Five Nights In Findley

We decided on Findley State Park. Not in Findlay, OH, but south of Oberlin in Wellington, OH.

We arrived Sunday afternoon (June 14). A couple of campers were in line to check in ahead of us. In just a few minutes, we were backing into our home for the next 5 nights. The gravel pad was fairly level and just big enough for the bus and the car. 

Our site was relatively small, but that was OK. Trees and brush surrounded our site, so we felt secluded even though the next camper was only 20 feet away. The ground was hard packed and covered with pine needles. There was a decent picnic table and a pretty nice fire ring with an adjustable grill that swung out from over the fire. Unfortunately, it had been pulled out of the ground and sat up high on three legs. I tried pounding it back into the hard earth with little luck. It was OK, but you could only see the base of the fire.

We were on one of two roads with electricity, ours being closest to the lake. The forest shielded us from being able to see the lake. The pines were so tall that we only had direct sun about five hours mid-day. Late day sun filtered through the trees and, along with a light breeze, kept us cool.

The site was near a loop at the end of the road, and inside the loop was one of the cleaner pit toilets I've seen. Park staff power-washed the inside roughly every three hours. Brightly lit, the white walls and grey floor looked like they had been painted recently. However, they could probably pump it out more frequently.

The shower house was a hundred yards or so up the road. It was newer and VERY CLEAN. Tile walls and nature-stone type floor. Roomy showers with benches and hooks. The ADA even had a hand-held shower.

I walked the Lake Trail from our loop to the spillway. For the most part it was wide and flat packed dirt surrounded by the most amazing forest that I had seen in years. 

The trail emerged into a meadow that surrounds the spillway. The area was designed to handle a lot of water, but was dry during our visit.

Some water must get through as there was a nice size pond at the bottom, surrounded by lush, dense forest. 

I wanted to hike to the dam, but spent too much time taking pictures and had to get back to camp.

Since this was only our second trip in Believeland (our schoolie), a lot of our time was spent tinkering with things and tweaking our construction plans.

We took a drive around the park on freshly blacktopped roads. Due to Covid-19, the concessions and boat rental were closed...

...as was the nature center, camp store and playground. The long sandy beach was open. Lots of canoes and kayaks on the lake. There were hiking trails everywhere. The Buckeye Trail passes through the south end of the park. There is also a mountain bike trail.

The dump station was perfect for RVs and campers, but proved to be a challenge to those of us using a porta-pottie. I had to hold the lid open with my foot while dumping the yuk down a hole. Hosing the area down afterward wasn't much easier.

An electric-only site is $29/night Sunday through Thursday nights. Our Golden Buckeye card got us a 50% discount on those nights, bringing the cost down to $14.50. Add the $6.50 online reservation fee, and our total was $79.00, or $15.80/ night. Not free, but WELL WORTH IT.

OK...This won't work

The original design for the bed was a queen mattress from the ol' camper topped with another mattress from a hide-a-bed centered in the back of the bus looking forward.

As we found out, that design left us only about a foot on each side of the bed. AND you had to navigate the wheel wells to get in and out.

Maybe 30 years ago, but not now.

So we decided to rotate the bed and put the headboard on the drivers side, leaving room for the "garage" in the back. Not being a firm believer in this concept, construction was for temporary use and still took way too long.

Let's take it on the road and see what happens!

Camping and Covid

Long time...No post.

Here are the headlines...

Redesigned the bus layout.
Road trip to Findley State Park.
Redesigned the bus layout.
Local trip to Punderson State Park.
Redesigned the bus layout.

Details at Eleven...

I'm WAY behind in posting, but plan on getting up-to-date over the next few days.

Oh, I almost forgot. Opal was finally able to get into the groomer...

It's weird to be watching the Tribe's Home Opener in late July.

More to come very soon.

All revved up with no place to go

Five months and half a pandemic later...

Thanks to Covid-19, Ohio State Parks (and most of the world as we knew it) shut down just before St. Patrick's Day. We were pretty close to taking our first trip as soon as it quit raining and the ground dried up a bit. 

Every day since then began and ended with a visit to the Ohio Department Of Natural Resources (ODNR) web site. Would there be good news today? When will the campgrounds re-open? 

The big day was May 21st. Only limited facilities, but the campgrounds were open again. Just in time for Memorial Day.

Let's get the show on the road.

In the old days (like last year), you could pull into a state park, pay and get a site tag, and be enjoying your favorite beverage in less than hour. Not so much these days.

You need to make a reservation online first. No more "walk-in" camping.

The ODNR web site is under construction. Maybe they had this planned for quite a while. Maybe they decided that since everything was closed they might as well re-build the site now. Either way, I'm not a big fan of what they are giving us to work with in the interim. The reservation section is awkward and hard to navigate. Maybe it's just me. The older I get, the more I complain about stuff.

We decided to wait until the opening/holiday dust settled for about a week before taking Believeland on her maiden voyage. We decided on June 2nd-5th (Tuesday through Friday). Geneva State Park.

Normally, an electric-only site is $29/night during the week. Our Golden Buckeye Card got us a 50% discount (weeknights only...10% on weekends). We ended up paying $14.50/night plus a $6.50 reservation fee for a total of $50.00 for 3 nights. That averages out to $16.67 per night. Not free, but not bad. 

We have camped here many times over the last 30 years. Covid-19 has changed a few things. Only the shower house restrooms were open. Very clean (as usual). The other two restrooms were closed. The camp store was closed, and check-in was at a drive-up window. Grass at the sites was getting pretty high when they mowed on Thursday. Some sites can get quite sloppy after a good rain.

Normally, we would spend a lot of time on the strip in Geneva-On-The-Lake. Wineries, bars, food and music. Most of this visit was spent at our site planning the conversion of the bus. Except for a stop at Madsen's Dounuts. Get a dozen. You'll LOVE 'em!

We figured that the best way to decide how to continue with construction would be to live in the bus for a few days and see what we liked and didn't like. We learned a lot.

No Wi-Fi, pretty good cell, some antenna TV from Cleveland.

Ever since I was a child camping with my parents, I have considered Ohio State Parks as the benchmark for what a good campground should be like. Well planned and well maintained. I hope that the current health and economic situation doesn't change that.

So, what's next?

You're in good hands...

So now I have a school bus, titled as a motor home in my name. Now we need insurance and license plates.

I have been keeping my insurance guy in the loop regarding our bus conversion. I'm not sure that he thought that we could pull it off.

Well, I guess upon further review, he and the corporate insurance guys decided that we were worth the risk, Insurance for the bus for one year is less than I pay for internet for one month !!!

Ohio Motor Home Title

"Let me get this right. You bought an old school bus? Old school bus, seats and all? You tore everything out and turned it into a camper? And you want to get this thing titled as a motor home...an RV? You know you gotta have a way to cook and keep stuff cold? You got a place to eat? A place to sleep? Do you think that this is gonna be easy? I need to get a supervisor, and they are in a meeting with some political big-wig trying to get elected next year. Why don't you just have a seat til someone calls you."

Based upon stuff I've read on the most trustworthy of internet sites, I expected to run into walls made of impenetrable materials that Trump only wished that he had.

It was a freakin' piece of cake.

I knew a guy from the local AMVETS Post that was a Notary Public. I said that I would pick him up, show him the bus and show him the list of required amenities that would qualify our humble bus as a motor home. He said no problem.

I had an issue as to exactly how the form should be completed, so I stopped by my local Title Bureau in Mentor.

Well, hello Chris! (Not his/her real name)

I asked my questions as to how the title form should be filled out. She/He asked all about the bus and I showed her/him pix on my phone. She/he talked to her/his supervisor, and in 15 minutes, I was walking out the door with a clear title for a 2000 Freightliner Motor Home.

Life's been good to me so far.....

The Big Four..Gettin' Legal

So, what's the deal on legally converting a bus into a motor home.

DISCLAIMER: I live in Ohio. I bought the bus in Ohio. I got an Ohio title and Ohio license plates. If you live in PA, FL, ND, SC NM, ME, MA (I always get ME and MA mixed up), UT or any other state in the U.S of A., this may not apply to you. Then again, maybe it does, but you didn't hear it from me. Do your due diligence.

Here's the form for a title.

So we need...

     A working stove
     A working refrigerator
     A place to sleep
     A place to eat

I just wanna get legal so I can drive the bus home to work on it. Work on it where I have electricity, heat and a bathroom.

So lets get started.

I'm building a temporary kitchen counter that the range/oven (from the ol' camper) will mount into.

The stove connects to a 30lb LP tank that sits next to it. The stove works.

By the way, did you know that there is a large selection of possible LP gas connectors.

I didn't. Go to Home Depot (or wherever) prepared. Bring samples and put on your Rube Goldberg thinking cap.

Mission one..complete.

Refrigerator...We are going to use the fridge from the camper. It runs on 120 VAC and LP gas. It needs a 12 VDC control voltage from a battery to operate. Since LP gas operation requires several vents to be cut into the bus, we are gonna start with AC/DC only.

HOWEVER...If for some reason the fridge takes a dump, we would probably replace it with a 120VAC unit from Best Buy or Sams or something. In the event that happens, I have reluctantly decided to waste some space and design the area to burn about 3" on each side of the camper fridge to accept a larger apartment size unit.

Mission Two...Complete

The next step...a place to sleep.

Hmmmm...

Either I'm not sure how we wanna do this

or

We are not sure how I wanna do this 

or

Anyway, I decided on a short-term sleeping assembly that uses the mattress from the camper as well as the hinged storage cover that helped support it.

The bed assembly is designed to slide half-way between the rear wheels, or slide back as far as the rear door. This allows flexibility in deciding on a final location.

Mission 3...Bed...Complete.

Finally, what's for supper? Where are we gonna play Skipbo?

Real high teck. I took the bench seats and table from the camper and gave them a new home on the bus. The table mounts on two legs that fit into flanges on the floor. 

The table turns into a bed that upon which I would wish my most bitter enemy a good night's sleep.

But it is...A PLACE TO EAT.

Mission 4...Complete.

So, let's go get legal !!!

...in a corner at a local storage lot.

dead buzzer   dead tree

Merry Christmas.

I was half way through a diatribe on how "Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza" all basically mean "I hope that you and you loved ones are safe and warm and happy, and may the next year bring you prosperity and happiness".

But this is about the bus.

The bus and the camper share a remote corner at a local storage lot.

In this corner is where all of the transformation has taken place in the past year. Well, mostly the past six months.

I don't have pictures of me removing the seats, because if I did, I would have had someone to crawl under the bus with a wrench and maybe made this easier.

Me and my buddy, Angle Grinder, ground the heads off of the floor bolts with glacial speed.

The seats also bolt to a rail that runs along the walls the length of the bus. They were no problem, but being ambidextrous would be beneficial.

If you think you are going to substantial fund your project by selling the scrap metal, all I can say is "Bwaaah...Haaa..Haaa". Not gonna happen. I found it easier to put 'em out with the garbage on Thursday night and let the scrap collectors take 'em. It's not worth risking a trashed tire at the scrap yard.

Let's take a tour, shall we?

This is Believeland...

Welcome aboard !!!

 Now that the seats have been dispatched, let the chalk meet the rubber.

I laid out a basic floor plan based on what we could salvage from the trailer.

At this time, I think that it is important to point out that the primary goal at this point is to get an Ohio motor home title and license plates, as well as proper insurance.

That is the primary objective right now. Get it legal. Get it home. Get it on the road.