Packing is never fun, but trying to pack everything 2 people own into a school bus, trailer, and 2000 Suzuki Esteem is a little hard. We managed to do it. We gave some stuff away to friends but we managed to get all of our instruments, tools, computers, bikes/motorcycles and all of that in there. We were also trying to pack in between torrential rain from the tropical storm (thanks tropical storm Debby!) that was ravaging Tampa.
The trip back was interesting. We stopped in Georgia at our Mother’s friend’s place. While she and her husband were out of town, we got a chance to catch up with her kids. It’s interesting getting reacquainted with people you knew in your youth and haven’t seen for years. In the morning we stopped for gas, I was hoping to drain out a little of the oil because it had been overfilled. Unfortunately the plug completely dropped out and hot oil started pouring all over this pristine BP station. While I’m frantically trying to get the oil plug back in to stop this hot oil from pouring everywhere, Matt has to go tell the attendants the bad news. I manage to get enough gas station towels beneath/around the plug.. and in one motion I slam the plug into place and the flow of oil ceases. I had thought it wouldn’t have been too hot (it really wasn’t full on engine hot.. but definitely hot enough to be very uncomfortable). Lesson learned. Burn the oil off.
Next step. Mountains. I was very anxious about having to drive the bus through the mountains, but it was actually rather pleasant going uphill around 16-20 mph. It really makes the drive much more scenic. Semi’s and every other vehicle flying past you, no doubt some of them giving us the one finger salute. I didn’t have much fun driving behind Matt in the Suzuki since the bus was spewing oil and diesel fumes going uphill, although I was far more comfortable than Matt was. The bus was getting up to 110 or so on the inside because we REALLY need to insulate the heatwall.
We also stopped in Kentucky to stay at our friend Dave’s place. Such a welcome relief to get out of the car. Take a shower. Sit in air conditioning. Also, we were bringing our cat Winston back with us. He really couldn’t take the heat in the bus, so he spent the trip in the Suzuki mewling about how awful cars are. Winston also got to stretch his legs when we stopped, he spent the night in the bus. After our showers and a nice cold beer Dave showed us around Lexington a little bit. We didn’t end up going in too hard on the drinking so we could hit the road again in the morning.
We made it safely to Detroit after Kentucky. Apparently we had brought the Tampa heat with us though. Thank you to Dave and to Lauren’s family for showing us the hospitality. I was definitely worried about where we could park on our way up, but all worked out.
