Yeah, it's been awhile. I've developed some weird ailment (no, it's not Old Age) which has slowed me down A LOT! The end of May I started getting tendinitis in my shoulders and hips, that just keeps getting worse if I'm too active. Haven't ridden my bike since Memorial Day weekend. All my lab tests are negative except high sed. rate which indicates some inflammation going on. Last time I worked a full day on The Bus, I spent the following two days on the couch, I was so sore. I'm seeing a rehumatologist Tuesday. As long as I work at about 50% I can move the next day.

Anyway, I pulled out all the remaining original wiring under the dash and in the driver's panel, then reinstalled the driver's electrical panel, and foam insulated between that and the exterior skin. I also found a non-toxic paint stripper and began testing that. It works great, but costs almost $80 a gal. The good news is that it covers really well and should only take about 8 gal. to do the whole bus. It's real thick and sticks to vertical surfaces better than anything I've used in the past. I have to put all the paint into a bucket and take to a hazardous waste facility, since it's about 100% sure to contain lead.

I found 6 new original amber marker lights online. Thirty bucks! Great deal. I got 2/3 of the structural flooring glued and bolted in place. A great feeling to be able to walk around inside! Should have the rest of the floor in this coming week. Then, we can tape out the floor plan and see if everything actually fits.

I removed the original aluminum dash and air powered windshield wipers. I've got new electric wiper motors, and hope to be installing them this week as well.

I joined a bus conversion forum a few months ago which has been very interesting. There are over 3000 of us crazy people out there driving 30, 40, 50, even 60 year old buses! It's a very active forum, and any question or problem I run into, I post and get at least 10 replies. So, I posted some questions about electrical options, and was invited to a bus rally in the Flint area next week. There will be at least 22 buses there, and the host has arranged a roundtable with five or six experienced “busnuts” to help design my electrical system. It's actually more complex than building a house. With a house, you wire with 110/220v AC, period. In a bus you have both AC and DC power which is supplied by the alternator, battery bank, inverter, “shore line” AC plug-in, and 6000w generator. All this has to be integrated to select AC power for washer, dryer, dishwasher, air conditioners, microwave, TV, etc. That power can be supplied by the “shoreline”, generator, or the DC to AC inverter. Then there are FIVE options for air conditioning, and decisions about interior lighting (will probably go with 100% DC LED interior lighting. The list goes on.

As it happens, that weekend is also the Flint Brickyard car show and the Woodward Ave. cruise. The Vette is 95% completed, so we're going over with that and cruise. There will be over 10,000 street rods, muscle cars, classics, customs, etc. cruising Woodward Ave.

So, hoping to get some answers about this affliction I have and get back up to full speed. I'll have lots of pics in next blog.