NOMADICISTA

On some other forums there has been a lot of discussion about reprogramming Allison computers.

Most have discovered the OEM's don't want to send Allison authorizing letters. Most of the reasoning has nothing to do with capabilities and more to do with liability.

Consider yourself fortunate to have been able to get the reprogramming accomplished as easily as it seems to have been done.

Mark, I've been hearing that too. I've spoken with a guy with an MC-9 that couldn't get them to do anything for him. MCI has been through some tough times in the past few years and has had a good bit of turnover. They call on us on a rare occassion. We have 51 of their D4500 coaches.

Here's a fun little trip I took last Haloween. It's a dog show on Halloween weekend. There are usually lots of motor homes that decorate heavily and the show has a judge that picks the best decorated site. I just threw this together, so nothing special on the Halloween decorations. We had fun and got a few laughs.

Memorial Weekend Camping Trip

We took a little Memorial Day camping trip this past weekend. It was mostly a quiet affair. A good neighbor down the street also went and took their camping trailer. We cooked out together and swapped stories. The campground was full of young people and their kids. I don't recall when I've seen so many kids. Maybe this is a good sign that our pastime is rebounding. Surprisingly, there was also a large number of tents as well.

As I sat inside the bus, I noticed vehicles when they passed by. I had several slow downs and guys pointing out the Gillig to their spouses. I even had one guy come by and inquire about it. I gave him the tour. Says he would love to have a bus conversion of some type. He says his wife is reluctant however. She's more interested in an upscale factory motorhome. I told him to bring her by if she wants to take a look. They never made it back.

I'm pleased to say my air compressor installation worked as planned. It would kick on about twice a day for 3 - 4 minutes. You may recall that I plumbed it to the auxillary air tank to keep my air operated door functioning. It worked great. At night I would disable the outside switch so there could be no unauthorized entry. I'm pleased with the setup, considering the alternative is very difficult to build and install.

I didn't take very many photos, as there wasn't many exciting things going on. But, here's a couple for you of our camping spot. We also have a new member of the family, Myrna. She's just a 6 month old pup, but wore me out walking and trying to chase birds and squirrels. If you can imagine putting a leash on a squirrel and walking it, well, that was what it was like.

Looks like fun.

The campground was full of young people and their kids. I don't recall when I've seen so many kids

We're leaving tomorrow morning for a short getaway. Since we're both retired we usually go during the week. This state campground is only
8 miles away, there's a good chance we'll have it all to ourselves. Price is lower in the middle of the week.

A lovely bus in a lovely setting. Glad you had a good time. We've been trying to get a couple nights in a state park, but between Mother's health and our other obligations, it ain't been happening.

Myrna looks great, too. Do you generally start pups at that age?

Jim

Lostranger wrote:A lovely bus in a lovely setting. Glad you had a good time. We've been trying to get a couple nights in a state park, but between Mother's health and our other obligations, it ain't been happening.

Myrna looks great, too. Do you generally start pups at that age?

Jim

Thanks Jim. We all have to play the hand we've been delt. You'll find the opportunity soon. Just think of all the fuel money you're saving.

On Myrna, yes, 6 months old is the earliest you can begin confirmation showing. Many start around that time, sometimes a little older.

Movies On A Budget

I want to share a great little device that I use for Netflix movies-to-go. Many of you may already know about it, but haven't tried it yet. If you haven't, I'm here to tell ya it works great. The only two requirements are:

a) you have a Netflix account
b) you have cell phone service (and a data plan)

It's the Apple Digital AV Adapter. It connects to an HDMI cable (which is connected to your tv). The other end connects to your Iphone or Ipad. I just love mine and I know of at least two people who got rid of their satellite bill and use it instead. Just connect it to your phone, launch the Netflix app and you're in business.



I am thrilled with this little device. I still have an unlimited data plan from AT&T, despite them doing all they could to get everyone out of those. I set my phone down on this shelf after connecting and bring out the popcorn!



For anyone interested, here is the rest of my tv, sound, antenna setup.

TV is mounted on the back side of the partition behind the driver. This was originally plexiglass and I made a wooden partition to replace it.


Sony sound system for Iphone sitting below. It's hooked up with a cable from TV. (The Bose one is better than the Sony, if you're buying)


Opposite side of TV, behind the driver's head, is my little antenna. It's not as good as an outside one, but works great for what it is. It's mounted with velcro so I can move it if I need to.


The bus cap is all fiberglass, so the signal usually comes in pretty good. For those times of no tv signal and no cell phone service, I always take along some DVD's. This particular tv has a DVD player built into it. So far it's worked good.

Sometimes I get so wound up in 'projects' and things to do and life in general, I get distracted from what it is I really want to be doing....camping/outside/fishing/etc. Thanks for the reminder!!

I understand that completely. I'm the same way. To be honest, I've reached a point that I actually have time on my hands when I'm off. In a way it's great. In another, I miss the projects. I know, it's crazy, right?

Travelling With Mutts

I'm probably more mutt than anything else in the bus. Nothing wrong with mutts. They're resourceful, smart, and make the best all around buddy you will find. Maybe I'm at least one of those things!

But I do a fair bit of travelling with a couple of pets, since we go to a number of dog shows every year. Several things in my bus were purpose built with this in mind. I did my best to make canine travel safe and easy for both them and myself.

One of those things involved turning this fare box railing



into a safety gate like this


Having an air operated, bi-fold, entrance door is not the ideal door if you have pets. There's always lag time between pressing the door button and when it actually closes. This is perfect for a Hollywood scary flick, as it would give the zombies plenty of opportunity to squeeze inside the bus before the door sealed them out. Conversely, it also works the other way too. If you're trying to keep pets in, they have plenty of opportunity to scamper out the door, or worse, get halfway outside when the door closes on them. In an abundance of caution, I knew I had to do something to prevent either of these things from happening. I don't really need zombie issues (they're entirely too messy) and I sure don't need to loose a pet outside either. Thus the idea was conceived of the pet gate. As for Hollywood, they will need to come up with their on plots ------ or talk to my agent, Lostranger.

So, I started looking at pet gates. My goodness, there are lots of them out there. Plastic ones, wood ones, steel ones, stainless steel ones, and the list goes on. Finding the right gates wasn't so hard, as figuring out how to mount it. On one side, there is the dash ------ substantial as it is, it's still much shorter than the gate I would need. On the other side there's, well, nothing really. I had to come up with a plan to mount the gate (on the dash end) and have a closer on the opposite end. I thought about this for months before I came up with my plan. In the end, I did what I've been doing all along on this conversion ------- using what I already had.

I'm not sure how I finally came up with the idea, but I decided to take the stainless hand rail that protected the fare box back when it was a transit, and adapt it to be my stanchions for the pet gate. The gate I purchased was made by Cardinal (for anyone interested). They make a good quality product and have many models to choose from. I've had a couple in my house for years. In the end I had to buy a couple of small pieces to mount the handrails to the dash, but everything else was on the bus already. Take a look at it below and tell me what you think.

Really looks nice, good re purpose.

Recently I put some more tires on the rear of the bus. I went to a different place than I normally go to, thinking they would use a torque wrench to install to the right torque. Their automobile section certainly does. Of course, the commercial division didn't and moreover, didn't even own a torque wrench that would go to 500 ft lbs. Rather than have them overtorqued, I told them to install tight, but I'd take it home and torque them correctly. Well, it's a good thing I did because I had several nuts fairly loose.

I don't know why it is apparently expecting too much for a commercial tire shop to have a torque wrench. I haven't found any in my area that even own one. You'd think they'd have one, even if they only used it upon request. I borrowed this one because I don't own one large enough for wheel studs. They're a bit pricey and since I only use them once every five years, I haven't invested in one either. I really got to buy one of these the next time I'm rich.

LC, you sure made the right decision tightening your own lugs. It seems most tire shops only care about slam bam thank you man which they accomplish with a 1" impact wrench run until it can turn no more. I've lost track of the number of times I've had to replace studs due to this practice. I've been looking for an American made torque multiplying wrench that I can afford. In the mean time I'm breaking lug nuts loose with a setup like yours, propped on a jack stand and extended with a 5' section of drive shaft which I jump up and down on. Just isn't right! Jack

Jack, I also thought about the torque multiplying wrench, but wasn't sure if they were very accurate when used with a smaller torque wrench or not. I haven't really read very much about them being used for torqueing. Most of the time I read about them being used to break lugs loose. I keep hoping I'll run up on a good deal somewhere, maybe an auction where a shop is closing down.