Our girl is getting checked out right now by the skilled technicians at Tuffy Auto Service Center. Today's schedule includes an oil change as well as a thorough check up. We'll know much more tomorrow about her health and well being for her big debut later this summer. I'll keep you posted!

And just like that, there are no more seats!  Thursday night saw the last seat fly out of the back of the bus along with the heater and floor strips.  The interior is finally a blank slate for the design team.  However there were some notable mishaps despite a great night in the history of the bus.

First there was the small issue of the fire.  The bus' extinguisher was almost put to the test as Vince grinded away at the final seat.  Sparks were bunched up due to the bulky heater, igniting a pile of dirty kleenex, candy wrappers, and other filth left behind by the Long Beach County, NY School System.  I was able to remove the burning embers with the hammer before the fire got out of control, but needless to say it was a scary moment. 

Next there was the incident with the mysterious liquid.  With all the screws and wires removed from the heater it was just a matter of gently lifting it out of the bus.  However nothing is ever that easy.  So yada yada yada and a few swift kicks later the heater came loose as a mysterious green liquid spilled on to the floor of the bus.  After a few moments of anxiety we realized it was the coolant for the motor in the heater.  However that couple of seconds was a bit scary.

So with everything off the bus it was time to drive her over to the dumpster and unload the trash.  Vince made the mistake of encouraging me to peel out.  I made the mistake of listening.  First Vince was pleased as I roared away from the building.  However his joy quickly turned to sheer terror as he screamed for me to stop.  As a tip for all you would-be bus creators, unplug the powertools from inside the bus before actually driving the bus.  Oops.  Luckily Vince splurged on the 50ft cord, so we didn't break anything.  The pics of final demo show Vince surveying the damage.

When the fun ended Megan and I decided to take her for a spin.  Since she finally has a license plate we could get her out of the parking lot and on to the open road where she belongs.  To this point everytime I've started her up there has been considerable exhaust, presumably from burning oil.  Last night was no different as we accelerated to 65 on the road.  The good news however is after about 2 minutes she stopped puffing.  The ride was smooth and suprisingly quiet, save for a few random engine clicks during acceleration. 

So all in all it was a big day for the bus.  She took her maiden voyage as a non-school bus, and transformed from a workhorse to the makings of a party wagon.  This weekend we will try to clean and paint the interior as well as laying the wood floors and the groundwork for the AV wiring.  We'll be sure to keep you posted!

We're finally getting somewhere!  It was a rough start for the bus, with several failed attempts at acquiring Florida registration and plates and even more failure at getting the seats out of the old bus.  To recap, here are several methods/tools that don't remove bus seats:

• Socket Wrench (go figure)
• 2 Socket Wrenches
• Hammer
• Chisel
• Hammer and Chisel combo
  
• Blowtorch, hammer and chisel (moderate success)
• Back of a hammer
• Happy thoughts/good intentions
• WD40
• Karate style kicking
• blood

Vince finally purchased a power metal grinder, and we were in business.  Sparks flew as rusty bolt heads were chopped off and seats came out.  We lost the sunlight last night, so there are still three seats holding strong in the bus that will be out shortly.  While I'm using the bullet point tool, let me also recap things that the "special" children were nice enough to leave wedged under the seats for us.

• Plastic Spoon
• Drug company sponsored Pen
• Pixie stick candy
• Bandaid (used)
• Kleenex (used)
• Hair tie
• Plastic fake quarter
• Herpes
  

Thanks to the children of Long Island for those gifts! 

So real progress has been made, and things should move much more quickly now.  A new wood floor is expected to go in soon in honor of the 2006 National Champion Gators basketball team.  The kegerator refrigerator has been located and work should begin soon on it.  The air conditioner has also been chosen and will come in after the floor is done.  Things are happening!

Make sure you take a look at the "Demolition" section of the photo albulm for the pics from the seat removal!