Friday, October 29, 2010

Rebuild, Repair


Ok, so we can't exactly say that everything has been smooth sailing. Our friends and family have certainly crossed their fingers for us as we've encountered a few, let's say "bumps" in our journey towards school-bus overhaul completion. I suppose when you rescue a school bus from a salvage yard, even if it is in wonderful condition, it's not entirely unreasonable for a few things to crack, rupture, or just stop working. First there was the infamous blinker problem, then the squeaky belt issue, the water pump replacement, and, my personal favorite, the leak in the break lines. Fearing yet another trip to the garage (when you have a small school bus as your vehicle, you have to take it to a special garage because regular garages don't have lifts that can support it, but that special garage also services local coach buses and trolleys, which is awesome, oh yeah, and they also charge you hundreds of dollars and your first born child just to fix a minor problem), Zach enlisted Andrew's mechanical expertise to remedy the break line issue. First, Zach had to gallantly drive the bus about seventeen miles using only the e-brake. I was so nervous that the e-brake would fail that I offered to drive my car behind the bus the whole way, but then Zach pointed out that if the e-brake did fail, and the bus did run into something, then the fact that I was driving my car behind the bus really wouldn't be of any help anyway, except then I would be at the scene to prance around nervously about the fact that the bus had just hit something. Long story short, I worried at home while Zach made the drive alone, and it was fine. The worst part was actually the driveway, I think. Then we backed the bus into the Bourbons' garage. The mirrors on the bus are actually wider than the garage door, but the body of the bus just clears the sides. There are few things more nerve wracking than backing a two-ton vehicle without brakes towards a building, but we got it in! It was such a tight fit that you couldn't get around the bus to get into the garage, so you had to go through the side door, and then through the bus door, through the bus, and out the back emergency exit. But they fixed it! I kind of helped, I was in charge of watching the brake-fluid level while Zach bled the brakes, and Andrew pretended that he was a bus-driver hauling around a bunch of unruly kids. It was a good day for everyone.

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