept and design came later. In any case, he cut out the front of the loft, extended the floor above the cab, and constructed a steel framework to hold a rough "geodesic" of glass.
There's a lesson to be learned here, as the welding of the framework splattered slag and hot sparks all over the front of the bus, and when the loft was done, all of the glass, windshields and all, had to be replaced. If you ever have to weld around glass, either remove it, or cover it up well.
Photo 10:
The finished product. I've always liked the way Grace looked with the lace and fringe trimming the windows, it added a lot of class to the old school bus windows.
Shortly after Prakash built his Library, I began construction on a cab-over sleeping loft on my Housetruck. I asked him how he managed to tie together all of the curves and angles and get that area enclosed using flat glass panels. He replied that he kind of just welded in one piece at a time and it built itself. At the time, I thought he was being evasive, but after studying the bus, I can see how the planes were divided to break the angles into flat surfaces. He probably didn't have a complete plan, but relied on empirical reasoning to get through the tough parts.
I ended up building a fairly boring but very functional square box on my truck...
Interior photos of the Library to follow.
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Proceed directly to the next chapter: Repaint, then Road Trip