ezrablu - 1991 Bluebird of Happiness

[ezrablu]

One thing I forgot to mention is this camp is for all men Every group is different. The first group that came in 2 days after I arrived were 40 of Canada's richest men....all Financial Advisors. They only get to come on this trip with their "boss" is if they each donate $100,000 or more to Rushing Wind (the name of this fly-in camp) Of course not all the money is used to run/repair/build the camp...it goes to other "projects" like another similar camp in the process of being built in Central Wisconsin.

BUT this summer there will also be 2 "Couples" groups being flown in this month and then a family group coming in mid July...then back to all men for August and Sept.

[stuartcnz]

Looks like a stunning place to be working!

[ezrablu]

It sure is Stuart. There are only 6 of us that run the whole place. When all the guests leave and we get a few days between the next guests arriving it's even nicer to be there

This evening I'm gonna try to get some more of my bus photos with updates on here. I'm not sure if anybody remembers but I was having a brake issue. I need to find some grub before I start posting tonight. I was out at the bus all afternoon mowing lawn and putting the finishing touches on the brakes. The Bluebird of Happiness is completely roadworthy now (well, it always was except when I decided to replace all the brake lines then couldn't get the rear lines to bleed But it's all good now! More in a bit.


UPDATE: ok...I ate and now I'm too tired to post tonight Mmmmust sssleeeeeep I'll try to do it in the morning before I split to go work on the bus again

[rlaggren]

That country looks glorious. But the lakes and rivers of greenbacks the place floats on... Gives me a weird feeling. Guess I'm just too bohemian class to conceive that many bucks in comfort. I dunno. Maybe I'm some kind of closet communist or anarchist or something... Great score for the summer though! Can't get better. Congrats, Ezra.

Rufus

[Dennis The Bus Dweller]

Hey there Carol

I guess I missed it but how did you get a gig like this?

[ezrablu]

lol...I hear ya...well, I've only told part of the story Stuart but from past experience on a "similar" forum, I've learned to try and keep religion and politics out of this kind of forum...most of us know what that leads to So in a nutshell, Rushing Wind isn't just a fishing camp. It's a Christian camp ran completely by donations and missonary volunteers like me. It's backed by men from God's Great Outdoors and Fisher's of Men as a place for fatherless boys, teenagers and men from broken families to come to heal and learn. That first group of men were some of the people who financially support the camp. To get into how much good and what all all that donated money does would probably bore many of the people here. (If anybody does want to know more just Google God's Great Outdoors, Fisher's of Men, Rushing Wind).

BUT the bonus of this mission trip for me is being in such a beautiful place in the wilderness with great fishing My next mission trip won't be so "nice". I'm scheduled to go to Kampala, Uganda Africa. I was supposed to go this past March but funding and health were against me.

[ezrablu]

Sorry I got too busy to post photos and now I have to leave tomorrow night for Canada again but I'll post a few tonight and will do more when I get home around July 1st.

The last bus photos I posted were when I was doing the insulation on the walls and ceiling. After that I put up tongue and groove pine siding:



After I finished all the walls, my son gave me a hand and framed each window:

[ezrablu]

That night I went home and he stayed to finish the window framing. And drink beer...a lot of beer. Which I think contributed to him becoming creative and ignoring my "vision" of how I want to do my bus So, the next day when I went back to do some more work, I was a little unsure of how to react...some was good (he built in around the whole cockpit, added some cabinets and shelves and a place for my dog Kitty to ride) but some was not what I wanted (he built walls dividing the driver from the living area) but hey, it's nice work and after looking at it for a few days, I thought it might be good he did it. But to me this seemed to waste a lot of space not to mention it totally interfered with my plan to have a very open floorplan. I didn't want the driver to feel "separate" from the back of the bus but he said that's why he put in the little windows. In his mind he created a separate entryway before people actually could come into the living space plus it will keep the cold out by giving a space between to take off boots, shoes, coats, etc. There will be a door put on between the walls. I'll test this idea out for this winter and if it sucks...the walls come down next spring



One of the walls and window:


Try to look past all the tools and stuff to see the driver area:

[ezrablu]

This is taken standing in doorway facing the drivers area:

[ezrablu]

We laid linoleum down in the drivers area too since it's going to be the "foyer" Plus he trimmed out some places with carpet (can see some on right side of photo with bag laying on it)

[ezrablu]

Again, taken standing in the doorway created by the two walls w/windows, this photo shows one of the shelves built behind the drivers seat and some of the woodwork:

[ezrablu]

Another view standing just at the top of the steps beside the drivers seat looking toward the back of the bus. You can see the two walls w/windows:

[ezrablu]

Here I'm standing at the back of the bus looking forward (sorry about all the "stuff" laying around and the ceiling still hanging in the way):



Speaking of ceiling...I'm using 4x8 sheets of plywood called Honey Pine. It's an easy, fast way for me to get a ceiling for the winter. Maybe next summer I'll do it the way I really want to do it by using the same tongue and groove pine I used on the walls. (It's not all the way attached yet in this photo yet)

[ezrablu]

In the upper left side you can see the carpeted area that my son built for my dog Kitty to sit while going down the road. She'll have a great window seat so her tongue can flap in the wind (the drivers seat is missing but goes right beside that seat belt of course):

[ezrablu]

Well that's it for this time. Next time I'll put up photos of the me replacing all the brake lines...here's a little rusty teaser:







All the brakes lines from the front to the very back of the bus had to be replaced...they were all rusted, broken or missing sections. It's a wonder that bus ever stopped the times I drove it! A HUGE thanks to Mark for answering my questions.

Catch you all in a few weeks...be good