The Electrifying, But Crappy, Bus Trip

Four years ago, my hubby's wheeling and dealing landed us our new adventure, and boy has it been a fun ride. He made a deal to purchase a 1953 bus for $1,000. 

My husband Bob spotted this old bus parked near the Olive Street Bridge, on the Route 152 side of the bridge in Attleboro. The bus was owned by the Adams Family who had used the bus as a motor home. The family's destinations were race tracks all around the nation. But, sadly it wasn't in use anymore, and so there it sat. Until one day it disappeared.

Bob was beside himself wondering what had become of the 1950's bus. Until one day he was traveling down Route 1A in Plainville, when he spotted it. There it sat again, unused. Bob decided that he had to stop and find out its story.

The bus was no longer owned by the Adams family, it had new owners. The new owners, however, decided they had no interest in the bus and put it up for sale. Bob decided he just had to have it. Unfortunately the $8,000 price tag was something my family just couldn't afford. But that didn't stop my hubby from checking in every couple of months. It took a year before he finally got the bus for what he thought was a fair price-$1,000! SOLD!

The bus needed a little updating. We changed the back bedroom from twin beds to one king size bed, added a new floor and took down a wall. We painted all the walls and switched the couch to a fold-down unit. Now, our camper accommodates our family of five.

It's electrifying

I got an email about a Monster Truck show in upstate New York and we had to go. We were going to camp close to home for our first time, but New York was a trip we had to take. Our two boys and our daughter love those super-size trucks. We were a little nervous about taking a 1953 bus for a ride four hours away. Towing my mini van seemed like a good idea. If anything went wrong at least we had another set of wheels.

We found a great camp ground that had everything we needed. They offered electric, cable and sewer. There was a heated swimming pool and cute little country store, all next to a lake. We got our tickets for the show and figured maybe we would check out Niagara Falls too.

We were four hours behind schedule before the trip even started. I should have know by the start of this trip that it was not going to be a cake walk. Driving down Route 395 late at night, my hubby started having issues with the lights, twice they went out. He tried to turn on the high beams and the lights went out all together.

Six hours later we checked in to our New York campsite. They placed our 1950's bus in the middle of this campground, surrounded by beautiful top-of-the-line campers. What a sight to see. Hubby hooked us up to everything but the sewer, the hose was on the other side of the bus. Bob figured he would just hook us up the day we leave, and dump the sewerage then.

All set up and ready for fun.

Our family stayed at the campground the first day and enjoyed the pool, but the trip soon became electrifying. I was one of the first to notice that our home away from home was zapping us. I learned the hard way when I touched the bus while wearing a wet bathing suit.We learned quickly what NOT to do. Don't touch the bus wet, don't touch the bus barefoot and do not to do both at the same time.

Ouch!

Our daughter Molly made a friend and the bus did not discriminate — it zapped her friend too. Bob tried to figure out why, but he couldn't figure it out. So we were careful.

So full of crap

We went off to the Falls, it was incredible and the highlight of our trip. Unfortunately, it was time to go. While I was off gathering my two boys, my funny hubby decided my 7-year-old daughter would be a great helper to dump the crapper. The hose had material moving though it slowly, so Molly was asked to pull a lever lightly to let more through to move the process along.

Only instead of a little, Molly opened the lever all the way, which caused a backup. My hubby said it was just like the movie RV. First the hose sprouted leaks and then the hole thing went. Not only does the bus zap you when you stand in water, it zaps you when you stand in sewage. Bob was zapped twice.

As Bob was getting zapped, I was turning the corner just in time for the smell to hit me. I pull up and uttered, is that? Bob immediately cut me off and said, "Yes, shut up and help me." Molly was screaming "Oh my God" because her flip flops were covered. I proceed to put bags on my hands start cleaning up the waste, while the genius, whose idea it was to send Molly to pull the lever, washed everything down, away from the zapping bus. That was a fabulous way to end a vacation.

Although our bus gave us a rough first run, we have been enjoying our many new adventures. Bob fixed the zapping problem. But he hasn't attempted to dump the crapper. Although it was a nightmare at the time, we find these crazy happenings make our top stories list and provide our friends some great laughs. Hope you enjoyed it.