The view from the water

Back in this post, Sean wrote about meeting some Canadians who were traveling together. We figured they would enjoy a photo of their two boats out on the bay and got an email address over the VHF. I sent them a couple of pictures, and this week received a few in return.

We don't have too many opportunities to see what Vector looks like when she's under way, so this is a treat. Thank you, Maurice & Renee Goneau of the M/S Le Marie-Sophie!

Odyssey from space

For the first time in our seven years on the road, we've managed to spot Odyssey in a Google Earth satellite photograph, here. Thanks to our good friends "Buswarrior" and "Depewtee" who posted links to the satellite view of the rally grounds in threads on the bus boards (here and here) about this year's rally. You can read my posts on last year's rally, when this was taken, starting here.

In this overhead view you can clearly make out Odyssey, and just south of us, Ben and Karen's bus as well as their Mini Cooper. In the shadow between the two buses you can see the round shape of our hot tub which we enjoyed nightly last year. If we make the rally this year we'll try to park in more or less the same spot, since that's about as far as we can be from the water spigot and still fill the hot tub.

Captain Neoplan!

I just found a listing for this comic book on eBay. Looks like they carry more than one issue, too, so it wasn't just a One Hit Wonder.

Next time someone asks us if there is anyone famous inside Odyssey, we can answer, "Yes! It's Captain Neoplan!" I'm just not sure if he's the robot or the buffed dude in the tight jeans.

I know you all think Sean is a really smart guy, but...

At dinner at the historic Old Faithful Inn.

Sean: What's the dessert that comes with the buffet?
Louise: Bread pudding, my favorite! Are you going to have some?
S: Just get a little extra for me, and I'll have some of yours.

Louise returns with a large bowl of chocolate chip bread pudding with vanilla sauce. Sean takes one bite and puts down his fork.

L: Don't you like it?
S: It's fine, that's all I want.
L: I brought extra just for you! You have to help me eat it.
S: I only wanted one bite. Why did you bring so much extra?
L: The serving spoon was the size of my left buttock! I couldn't scoop just one extra bite.
Pause.
S: Wow, that's a huge serving spoon.



Photo by varmazis

Sean reads the Bus Conversion boards

Another U Turn Option

I seem to keep finding videos of Neoplans in skids. This one is from a Danish driving school. Why don't we have bus skidding schools in the US?!? I would love to learn how to turn Odyssey around this fast...

Motorhome Racing

After we finish taking the Neoplan Institute for Professional Drivers' training course, we'll be racing Odyssey:

For Neoplan Junkies

I came across this video on YouTube today, and had to share it with our bus conversion friends. It is a promotional piece for the Neoplan driver training course in Germany, and shows cool stuff like swerves and off-road driving. For our motorcycle buddies, think of it as a track day for buses. Dude, even buses can power slide.

The music is, um, really bad. I won't say what it reminds me of, because this is a "G" rated blog. You won't lose much if you turn the sound down.



And from Odyssey's blooper reel, driving through the Big Puddle. I now know we were just practicing off-road and wet-road skills, all sanctioned by the manufacturer:

Scooter Dog

A little video about Opal, the Scooter Riding Wonder Dog.

Letting our hair down in Mexico...

 
  

Happy Howling

Opal and Louise, who share a birthday, sing to each other.

Everything is bigger in Texas.

Happiest couple east of the Pecos River.

At Smokey the Bear's gravesite. Just before the camera automatically took this picture, I fell off the rock, which is why we are both laughing. Not very dignified behavior at a grave, but Smokey's been gone almost 30 years and he was pretty cool and fun-loving, for a bear.

The Sterling City Lady Eagles Golf Team. They thought we might be Britney Spears.

Sean, Rob, Anne and Mark on the Bat Boat. We had a great view from under the Congress St. bridge to see the bats emerging for their nightly flight.

Anne and Louise with Lake Travis in the background.

You must be this tall to drink margaritas at the Oasis...

No, we did not turn around. This warning sign was posted at either end of several miles of a barrier island road marked "Canopy Route-Trees Protected by County Ordinance." Of course it wasn't marked near the mainland when we could have done something productive such as choose a different route. No, the sign appeared suddenly. At the south entrance to this little house of low branch horrors, there was no possible way to turn around: the road had no shoulders and the narrow driveways only led into yet lower trees. So we soldiered on with Sean driving and me sitting upstairs shouting out clearances. "This one's okay! Swerve left! Prepare for scraping, ooh, ouch!" We stopped to catch our breath at this end and I had a chance to snap a picture. Fortunately, we were clearly not the first tall vehicle to run the gauntlet. The branches were more like 12ft 9in and many were visibly scarred by passing rooftops.

I like this custom RV paint job. Much more interesting and personal than the typical factory stripes and swooshes. Incidentally, we have seen several new coaches painted with (gasp!) flames. I'd hate to see our idea become common practise.