It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...literally. 

 

This weekend was a rolloercoaster of emotion.  To start I return Saturday from a week's vacation to find the yellow bus I'd grown to love had shed its skin and donned a shiny coat of blue metallic paint.  It is breathtaking.  Photos will be up soon (the delay will become evident as you read on).  So Sunday was deemed bus day as we accomplished several things off of our evert growing list of to-dos. We added awesome chrome hubcaps and UF valve stem caps.  We installed new carpet on the steps and under/around the driver's seat.  We finally found a stairnose piece to fit the top of the steps where the wood meets the carpet.  We accented it with a piece of metal edging which looks prety sharp.    Our love of the bus helped us work cheerfully through a light drizzle.

 

It was then that things quickly took a turn for the worse.  Megan and I were having difficulty removing the grinding wheel from the grinder which needed to be changed to trim the metal edging for the steps.  So while Megan tried to get it off, I moved on to adding the trim to the rear door of the bus.  The piece of edge needed to be shaved on the bottom to fit in to the T molding, so I went to it with an exacto/utility knife.  As I pushed hard to cut through the wood, the blade slipped off and found its way in to my left forearm.  Though there wasn't much pain at first, looking at the deep gash hurt pretty good.  Megan and I went in to clean it off where we determined I needed stitches.  So we wrapped it up in gause and went to get the bus and tools out of the back alley behind our house.  I was picking things up while Meg started up the bus...with no luck.  There was juice, but it just wouldn't fire.  Not what I needed at the time.

 

We were parked on a sharp incline, so we decided to let it roll down to level ground in case fuel wasn't getting where it needed to go. I'm no mechanic.  Not only did the 3,000lb bus not start, but it now blocked the alleyway at the base of the hill.  Awesome.  So Megan stayed for AAA while I drove my impailed self to the ER.  How ironic that both the bus and I were headed in for emergency treatment. 

 

Four stitches and as many hours later the nightmare had ended. (pic below...proceed with caution)

 

I visited the bus this morning at Tuffy.  It's hanging in there.  It should be better by tomorrow, at which point we will have a much better idea what happened.  On a good note, Urban Meyer is expected at Tuffy on Friday, so we may get our first signature! 

OK, once we get done with the TV's and stuff, then we'll get to work on adding this feature.  Thanks to Megan's dad for finding this.

We've earned a coveted link on ufgator.com!  Check out the page and the whole site. 

 

 

How many cans of paint does it take to cover the inside of a school bus?  Apparently just like the tootsie pop, we may never know.  After an afternoon of cleaning and a strong paint buzz, we're about a quarter of the way there on the coat of shiny white paint for the bus' interior.

 

Basically the plan is to cover the short bus' original "Tourrettes Tan" with a fresh coat of bright white.  Then, while the sides will be decorated with seats and gator memoribilia, the ceiling will be eventually coverd in signatures from both notable gator greats and notable tailgator greats. 

 

So from here we plan to invest in a wagner power sprayer to speed the process along.  Vince/Joy and Megan/I can also make good use of it as new homeowners.

 

Notice the new pics that show off a couple of new additions like the URBN gator plate and the blue reflective tint (visible in the rear window...thanks again lynn).  Looking good! 

 

Once interior paint is complete then we can really begin to assemble things.  Seats are made but can't be installed until its painted.  Then we simply toss in the fridge and airconditoner and turn our attention to the "media wall."  At that point we can also get cracking on the exterior.  Based on our interior paint experience, I think we'll leave that one to the pros!