Welcome to our Open Bus!

It took some explaining the concept to some people.  

Open Bus?   

But we had a wonderful Open Bus, 

and we wanted to share some wonderful pictures with you!  

Most were taken by our friends, the Kellums and the Drestes!  Thanks guys!!!

This is Daniel Amos Klein, welcoming you to his Open Bus.

This is Obadiah, with his big sister Allison.  He doesn't have a bus.  Yet.  

His family came from farthest away to view the spectacle.  

 

These are some of our friends who came to check out Daniel's bus.

We had lots of friends from our fellowship who came, and several neighbors.  

We just didn't take enough pictures!

We are new at the Open Bus hosting thing.

Daniel is sitting with Annah.  Daniel is holding a cool twistie baloon inflated by Mrs. Dreste.  

Shaped like a alligator or something.  She is pretty good, huh?

Mrs. Dreste quickly volunteered to be the twistie baloon inflator and did a wonderful job!

The dads had a good time of chatting about extra-bus topics.  

They did talk a bit about the bus, too.  I think they are getting the vision.

It poured down rain on our Open Bus, so we only had like 60 visitors.

It really poured down rain the entire time.  But it was plenty warm.

Oh, what is funny is the bus was almost not even working in time for the Open Bus!  

Seriously!  

We ran it out of diesel and it would have been stuck in our steep driveway, 

and any guests would have just slid all the way out the back door!  

But we thank the Lord we got it running, 

so we moved it to our sweet neighbors' level driveway across the street.

It looks like they are thinking about all these yummy cookies.  

They were yummy, 

but I don't remember them being as yummy as they look in this picture.  

Probably because we munched on some many broken ones, 

we were a little sick of them at the time.

Here is Daniel on Samantha's lap.  

Know what he's thinking about?  

Yummy cookies.

This Samantha's sister, Lilly.  

Her mom is a twistie balloon expert!  

She blew up so many balloons!

We tried to doll up the bunk beds and seats to make things look cozy.  

The curtains were made years ago by Grandma Jemelie, 

and we have brought them from house to house through the years.  

I think they are ten years old!

They fit the bus windows perfectly!  

Just need a more Klein-proof curtain rod for them.

We had lots of snacks at our Open Bus.  Cheese balls were the favorite.

We ordered a special bus cookie cutter, 

because we couldn't find one at Walmart.  Seriously. 

 

We had a covered table outside in the rain, 

so people could get drinking water.  Seriously!

We cleaned up the bus so nicely, we couldn't recognize it!  

We hung posters on the wall of the kids working on the bus (painting and stuff).  

The kids did it all.

Oh, another funny thing was that on the day of the Open Bus -- 

the roof leaked! 

 We noticed a big, unsightly puddle in our nice new bathroom!  

So we got an ice cream bucket 

and that helped until we could re-do the caulk on the roof.  

Keeps us humble.

This is Suby drinking water in the rain.

This is baby Olive and her mommy.  Olive is 5 days older than Daniel.

Our photographers were really thinking about the cookies.  What do you think?

I mean to tell you, it did nothing but rain the whole time!

Our hostesses.

This is our wonderful neighbor, Mr. Poenicke.  

He knows all about buses and is a big help to us.  

He let us park our bus in his driveway, because ours is too steep.  

He was badly hurt in an accident last summer, and nearly died! 

He was ready to go to be with the Lord,  

but the Lord had more plans for him and he is home with his family!

He was our first Open Bus guest, 

and I think he enjoyed his visit.  

UPDATE -- Open Bus - March 10

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Ready, Fire, Aim!

(Had to revise the date!)

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You know you want to.

We are inviting friends and neighbors to check out our latest school bus/RV conversion, Sunday, March 10, 2013, from 1:30 PM to 5 PM, near our home in Ferguson.

Since our driveway is not very level, a beloved neighbor is actually hosting our Open Bus.  When you get to our house, just take a look, and you will probably find it pretty easily.

Hors d'oeuvres will be served.

RSVP not required.  Casual dress.  Email for directions:  daveanddebklein@yahoo.com

Hope to see you there!!

Plan B

The bus / RV conversion has been steadily moving forward, learning lots along the way.  Overall, the interior layout will be our favorite (of the three buses), once we nail down how to screw in our fancy shmancy dinette tables. The girls made curtains for the windows, and the lineolum turned out really sharp.

With just a few days to departure, and still much to do on the bus, we made a sacrifice of RV conversion time by taking the bus in for some preventative engine maintenance (oil change, etc.)

"Oh, and could you check out that oil leak?" we added, after they had begun work.

Well, the oil leak turned out to be preventative too.  It is preventing us from taking the bus on the trip to Oregon for cocoaconf.  The leak is due to a rear seal, and we were advised that if the seal failed on our trip, we would lose all our oil in a flash, and it would turn our transmission into coffee grounds without any warning.  The shop we took it to gave us an estimate, but even if we had them do the work, we would be without the bus for a couple of days and would not be able to get it ready in time for departure.  So, that was a no brainer.

We really like it when God makes it obvious. And we are thankful that we are avoiding having a breakdown on the road.

So, all of our elaborate plans for our RV trip included:  working crazy hours to get the bus interior finished, packing bedding, camping stuff, space heaters for cold nights, traveling at the slower bus speed (meaning more days/nights on the road), having lots of leg room, and being all in one vehicle ... plus lots of (now unnecessary) shopping and expenditures for the RV conversion.

Since we are not taking the bus, our plans have been shifted to:  taking two vehicles (renting a 15 passenger van, plus taking Zak's truck), maxing our miles so we have fewer travel days (so we have less van rent fees and hotel costs), not bringing the bedding and camping stuff (yay!), not working crazy hours to finish the bus interior, enjoying listening to MP3s together, and leaving a day later than we had planned.

We also have to scientifically plan for clothing changes, as getting in and out of a hotel quickly with 16 suitcases crammed into the vehicle of your choice is pretty challenging.  For the bus, we had these cool tubs we found that fit under the benches, and we would be sleeping in the bus or a nearby tent.  No space for tubs with the van/truck plan; space is a luxury.  We will bring bags for each family member, but for our hotel nights on the road, we are thinking of using one of those hanging shoe storage bags for everyone to pack one night's necessities. 

I am thinking we will load it up and roll it up, one per hotel room (we take three per night, by order of the fire marshal!).  

Today we got the bright idea to get Zak's truck into the shop, in preparation for the trip.  That was mostly uneventful.  They noticed a belt needed to be changed, so our guys did that this evening out in front of the house...after accidentally dropping a socket and other things into the engine, then having various younger siblings with various kitchen utensils try to fish the stuff out, then getting one of those cool magnet wands at the hardware store to finally do the extraction, and then having to return the first belt to the store because it wasn't the right one.

There was a time when things like that would really burn some of us up, but the whole belt replacement thing made for a happy family memory.  And it allowed us to be in the right place at the right time when a neighborhood kid came by, selling candy bars.

When it seems like nothing is ever easy, we try to remember it is preparation and opportunity.  Opportunity to really give thanks in everything.  And preparation for future service and hardships.  The amount of time we spend thinking "Bummer" is steadily decreasing.  We have tons for which to give thanks, and soldiers for the Lord are not trained by having everything go smoothly all the time.  While we would hesitate to call our recent turn of events "trials," we do want to learn to "count it all joy."

So, we are working on Plan B and looking forward to an awesome adventure with the Lord on the road to Oregon.

Here we go again...

Fall is really showing its colors here and we are learning, as a family, the importance of entrusting loved ones and our family to the Lord.  As sure as the leaves are gonna change, trials are going to come and our God is faithful.  His Word gives us the wisdom and encouragement we need each day.

Lately we have begun preparations for CocoaConf PDX, including continuing RV conversion on our third bus. 

First step is the passenger compartment.  We are doing a more rugged, inexpensive and Klein-proof interior.   We learn a bit more with each project.

One important lesson is...use the right tools.

Daddy's ready!  He is a skilled craftsman, indeed.

We are building from the ground up.  The little boys are extremely enthusiastic about helping.  Today, they ripped out the original floor, and now we are building up a sub floor and insulating with, what else but, insulation!  Noah is a crackerjack styrofoam cutter.  

We are also paneling the sidewalls with leftover paneling from the blue bus.  Then we will get some floor covering...  something that looks good with school bus grey upholstery and light oak paneling.

The girls are busy fashioning some very sharp looking forest green window coverings, hearkening back to their Grandpa Bill's ingenious window covering plan for The Greenie (Chevy Suburban).

We try to use as much as we can from previous projects.  We already re-installed the very Klein-proof triple bunks.  We are keeping the previous dinette tables, but just using bus benches for seating.  The dinette tables will drop down and their surface will fit two bus seats perfect, so we will just save some of the surplus seats.  This will yield a water resistant (if you know what I mean) comfortably padded sleeping surface.

After the floor and paneling are done, we will start getting things furnished.  We have been really looking forward to this!

More pictures will almost certainly come.

Pre-conference preparations!!!

After an April spent by most of us lying around coughing, consuming mass quantities of garlic and cayenne cold remedies, Kleenix and herbal teas, plus some of us having a baby (mostly me), unfinished April projects have rolled over into May. So, we have been scrambling to get two months worth of projects done in a few weeks....because it is almost conference time!!!

We are so thankful to have our next RV school bus conversion underway and in our driveway!

Solomon and Noah have removed several unneeded benches to serve our initial needs for space. We still have tons of stuff to do, but the preliminary stuff should be done in time for our upcoming trip to Wisconsin, praise the Lord!

We are catching up on our laundry backlog after our front loader became a sogging machine. We are making periodic trips to the laundromat until the repairman comes, hopefully tomorrow!

We are doing lots of shopping.

And taking lots of pictures our sweet littlest Klein. His little head was once entirely covered in downy blonde hair but now has developed a smooth bald spot on top, which we think is where he is kissed most frequently. We have to wash his scalp frequently, as he often smells like whatever condiment was used for the most recent meal (e.g. ketchup).

We have a new supply of The Education of Kings in production and anticipate having plenty for our conferences this year!

Most of the kids have gotten much more civil about waiting in line for their turn to hold baby Daniel Amos.

The girls have been working hard on renovating our former office into a larger girls' room. It will also serve as a guest bedroom, and we are anticipating guests, so we are jamming!!!!

At just about one month of age, Daniel gives each photographer the hope that they will be the one to snap his first voluntary smile. You can almost make one out here. (This photo was pre-bald-spot.)

Projects involving the girls usually come in closer to budget because they don't require as much Mountain Dew.

Abi and Susanna re-caulked the scary caulk in the guest bathroom so our guests don't run screaming for their lives!

Sarah is surveying the purpler walls of the new girls' room.

Hannah is printing, folding and stapling as unto the Lord!

Zak is working hard on his client's new site, though sometimes he feels he isn't getting anywhere.

Between buses

One morning, we woke up, and after devotions and chores, got ready to sit down for breakfast. We opened the front window, and expected to see this:

However, on this particular morning, we just saw this:

The perceptive reader will notice that something is missing.

Yes, we had a vehicle stolen from our driveway. An old vehicle, too!

We filed a police report and were told that our model station wagon was very easy to start with just a screwdriver, so it was a favorite among car thieves. We were also told that they would call us as soon as they found it. This gave some of the children the hope that the officer was straight on his way to go track down our station wagon. But we explained to the children that its recovery was not too likely.

Well, we were a bit shocked that our sleek street machine was stolen from among the offerings on our street, but after all, we still had this:

It's a bit overkill for a quick stop for some bathroom tissue, but at least it fit us all and it ran.

However, a few days later, we found that it would not start. It was just stuck in the driveway.

At this point, we realized the driveway was beginning to be a problem.

After some troubleshooting, we found the bus was suffering from unidentified problems. We kind of narrowed it down to a fuel pump (hope hope), and so after consulting with Uncle Danny in Mexico, we ordered a new fuel pump and purchased necessary accessories to complete the replacement. This included kerosene, because it was 18 degrees during the day, and we needed to use a kerosene heater outside to keep Solomon's hands thawed so he could pull the pump!

Well, after a few days of dismantling, Solomon became less confident he could pull the pump, and even less confident that the pump was the problem. So, we checked out the prices for steel, thinking maybe we should scrap this bus and move on to bus #3 (which we purchased back in October, anticipating that we'd be moving up soon). The steel prices were pretty good, so we made arrangements to scrap the bus.

This was much less emotional for Mommy than scraping bus number 1. We had good memories in this bus, but its acquisition wasn't quite a pivotal point in our lives as the first bus.

Hannah and Sarah pose for a parting shot. Bye-bye, bus #2!

So, for a sizeable fee, we hired us a wrecker truck and Zak followed it to the scrap yard, expecting to drop off the bus and pick up a big fat check.

We'd then pay the wrecker and pocket the difference.

However, we didn't realize that they required that we first empty all the fluids and remove the fuel tank before they could accept it for scrap.

So, after waiting in line for a while and being turned away, the wrecker dropped the bus at a nearby parking lot (because we needed a flat place to work on draining the fluids), and we paid the wrecker for taking our 35 foot bu$ on a $ight$eeing trip through $t Louis.

We are not making this up.

And our failed attempt to drop off the bus occurred on a Friday, so we were unable to take it in again until Monday. So, we made arrangements to work on emptying the fluids at the parking lot. We were also able to get special permission to just drain the fuel tank rather that removing it.

So, the boys headed over to the parking lot with a bunch of empty buckets.

You see, while we were working on the fuel pump, we wanted to make sure that the problem wasn't that we were low on diesel (since we park the bus on an incline, as we are inKLEINed to do). So, that tank was good and full. Siphoning commenced immediately.

Then we wanted to ensure there would be no problem at the scrap yard, so we devised a fool-proof (and poof-proof) way to puncture the tank, assuring the authorities that it was dry. After doing so, we learned, it was dry.

So, Monday, it was back to the scrap yard. The lady in the shack was so friendly and helpful, and it was a quick transaction.

Joshie enjoyed visiting the shack while they checked out the bus and cut us a check.

Then, we returned to find this:

That was just being dramatic. Our driveway wasn't completely empty. We still had Zak's pickup truck. It seats 5 passengers.

Well, if you have been studying the weather in the midwest this winter, you have noticed that the jet stream has been doing the wave. So we soon exchanged our kerosene tanks for these:

You see, in between our days of 18 degree highs, we were having days in the 60's and 70's, which meant we could begin painting our new bus.... in FEBRUARY!! This is just unheard of normally, to have warm weather like that, but the Lord worked it out, as the jet stream went up and down through the month.

We have dear friends out in the country who graciously offered to let us store and work on the bus at their place. So we packed up the pickup and made some trips out to get rolling!

And so, RV conversion #3 has officially commenced!

Time is of the smell, as we like to say, so we weren't too picky about the exterior color scheme. We've learned that no matter what color we paint it, it just says "school bus".

However, our crew puts a lot of care and detail into each step of the way. They have gotten more skilled and experienced... and they recognize an opportunity for a 12 pack of diet Mountain Dew when they see one coming.

The inside needs a lot of work still, but we are mostly focusing on the paint and hoping we can get it looking nice enough to impress the neighbors. We suspect some of them have kinda gotten used to the conspicuous void on our driveway.

So we are a little past this point. In the photo above, the roof has grey primer, but we are actually finishing it with a cream color, giving it more of an Eddie Bauer look. Don't you think?

In a surprising turn of events, we received a call from the police 3 weeks after the wagon was stolen that it had been located! And apart from the ignition getting ripped out, it was in wonderful shape!

Now, with two vehicles, we more than doubled our passenger capacity! However, we were still a few seats short. Since Dave and the boys work from home, the only time we were really put out was on Sundays, as we normally took another family to church, as well as ourselves. However, we found it very easy to find folks willing to help out with transportation.

And here we are on a rare family outing. The big old red car on the right belongs to our dear neighbors, who lend it to us whenever we need it.

Well, there's more -- we landed a really inexpensive interim van to use until we get #3 on the road.

But for now, that is a good summary of a family of 15 who is between buses!