Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Introductions

I must admit, I’m horrible at introductions. When someone asks me for one, my brain has the nasty habit of shutting itself off and letting my poor mouth fend for itself. My mouth isn’t very good at doing that. It can generally get out a few “Ums” and maybe something like “Well…uh…I…a…write…and…other stuff…”. But not much else.

So, in this introduction, instead of telling you about me, I’m going to tell you about someone else.

Meet Benny.

Benny is a Bus, formerly a school bus, made in 1993. He is the tour bus, and will probably soon be the home, of my family. He is thirty-eight feet long if you don’t include the mirrors, in which case he’s thirty-nine, so he’s one of the longer school-buses that you’ll find.

The man who converted the bus decided to paint him a tan color to blend in with the landscape - after all, he was going to be used for hunting trips. Now that he’s ours, Mom thought he looked a little too much like a stake-out vehicle, so at some point my sister and I will be spending and afternoon adding a little more color to the outside. Eventually we might even slap our band’s logo on the blank space at the back. But that will be reserved for a later time, this is what he looks like now:
 Cute, in’t he? We get to test him out this weekend at a Gospel Festival.

(Yes. Buses can be cute.)

A shot of the inside:
Mom’s going to be sewing burgundy curtains and hanging them over the windows, because she would rather not live in a fishbowl while we travel. There’s also a bathroom in the back, complete with shower.

My Bunk:
It’s pretty small, but I like it that way. Not only is it comfortable, it has a curtain and it’s own light (even an outlet!), so I can hide in it when I want some privacy. I’ve also discovered that it’s my ideal workspace - small, with limited distractions.

The driver’s seat:


Due to the fact that Benny’s licensed as an RV, I’m legally allowed to drive him with the current permit that I have. It was made clear at the beginning that I would not be driving Benny, at least not for a while, but it’s kinda cool to know that I can.

And that’s a flat screen TV. It came with the bus. Never, ever in my lifetime did I ever think that my family would get a flat screen TV. Ever. Of course, getting a bus hadn’t occurred to me either until about a year ago. Unexpected things happen, I guess. Even really shocking ones. Like flat screen TVs.

One more shot:

And that’s Benny. He’s not perfect yet, he still needs some tweaks here and there. Namely, he doesn’t have a generator, so things like the lights, air conditioning, and other conveniences won’t run unless he’s plugged into an outside source. My parents also need to buy an RV sofa bed to replace one of the couches with, so that they’ll have a suitable place to sleep. But all of his problems are relatively minor and can be fixed with limited headaches.

Thank you, God. ^.^