MARCH

March 14, Parade Day

We had a great time and were mostly able to stay dry on one of the wettest days of the year! First we shuttled folks who were in the parade from the Williamson Road Parking Garage to the parade registration site. Bev did that from 9-11am. Then we joined up with the VMT to be together in the parade. We were at the end following "Elvis" who was dressed in a flag suit with his wife/girlfriend representing Liberty Tax Service! We had BT, Bev, Cedric and Kenny Brooks. No need to decorate the outside of the bus but we did get compliments on the inside. We did not recognize Cedric as he stood outside in the rain so apologies go to him and we will not make that mistake again. All stayed dry on the bus and we think more folks participated in the parade than were onlookers. Well, the law of averages says next year will be better!

March 12

We had a great crew last night. The BT boys were there and added to the rest a total of 12 folks were with us. Mel and Josh headed up a group that is going to organize our parts and set up a way to store them in designated areas. What great ideas these guys had as they toured each bus, gathered details on each one and  got all the info together. Ben put switches in the Marine bus and got it running, Freddy and Ed decorated the Orion for the St. Patrick's Day parade and  Bev fueled it  and washed it.

Bev has to shuttle folks that morning from the Williamson Road parking garage to the parade start site and with the bus running decorations will come off. So we have to put all the stuff on the outside after the shuttle ends at 11. The parade starts then but we will be towards the end so we have some time to get ready.

The 309 is being painted as we write this and M&W has  matched the paint very well. It is going to look great. The 66 GMC is almost ready at Virginia Truck Center and we should have it back within the week. It now has signals, 4 ways, new radiator core, new airbags etc! What a bus.

March 6

We had a great crew tonight. On the property this evening were Ben, Bev, BT, Ed, Freddy, James, Josh, Kenny, Mel, Phil and Raymond.

Ben, Phil and Harry unloaded about 75-90 gallons of used Antifreeze donated by RADAR to the Buseum. Thanks so much to Dave Morgan for making this possible. We cleaned the Pumpkin and Mel got signage on board for the MDA show. Raymond came to discuss some driver issues and a trip coming up later in the month. 

And what to our amazing eyes did appear but "BT Boy" from up on the mountain to the west—all ready to tackle any problem we had. Once he had landed we requested that he fix the seat on the Orion. He promptly showed us where to look for the opening of the breaker door below the drivers seat, showing us that only HE knew where the latch was, and then he could not understand why the seat would not work. He then asked me to put air on the door and Miracle of Miracles, the seat rose right up. He is now the hero of the night and we are all so very impressed with his wisdom and talent.

James helped Phil and I understand some battery issues, Ben is getting some switches tomorrow for the 66 GMC and we will move the Pumpkin to the Civic Center tomorrow in prep for the MDA Show. Ben has been working on the Grumman and the front door is doing much better. We will get an update tomorrow on the painting on Richmond 309 as BT will call and check on things there.

Mel and Josh are going to assemble a list of items we need to work on to get more of a focused look on the equipment and we plan a meeting soon on an extra night to talk about all of this stuff. Hopefully we will get a list of buses from Freddy, prioritize some maintenance and restoration issues and move on as the Fed money may run out quicker than we think.

FEBRUARY

February 27

We had a great crew today with Bev, Ed, Harry, James, Josh and Phil. We got the 102 on the floor, managed to get the lift truck stuck and Phil and James got it loose. Boy, that winch on his Suburban is great! We worked on the Orion as its drivers seat will not work and cannot find what is wrong. It is getting no air at all. Everything else seems fine. We put antifreeze and oil in a couple of buses, charged the batteries in the 30 ft Metro, took the Pumpkin to lunch, Thanks for lunch Ed, and had a good time. It started raining so we called it quits early.

February 18

Another great night and got a lot done. We needed to get some detailed info to the folks at Virginia Truck Center on the 66 transmission and got some manuals for them to review. Erik has finished the fuel lines on the 102 and we attempted to start it but the batteries were just too low. That is our goal for next week. Freddy cleaned the Williamsburg bus so it will look good in the am for a History Museum trip. Ben worked on the Grumman and the front door is now working much better. He is to get some parts this week for the bus to make it even better.

Mel continues to keep all maintenance on the computer and we talked about a numbering system tonight that could make it easier on us all. That way he does not have to know all the details about each bus, just the number!

February 14

Well, you won't believe this but we have another bus. And, we had Mel on Saturday morning too!  Mel, Kenny, BT and Bev went almost to Boones Mill to meet Ben and Robert Underwood to get the Camp Lejune bus ready to transport. Mel and Harry had gotten us ready with fuel cans, two recharged batteries, oil, tools, rubber gloves etc. in the pick up last Wednesday night. We got some fuel on Friday and were ready for this new adventure early Saturday.

When we arrived it would not start with the batteries in it so we changed things, got ours hooked up and still got nothing. Then BT said, if anyone can get it started Ben can. And, he did. He hot-wired the switch, which had no key, and it began to make some engine noise. Ben brought his generator and air compressor so we put air in the tires and were ready. Ben drove it out of the garage, up the hill, turned it around and had her headed out in no time. Unfortunately, Kenny Brooks wimped out and they made Bev drive it back to the Buseum. We left there, tried to come back through Starkey, made a wrong turn and ended up on US 220. Even that did not stop the progress. On the way back those following us said there all of a sudden was a lot of black smoke and almost got me to stop. Then, some stuff came out the back, perhaps even 2-3 burned rodents and the smoke cleared up. Apparently we disrupted someone's nice comfortable home! We did get it back. It has no parking brakes but it ran well, the air brakes worked and we have our new acquisition in the Buseum lot.

And then, what to our wondering eyes should appear, but three little Hokies all in (well, actually they had stolen two of our buses and were joyriding around Roanoke) gear. Mike, Erin and Josh were down and did lots of work while we were in the country. They drove some buses that needed to get on the road, started the fleet knowing the weather was going to change, acclimated themselves to some more buses so they can drive them better and we had a great time. We did lunch at Famous A's and went back to work getting lots done. Thanks so much to the BBurg Gang and the others who helped get the new 1959 bus. We look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday night. REMEMBER that our real workday this month is on the 28th. Bev

February 3

The loyal (or crazy) gratefully turned out to be of help on a very cold night. Ben, Freddy, Mel and Bev braved the weather to see what could get done.

The Young BT men had kindly spent all day this past Sunday working at the buseum getting both the Gillig and the 30 ft Metro running. Maybe they saw those cold temperatures coming.

A few paper items were dealt with as everyone sat in the office around a heater done but all who chose not to come were actually very smart and the rest wished they had done the same.

We’re all hoping it will be warmer next week!

JANUARY

January 25

Folks, Here are some photos of the bus we found yesterday. We believe it to be an old Military bus used by the Marine Corps and particularly at Camp Lejune. It supposedly will start and run. It is not a Virginia bus so we need to think about what we want to do and if we should get it for a special reason.  
We had a great workday yesterday with the BT team on board and they helped  us drive several buses that needed to be driven. Even the Mack when around the block. We changed some parking inside and moved a few items around. Ben, Harry and Phil worked really hard on the shed and it is totally framed up and ready for some aluminum siding at the next event. Since we have had some reported intruders, it is important to secure that building now. And, we need to fix the fence on the rail side soon as well.
 
Trips this week went well with Bev doing a Thursday trip for Leadership Roanoke Valley, Bev, Kenny and Joe doing the Episcopal Diocese on Friday night and Lewis taking care of them on Saturday. Bev then did a trip for the Shenandoah Club that night.
 
Thanks to all who were there on Saturday. It was good to see the BT Boys and Josh brought his mom to see us and she made a wonderful donation. Thanks, Mom Baker!

January 7

This week the "Power Team" from Blacksburg Transit came down the mountain and were really helpful. We did dinner at CiCi's Pizza and it was on to the Buseum.

 The folks worked on the Orion, the Williamsburg, the Grumman, the 62 AB&W and BT buses. Lewis and Bev are taking the BT and Williamsburg coaches to Hollins University tomorrow night to do a trip to the Grandin Theater and return.

 The 66 Richmond bus is at Virginia Truck Center getting lots of repairs and we are very close to delivering the Richmond Metro to the paint shop. The lettering for the Williamsburg bus has been ordered and we think William Thompson is going to do the destination sign for us and send it from Florida. Thanks to Mel for getting all our maintenance stuff on the computer and keeping up to date records for the first time in our history. This is really helpful.

Thanks to everyone who came tonight and for all we are doing together to get things fixed. The Buseum sends you all best wishes for a Happy New Year and blessings in 2009.